Election 2023: Campaign Roundup - Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of our Alberta 2023 Campaign Roundup!

With the 2023 Alberta election now finally underway, I'll be bringing you daily updates on all the policy proclamations, platform promises, and political point-scoring from the campaign trail.

If you missed Day 1, that's also on our website here.

If you'd like to support our work, please consider signing up as a supporter for just $10 a month.

Regards,

Peter McCaffrey
President
Alberta Institute

Campaign Roundup - Day 2:

• Candidates and volunteers continued knocking on doors and putting up lawn signs in constituencies around the province. Election campaigns take thousands of hours of work from engaged residents. If you want to get involved, find your preferred candidate and offer to lend a hand!
  
  
• A new IPSOS poll showed that the UCP has a narrow, 4-point lead over the NDP. Decided and leaning voters favour the UCP by 48% to 44%. The two parties share roughly equal support in Calgary, which is largely considered this election’s battleground.
  
  
• Rachel Notley accused Danielle Smith of hiding from the media on account of Smith not holding a press conference today. A little odd, given Smith did hold a press conference just yesterday. Joe Ceci, NDP candidate for Calgary-Buffalo, called it “unprecedented”, but we’re unaware of any precedent of any party’s leader holding press conferences every single day of the campaign.
  
  
• Speaking of hiding from the media, we learned that yet another journalist - this time David Staples from the Edmonton Journal - was left off the campaign mailing list for NDP events. The situation was eventually resolved, but as Staples rightly pointed out, cherry-picking which journalists are and are not able to access information is becoming a concerning pattern for the NDP.
  
  
• Flair Airlines opened their new Calgary base of operations, which will employ 150 people. Calgary City Councillor Walcott emphasized the importance of cheaper airfares, particularly in a time when people are struggling with affordability, while Danielle Smith highlighted the UCP’s recent business tax cuts and campaign promise to not raise business taxes as contributing to business confidence in Alberta.
  
  
• Rachel Notley, meanwhile, promised healthcare improvements, including new health teams that would see a family physician work alongside specialists like therapists, dietitians, physiotherapists, and midwives. She pledged $350 million to establish 50 family health clinics and $400 million for hiring 4,000 allied health professionals.
  
  
• The UCP released a new television ad highlighting affordability issues. The ad reiterates yesterday’s promise to lower income taxes for Albertans and extend the fuel tax holiday.
  
  
• Finally, in non-political news, some residents of Leduc County were forced to evacuate due to a wildfire burning on Range Road 24 between Township Roads 474 and 475. Winds threatened to push the fire toward homes in the area. Stay safe, everyone.

Support Our Work:

The Alberta Institute doesn't accept any government funding and never will. We think you should be free to choose, for yourself, which organizations to support. If you're in a position to contribute financially, you can make a donation here:

If you're not in a position to donate, we understand, but if you appreciate our work, you can help by spreading our message. Please forward this email to your friends, follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and help make sure every Albertan knows what's going on in our province.