Election 2023: Campaign Roundup - Day 22

Welcome to Day 22 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.

Campaign Roundup - Day 22:

• It’s May long weekend, but that didn’t stop both parties from campaigning, as early voting begins tomorrow! To locate your advance polling station, you can use this tool from Elections Alberta.
  
  
• A new Abacus Data poll suggests that province-wide, the UCP leads the NDP 51% to 47%, while in battleground Calgary, the UCP leads 51% to 46%. Those numbers still suggest a pretty tight race, but a significant improvement for the UCP since last week’s debate.
  
  
• Leaders, candidates, and volunteers were out in swing ridings. Rachel Notley held a rally in Calgary-Acadia, where Diana Batten from the NDP is looking to take the seat from the UCP’s Tyler Shandro.
  
  
• Nate Horner, UCP Candidate for Drumheller-Stettler, held a press conference. He spoke to the ways that his party plans to make life more affordable for Albertans, and reminded people about the NDP’s carbon tax. He said the UCP is “extremely bullish” on nuclear energy and that he never met a tax cut he didn’t like!
  
  
• Brian Jean, UCP Candidate for Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche, touted the benefits of the Film and Television Tax Credit in helping Alberta become a first-choice destination for producers.
  
  
• A series of clever new signs had been popping up around the province, countering the NDP’s “What Will She Do Next?” attack ads, by explaining exactly what Smith will do next. The counter-signs appear to have been so effective that the NDP are now removing their original signs. There’s an old adage in politics - never ask an open-ended question, because it lets your opponent answer it!
  
  
• Meanwhile, NDP-aligned Calgary City Councillor Kourtney Penner clearly didn’t get the memo from Rachel Notley about keeping the woke marxism quiet for another week… Councillor Penner took to twitter to call Calgarians who support holding a fireworks show on Canada Day racists. Yes, seriously! Our friends at Common Sense Calgary are running a petition to restore the fireworks show, which you can sign here.
  
  
• Finally, in a sweet moment of putting aside differences, Danielle Smith wished a speedy recovery to Rachel Notley’s dog, who appeared to have been in a disagreement with a porcupine.

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