“Two years after Alberta NDP win, critics see signs of early election call,” a headline on the CBC website said Friday.
Seriously?
Not really. The CBC’s headline notwithstanding, the leaders of Alberta’s NDP Government were startlingly clear that there won’t be an election before 2019, as required by Alberta’s constitutionally silly “fixed election-period law,” passed in December 2011 by then-premier Alison Redford’s Progressive Conservative government.
Premier Rachel Notley said it: “It’s my intent to follow both the spirit as well as the letter of the law, because that’s what I think you should do. That’s what I’ve said before and that’s what I’m saying again now.”
Deputy Premier Sarah Hoffman said it in the Legislature, in response to a question by Derek Fildebrandt, the Opposition finance critic: “We certainly do not intend to call the election early.”
NDP Provincial Secretary Roari Richardson said it: “I would highly doubt that.”
NDP elder statesman Ray Martin said it: “They’re only halfway through their mandate, so I wouldn’t be in a hurry to push it. Things will get better, and they’ll get better at the job.”
The people of Alberta were clear enough when
Jim Prentice, the last PC premier of Alberta, called an election a year early in 2015 – they sent him packing on May 5 and elected the New Democrats.
Moreover, it’s seen as axiomatic among the Alberta NDP base that the longer Rachel Notley stays in power, the more likely she is to get her party re-elected based on the NDP’s strengthening performance.
The CBC didn’t produce a shred of evidence for this proposition, despite apparently asking several people about it – which strongly suggests this is more than just a rogue headline.
However, a few days before, the Calgary Herald’s Don Braid wrote a column reaching a similar conclusion based on a similar lack of evidence.
Mr. Braid managed to spin Ms. Hoffman’s unequivocal statement into the opposite of what she said. This was his reasoning: “She has it both ways. The NDP does not ‘intend’ to call early. She doesn’t say the government absolutely will not.”
This is nutty stuff. So what gives, really?
My guess is that “where there’s smoke, there is usually a smoke-making machine.” In this case, the smoke-making machine is found somewhere in one of the back rooms of the campaign of the Progressive Conservative Party’s recently elected leader, Jason Kenney, which has two obvious goals.
Goal No. 1, is to ensure that Mr. Kenney emerges as the leader of any new united Alberta conservative party, which is to be made up of the new much-smaller-tent PCs and the Wildrose Opposition led by Brian Jean. That’s presumably why Mr. Kenney keeps telling the media and anyone else who will listen that a deal with the Wildrosers is imminent.
Alberta PoliticsMessage to the media and conservatives about Alberta
Seriously?
Not really. The CBC’s headline notwithstanding, the leaders of Alberta’s NDP Government were startlingly clear that there won’t be an election before 2019, as required by Alberta’s constitutionally silly “fixed election-period law,” passed in December 2011 by then-premier Alison Redford’s Progressive Conservative government.
Premier Rachel Notley said it: “It’s my intent to follow both the spirit as well as the letter of the law, because that’s what I think you should do. That’s what I’ve said before and that’s what I’m saying again now.”
Deputy Premier Sarah Hoffman said it in the Legislature, in response to a question by Derek Fildebrandt, the Opposition finance critic: “We certainly do not intend to call the election early.”
NDP Provincial Secretary Roari Richardson said it: “I would highly doubt that.”
NDP elder statesman Ray Martin said it: “They’re only halfway through their mandate, so I wouldn’t be in a hurry to push it. Things will get better, and they’ll get better at the job.”
The people of Alberta were clear enough when
Jim Prentice, the last PC premier of Alberta, called an election a year early in 2015 – they sent him packing on May 5 and elected the New Democrats.
Moreover, it’s seen as axiomatic among the Alberta NDP base that the longer Rachel Notley stays in power, the more likely she is to get her party re-elected based on the NDP’s strengthening performance.
The CBC didn’t produce a shred of evidence for this proposition, despite apparently asking several people about it – which strongly suggests this is more than just a rogue headline.
However, a few days before, the Calgary Herald’s Don Braid wrote a column reaching a similar conclusion based on a similar lack of evidence.
Mr. Braid managed to spin Ms. Hoffman’s unequivocal statement into the opposite of what she said. This was his reasoning: “She has it both ways. The NDP does not ‘intend’ to call early. She doesn’t say the government absolutely will not.”
This is nutty stuff. So what gives, really?
My guess is that “where there’s smoke, there is usually a smoke-making machine.” In this case, the smoke-making machine is found somewhere in one of the back rooms of the campaign of the Progressive Conservative Party’s recently elected leader, Jason Kenney, which has two obvious goals.
Goal No. 1, is to ensure that Mr. Kenney emerges as the leader of any new united Alberta conservative party, which is to be made up of the new much-smaller-tent PCs and the Wildrose Opposition led by Brian Jean. That’s presumably why Mr. Kenney keeps telling the media and anyone else who will listen that a deal with the Wildrosers is imminent.
Alberta PoliticsMessage to the media and conservatives about Alberta