Alberta's Progressive Conservative party leadership warned its members against "complacency" Tuesday, issuing a newsletter suggesting the party that has been in power since 1971 faces its first real opponent in a generation.
"This will be the most competitive election campaign since 1993," Tory campaign manager Susan Elliott wrote in an email to members. "The PC party faces a well-organized and well-funded competitor. While we have a popular leader who will win many votes for us, we will need to win this campaign 'on the ground.' "
The news item, entitled The Importance of the Ground Game: Getting Ready for a Tough Campaign, landed in Conservative email boxes across the province Tuesday afternoon, hours after the publication of yet another poll showing a narrowing gap between Premier Alison Red-ford's Tories and Danielle Smith's Wildrose Alliance.
"Polls are just snapshots in time, but I think it's true that if you look at the trend of things, the Wildrose has been up and down. They're in the field, they're a competitor. I don't take anybody for granted," Elliott said.
She described "different competitors in different areas," including traditional Liberal and NDP strength in Edmonton, but described Smith's right-wing Wildrose as the Conservatives' "major competitor."
A spring election has not been called, but voting is expected to take place in April.
"I take every riding seriously and I take every competitor seriously," Elliott said. "I don't want to take any-thing for granted and I don't want our volunteers to take anything for granted. And most particularly I don't want our voters to take any-thing for granted."
The Progressive Conservatives and NDP are the only political par-ties touting full slates in Edmonton, with confirmed candidates in all 19 capital city ridings.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Wildrose had 18 confirmed candidates in the city. Smith, who will run in southern Alberta, said she will count it as a "personal failure" if Wildrose does not break through in the capital.
"We are clearly seeing that there are some ridings where it's going to be a four-way race. ... In Edmonton, you can - potentially win a seat with 25 per cent of the vote," Smith said. "We're actually within striking distance, in my opinion, of being able to win some seats in Edmonton."
Smith said polls point to the emergence of a race: "I think that we're beginning to see that the honey-moon is over for Ms. Redford. ... I don't think there's such a thing as a safe Tory seat anymore."
But Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk, Tory MLA for Edmonton-Castle Downs, said it was a similar situation in 2008, just before then-premier Ed Stelmach swept 72 of 83 seats. "This is my third election that I will be running in, and the last one we were told that we were going to lose government, and then you saw what happened," he said. "I look at every race as being a close one."
NDP Leader Brian Mason said Tues-day the Redford government has lost control of the current legislature sit-ting, making way for regional challenges from opposition parties.
"Clearly the government has miscalculated, by assuming everything would be coming up roses during a six-week spring session, and I think they've kind of lost control of the political agenda," Mason said. "I think there was an initial sort of sense of giving Alison Redford a chance, but I think subsequent events have shown she doesn't represent the change that she claimed, and it's pretty much the same Tory party (with) a new coat of paint."
Original Article
Source: edmonton journal
Author: Trish Audette
"This will be the most competitive election campaign since 1993," Tory campaign manager Susan Elliott wrote in an email to members. "The PC party faces a well-organized and well-funded competitor. While we have a popular leader who will win many votes for us, we will need to win this campaign 'on the ground.' "
The news item, entitled The Importance of the Ground Game: Getting Ready for a Tough Campaign, landed in Conservative email boxes across the province Tuesday afternoon, hours after the publication of yet another poll showing a narrowing gap between Premier Alison Red-ford's Tories and Danielle Smith's Wildrose Alliance.
"Polls are just snapshots in time, but I think it's true that if you look at the trend of things, the Wildrose has been up and down. They're in the field, they're a competitor. I don't take anybody for granted," Elliott said.
She described "different competitors in different areas," including traditional Liberal and NDP strength in Edmonton, but described Smith's right-wing Wildrose as the Conservatives' "major competitor."
A spring election has not been called, but voting is expected to take place in April.
"I take every riding seriously and I take every competitor seriously," Elliott said. "I don't want to take any-thing for granted and I don't want our volunteers to take anything for granted. And most particularly I don't want our voters to take any-thing for granted."
The Progressive Conservatives and NDP are the only political par-ties touting full slates in Edmonton, with confirmed candidates in all 19 capital city ridings.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Wildrose had 18 confirmed candidates in the city. Smith, who will run in southern Alberta, said she will count it as a "personal failure" if Wildrose does not break through in the capital.
"We are clearly seeing that there are some ridings where it's going to be a four-way race. ... In Edmonton, you can - potentially win a seat with 25 per cent of the vote," Smith said. "We're actually within striking distance, in my opinion, of being able to win some seats in Edmonton."
Smith said polls point to the emergence of a race: "I think that we're beginning to see that the honey-moon is over for Ms. Redford. ... I don't think there's such a thing as a safe Tory seat anymore."
But Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk, Tory MLA for Edmonton-Castle Downs, said it was a similar situation in 2008, just before then-premier Ed Stelmach swept 72 of 83 seats. "This is my third election that I will be running in, and the last one we were told that we were going to lose government, and then you saw what happened," he said. "I look at every race as being a close one."
NDP Leader Brian Mason said Tues-day the Redford government has lost control of the current legislature sit-ting, making way for regional challenges from opposition parties.
"Clearly the government has miscalculated, by assuming everything would be coming up roses during a six-week spring session, and I think they've kind of lost control of the political agenda," Mason said. "I think there was an initial sort of sense of giving Alison Redford a chance, but I think subsequent events have shown she doesn't represent the change that she claimed, and it's pretty much the same Tory party (with) a new coat of paint."
Original Article
Source: edmonton journal
Author: Trish Audette
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