Share this Story: Smith: Air and ground war gives UCP the squeeze Smith: Air and ground war gives UCP the squeeze Postmedia Article content With all the news of “scary” candidates, the candidate I am most afraid of in this election is Anne McGrath. Who’s she? She’s the NDP candidate in Calgary-Varsity, though you’d never know it from her literature. It’s emblazoned with the colours of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta, blue with a slight tinge of orange. She’s endorsed by the Firefighters of Alberta, a group you might associate with the conservatives because of Bill Smith, a former firefighter who ran for Calgary mayor in 2017. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Smith: Air and ground war gives UCP the squeeze Back to video But McGrath is actually running for the NDP. And in 1984 she ran for the Communist Party of Canada as a 26-year-old education student at the University of Alberta. Now you might say what someone believed more than 30 years ago has no bearing on who they are today. But after the vicious attack on Jason Kenney’s student activism in San Francisco, the NDP can’t say that now, can they? In the 1984 Edmonton Journal article about her candidacy, McGrath said that Canada “needs to bring under public ownership the United States multinational branch plants, banks, natural resource companies, auto and steel industries. By taking public control of our economy we can ensure the kind of investment that will create jobs for young Canadians.” Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Just in case you’ve forgotten about the incompetence and evil of Communist ideology, Quillette has recently published a helpful reminder of the estimated 70 million deaths in Mao’s China and the 10 million Ukrainian deaths in Stalin’s Soviet Union through genocidal state-sponsored starvation, not to mention the “hidden mass graves, the illegal human experiments, the secret surveillance systems, the assassinations … erasing your opponents by murdering them and then wiping all traces of their existence from the history books.” If McGrath ran for the Fascist Party in 1984 she would, quite rightly, never be a candidate fit for public office again. The fact that she ran for the Communist party, an ideology that killed 10 times more people, should make her 10 times more unfit to run for public office. But slap a bit of blue paint on campaign materials with the endorsement of a union full of brawny, well-respected professional firefighters, and all youthful transgressions are to be forgiven. Is it any wonder conservatives are mystified by the double standard? If it is relevant what UCP candidates think about abortion and gay rights, shouldn’t it be equally relevant that McGrath was a Communist, or that Rod Loyola praises Hugo Chavez, or that Rachel Notley sometimes wears a Che Guevera watch? The NDP has engaged in unprecedented intervention in the economy including encouraging the federal government to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline, a $3.7-billion investment in oil by rail, petrochemicals and refinery loan guarantees, solar and wind subsidies. Let’s just hope they have no plans to collectivize the farms, otherwise, we’re all in grave danger. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Besides, I thought the NDP was supposed to have removed big money from politics. So what happened? It turns out the unions can spend even more now. Under the old rules, campaign finance laws limited union and corporate political donations to $30,000. But there’s no limit on union and corporate donations for third-party advertising. The Firefighters of Alberta have so far spent $61,712. The Alberta Teachers’ Association has spent $270,000. The Alberta Federation of Labour has cobbled together nearly $60,000 from its subsidiaries. Then there’s Project Alberta, funded with $135,000 from Unifor. Unifor has sent a full glossy brochure to all its members explaining why they should vote for the NDP and commissioned a poll showing the NDP gaining in Calgary. If you’re wondering why Unifor set up a shell political action committee to make this donation rather than register directly, I suspect they are hoping to fly under the radar. After all, they issued a press release in 2016 touting their year-long efforts to get the National Energy Board to reject the Trans Mountain pipeline saying, “it was not in the public interest.” Understand what is going on here. The NDP is attempting to distract voters with outrage over bozo eruptions to demoralize UCP supporters in an aggressive air war of negative media coverage. Meanwhile, they are fighting a hidden ground war campaign with mandatory union dues, and strong-arming union members with a barrage of literature, emails, phone calls and lobbying to vote NDP. If the UCP loses, pundits will blame the bozos. The real power is with the unions. Danielle Smith is a regular columnist with the Calgary Herald. She can be reached at danielle@770chqr.com Share this article in your social network Latest National Stories Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Calgary Herald Headline News Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Calgary Herald, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. Email Address There was an error, please provide a valid email address. By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300 Thanks for signing up! A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it please check your junk folder. The next issue of Calgary Herald Headline News will soon be in your inbox. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again Trending<doc-sep>Open this photo in gallery Alberta Premier Rachel Notley speaks to the media after testifying at a Senate Committee hearing on Bill C-48 in Calgary on April 9, 2019. Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley is urging small-c conservatives to come on board arguing that they share core values with her party and not Jason Kenney’s United Conservatives. Ms. Notley said Wednesday that it’s clear from the policies and comments from some UCP candidates that a Kenney government wouldn’t protect some religions and LGBTQ groups. She also urged voters to cast a ballot in Tuesday’s election for the NDP instead of for the Liberals or Alberta Party – so as to join forces to beat the UCP. Story continues below advertisement “If you have voted Progressive Conservative in the past, but you just don’t feel quite right voting for Jason Kenney because of his risky economic plan and his deep ties to extreme fringes, then my message to you is: ‘Join us,’ “ Ms. Notley said. “You may not agree with everything I’ve done, but we share core values. And we won’t attack minorities.” Asked how Mr. Kenney’s UCP would attack minorities, she said it was clear from comments made by some of the UCP candidates. “There has been a systematic problem with the UCP in terms of many of the attitudes that have been articulated by their candidates,” she said. “There are many, many people within the UCP that have troubling views and I don’t believe ought to be invited into our government in Edmonton.” The UCP has rejected or seen a number of candidates or potential candidates step down over Islamophobic or homophobic remarks. Mr. Kenney has said they represent a small number of a broad coalition and that his party believes in equality for all. He has touted its ethnically diverse slate of candidates. But he has also promised to roll back some privacy protections for children who join gay-straight alliances in schools. Story continues below advertisement Mr. Kenney, speaking to supporters at a rally in Fort McMurray, said his focus remains on getting more Albertans back to work. “This election is really about three things: jobs, the economy and pipelines,” he said Wednesday. “Our opponents think it’s about everything but that. They think it’s about mudslinging and attack ads and personal destruction.” Both Mr. Kenney and Ms. Notley have focused on pipelines as the cornerstone policy to reduce Alberta’s unemployment levels, which currently exceed 7 per cent in Edmonton and Calgary. Ms. Notley has said her work with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has kept the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project to the West Coast alive, despite numerous court delays and challenges. She predicts work should begin later this year. Mr. Kenney says success, if it comes, on Trans Mountain has come at a high price. He said Ms. Notley has given Mr. Trudeau room to manoeuvre as he brought in a federal carbon tax, along with proposed changes to how energy projects are approved that even Ms. Notley has said will hurt the industry. “The NDP sold Alberta out to the Trudeau Liberals, and we won’t let that happen again,” Mr. Kenney said. Story continues below advertisement He promised to fight Ottawa’s projects approval bill in court as an unconstitutional power grab. He has also promised to proclaim legislation to reduce oil flowing to B.C. if that province continues to fight Trans Mountain. “If we don’t get a coastal pipeline, if we don’t get a fair deal in the federation, we will never get back to achieving our full potential as the economic engine of Canada.”<doc-sep>Share this Story: They're not just different, they're miles apart. Here's how the NDP and UCP platforms compare. They're not just different, they're miles apart. Here's how the NDP and UCP platforms compare. Even physically, the documents veered in opposite directions. Photo by Files / Postmedia Article content The platforms of Alberta’s two major political parties are poles apart, with the NDP branding itself as the choice for continued investment in public services while the UCP hammers down on its promise of new jobs. Over the weekend, both NDP Leader Rachel Notley and UCP Leader Jason Kenney released their plans for the province. Even physically, the documents veered in opposite directions. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or They're not just different, they're miles apart. Here's how the NDP and UCP platforms compare. Back to video In Calgary, Kenney released a 117-page tome dubbed “Getting Alberta back to work,” broken up with scenic photos of Alberta and a handful of images showing the leader himself. By contrast, Notley’s 44-page platform under the NDP slogan “Fighting for you,” released in Edmonton, put Notley front and centre with pictures of her at a plethora of events across Alberta. The NDP reiterated commitments to billion-dollar investments outlined in the province’s third-quarter financials and five-year $30-billion capital plan. The UCP revealed $700 million in new spending over four years, with no unexpected big-ticket items, and promised to retain the NDP capital plan. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content The two parties did make some similar promises — to no one’s surprise, that included building new pipelines. The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project has been a main point of contention between the leaders as approvals, delays and re-approvals have slogged along. “We will fight without relent to build pipelines,” Kenney wrote in his platform introduction. Notley also noted the issue in her platform message, telling fellow Albertans, “We’ve been through a lot over these last four years. A tough recession, a pipeline fight for the ages, and a lot in between.” Notley has repeatedly said her strategy as premier was to build a national consensus on the Trans Mountain pipeline project to move it forward. Her platform outlined past work on the file, including the ban on B.C. wine in a battle with that NDP government, and legislation that gave her government the power to turn off the taps if necessary. The UCP platform accused her of forming an alliance with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, saying the relationship hindered the project. Together, they gave the B.C. NDP “a blank cheque to delay and block” the pipeline, Kenney said. There are a slew of other promises the parties have both made, though Kenney and Notley have different ideas on how to get there. That includes growing the economy, creating jobs, investing in innovation, improving the prosperity of Indigenous communities, reducing rural crime and helping Albertans upgrade their skills. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content As expected, the platforms also highlight different priorities. The NDP outlined an expansion of its $25-a-day child care program, while the UCP platform doesn’t mention child care. Kenney promised red tape reduction to speed up regulatory approvals while the NDP platform tended towards strengthening regulations. As the NDP and UCP continue to trumpet their complete platforms, here’s a look at how each party approaches major issues. Health care and mental health The NDP is campaigning on protecting public health care, building on past announcements. The platform plans to add 2,000 more long-term-care beds at a cost of $170 million, and $90 million per year to reduce surgical wait times and increase emergency care. The NDP also wants to create two storefront mental health clinics in Edmonton and Calgary to help people experiencing a mental health crisis. If re-elected, the NDP would increase the health budget by three per cent per year to account for population growth. The UCP wants to freeze the health care budget, but Kenney said he believes the party will find administrative efficiencies. He plans to kill the NDP’s planned superlab project in Edmonton, vows to lift the cap on midwifery services in Alberta, and touts a controversial Saskatchewan initiative for reducing surgical wait times. Kenney pegged $100 million over four years to create a mental health and addictions strategy. His platform also promises $20 million over four years in palliative care funding. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Job creation Job creation is the pillar of Kenney’s platform, with a number of initiatives he believes will reduce the unemployment rate. Most significantly, he plans to reduce the corporate tax rate to eight per cent from 12 per cent over four years. He also wants to introduce a $13-per-hour youth minimum wage, change how holiday hours are counted, recruit more newcomer entrepreneurs to rural areas, and would create a Fairness for Newcomers Office with a $2.5-million budget. Energy diversification remains the foundation of Notley’s job creation plan. She promises to double incentives for petrochemical and upgrading projects to $7 billion from $3.6 billion over the next decade, arguing it would unlock investment and create 70,000 jobs by 2030. She also boasts that the NDP child care program will help more mothers return to work. Education Kenney vows to replace Alberta’s School Act with the former Progressive Conservative government’s Education Act. It would eliminate changes the NDP introduced with Bill 24, including some protections for students who form a gay-straight alliance, and return the law to how it read in 2015 under the PC’s Bill 10. The UCP would essentially freeze education funding as opposed to bumping the budget for increasing enrolment numbers. The NDP committed to fully funding enrolment growth, which is pegged to increase the education budget by 2.5 per cent ($72 million annually).<doc-sep>Share this Story: Braid: The anger driven by UCP and NDP campaigns could do lasting harm Braid: The anger driven by UCP and NDP campaigns could do lasting harm Postmedia, file Article content Alberta needs an anger management course. Maybe the old dear should tuck up her borders and go for counselling. For now, the province is stuck with two amateur therapists who are not doing great things for collective mental health. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Braid: The anger driven by UCP and NDP campaigns could do lasting harm Back to video There’s UCP Leader Jason Kenney, who believes the best medicine is to spray the anger in every direction, from B.C. to Ottawa and many directions here at home. Al Charest/Postmedia He threatens revenge on the federal government and B.C., both through the courts and with new laws. Not yet done with this campaign, he’s already fighting the next one, against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Kenney shouts all this at rallies, sometimes from his pickup truck. He is wildly cheered by the desperate, unemployed victims of a wounded economy. Then there’s NDP Leader Rachel Notley, who counsels a quieter, calmer approach, lest the anger run out of control and end up backfiring on Alberta. But while Notley speaks reasonably, her campaign acts every bit as angry as Kenney, with one of the most vitriolic attack agendas ever seen in Canada. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Multiple websites assail Kenney, revealing his past words as well as the utterances of various fringy UCP candidates. Some of this stuff we had to know; I, for one, am boggled to learn that the West Yellowhead riding may soon have an MLA who thinks yoga is a sin. The kamikaze candidate scandal, mainly inflicted on the United Conservatives by other conservatives, is also a matter of real public concern. But the messages from both sides are as relentless as a pounding headache. Anger mounts. The bizarre lawn sign takedown Wednesday was just a small taste of it. Most Albertans are more interested in solutions than anger or vengeance. They want good government, a strong economy, social fairness, and even — for somewhat older folks — a return to Alberta’s storied values of mutual help and social cohesion. These qualities are not coming back to politics anytime soon. The well is already poisoned for the next legislature, no matter who’s running it. When a political system is healthy, opponents on policy and ideology can still respect and like each other personally. They often meet and collaborate on sensible answers for the public. That will be a lost art in the legislature, maybe for years. Whichever party wins will stick its policies down the other’s throat. A telling moment came during the TV debate, when Notley accused the UCP of bigotry and intolerance, and Kenney said her comments were “just defamatory.” He looked genuinely furious. This rivalry is no longer just political. It’s bitter and personal. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content But for Alberta’s sake, there has to be a middle road between Kenney’s promises to strike out at enemies, and Notley’s trust in the powers of persuasion. In my view, Alberta does have to look tougher on the national scene. I don’t see any problem with a referendum on equalization, for instance. It would be purely symbolic — we have to admit that — but would also send a powerful message, and educate other Canadians about the unfairness of this loaded deck. We also have to fight unfair laws such as Bill C-69 and C-48; not just because they endanger the economy but because they violate the province’s ownership of natural resources and hence the right to develop them. More On This Topic Special Section: Alberta Election 2019 Visit our interactive map to find your candidates in Calgary Varcoe: Election scrap over carbon tax, emissions cap splits Alberta's oilpatch Those rights were won in 1930 after a long struggle. No slapdash federal government should be allowed to steal them away now. But never, in fighting for Alberta, should the rest of Canada come to see us as a hostile fortress of angry citizens. This is where Notley has it right. She points out that B.C. — and certainly Ottawa — have their own powers that can be turned back on Alberta. Alberta anger is deep and genuine, she says, “but as a leader, you shouldn’t exploit it, ever, and you definitely shouldn’t be exploiting it in a way that can actually undercut your ability to get the thing done that would help the people who are angry.” Good advice. Alberta may someday take it, after counselling. Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald dbraid@calgaryherald.com Twitter: @DonBraid Facebook: Don Braid Politics Share this article in your social network Latest National Stories Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Calgary Herald Headline News Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Calgary Herald, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. Email Address There was an error, please provide a valid email address. By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300 Thanks for signing up! A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it please check your junk folder. The next issue of Calgary Herald Headline News will soon be in your inbox. 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Share this Story: Alberta UCP vs. NDP: Here's everything you need to know about their platforms Alberta UCP vs. NDP: Here's everything you need to know about their platforms Albertans will have to choose between Jason Kenney and Rachel Notley — but either way, they'll get a pro-pipeline and pro-oilsands government Photo by Postmedia, file Article content EDMONTON — Rachel Notley and Jason Kenney talk about each other as though each represents an entirely different vision of the Alberta of the future. To an outsider, this may seem like an election fought over the narcissism of small differences; both parties share similar goals, especially on the economy. This was highlighted in the weekend release of the NDP and UCP’s platforms, which focus heavily on getting oil out of the ground and to market. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Alberta UCP vs. NDP: Here's everything you need to know about their platforms Back to video “They are campaigning on the broad needs of Albertans,” said Lethbridge College professor Faron Ellis. “The rhetoric would make it appear … there are much greater divisions.” Alberta’s politicians operate within a relatively narrow range of acceptable ideas, at least when it comes to the economy. The Alberta New Democrats are pro-resource development; so are the United Conservatives. Contrast the Alberta NDP with the federal NDP — or the B.C. New Democrats — who are avowedly anti-oil and gas, and Notley’s party has more in common with Kenney’s. Article content When the oil and gas industry makes up about one-quarter of GDP, there’s simply no room to disagree. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or “A government cannot represent the interests of Albertans without taking a pro-resource development stance, much to the chagrin to many of the hardcore NDPers,” Ellis said. “No Alberta government, no matter what, can shut down or … tar the industry.” This means that both parties are pro-pipeline and pro-oilsands. “We will fight without relent to build pipelines,” said Kenney’s opening note in his party’s platform. At her platform announcement at an Edmonton community centre on Sunday, Notley promised to keep fighting for those same pipelines. Both parties also have concerns over Bill C-69, new legislation overhauling the energy project regulatory process, though Kenney’s more full-throated in his condemnation. The NDP platform says Notley has “called for significant changes” to the bill. Article content Even the oil curtailment imposed by the NDP government last year — limiting production to clear out a backlog and bring oil prices back up — was first publicly proposed by Kenney’s party. More On This Topic Alberta contributes much more to Canada Pension Plan than its retirees take out: study Notley, Kenney channel glories of past premiers in battle for Alberta's economic soul While the two parties share similar goals — more workers, more money, more oil moving to market — they have different ideas about how to accomplish them, showing a classic conservative-social democrat divide on how to actually grow the economy, bring the unemployment rate down from seven per cent and bring household incomes back up. Kenney’s party plans to increase investment by cutting corporate taxes from 12 per cent down to eight per cent over four years. The UCP says this is going to create 55,000 full-time jobs and add $12.7 billion to the provincial GDP. Article content The New Democrats are pledging subsidies. Notley has promised to spend $7 billion to lure petrochemical and energy upgrading projects over the next decade, which, she said, would lead to 70,000 new jobs and $75 billion in private investment by 2030. “Kenney’s going to say, ‘We’re going to create jobs indirectly,'” said Ted Morton, a University of Calgary political scientist. “Notley’s campaigning basically on: ‘We’ll send out more government cheques — or things that are free.’ And Albertans will have to choose.” The most politically heated difference between the two parties is probably their approach to the carbon tax. Kenney has promised to repeal it as soon as he’s elected. He’s also vowed to fight the federal government in court and help campaign against Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government in the upcoming election. Article content While the New Democrats naturally support their own carbon tax, they do actually share some common ground with the UCP.