With the first full week of Alberta’s 2015 election campaign coming to an end, I took a look at where the leaders of Alberta’s political parties have visited in the last seven days [see the map above].
The day the writ was dropped, Progressive Conservative leader Jim Prentice hopped into his party’s campaign bus and hit the highway into rural Alberta. First driving through the West Yellowhead constituency, Mr. Prentice’s tour included campaign stops with Finance Minister Robin Campbell and a trip down memory lane to Grande Cache, where he spent part of his childhood.
The PC tour continued through central and southern rural Alberta with a quick stop in Calgary. Much of Mr. Prentice’s first week was dedicated to campaigning in constituencies that voted Wildrose in the last election – Airdrie, Drumheller-Stettler, Highwood, Lacombe-Ponoka, Innisfail-Sylvan Lake, Livingstone-Macleod, and Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.
NDP leader Rachel Notley started election with campaign stops in Edmonton, Calgary and Lethbridge. During the first weekend of the campaign, Ms. Notley traveled to Fort McMurray, where she campaigned with candidates Stephen Drover and Ariana Mancini, and participated in the local Firefighters charity event. Upon her return to Edmonton, she was greeted by a crowd of more than 500 NDP supporters at a Sunday afternoon rally at the Citadel Theatre.
Wildrose leader Brian Jean, travelling Alberta in his campaign RV, has made stops in Edmonton, Grande Prairie, and Calgary, but has divided most of his time in rural southern and central Alberta and the two Fort McMurray constituencies (he is running for election in Fort McMurray-Conklin). As the campaign continues, I expect that Mr. Jean will continue to focus on key rural areas of rural Alberta and Calgary, including Strathmore-Brooks, where the Wildrose hope former Taxpayers Federation spokesperson Derek Fildebrandt can win.
Alberta Party leader Greg Clark and Liberal leader David Swann appear to be focusing most of their energies on winning their own constituencies in Calgary, but both have made trips to Edmonton to hold press conferences and campaign with local candidates. Mr. Clark, alongside Edmonton-Gold Bar candidate Cristina Stasia, released the Alberta Party platform at the University of Alberta campus.
The latest party policy announcements
Ms. Notley released her party’s health care policy, Mr. Jean spoke about the need to prioritize high need long-term care spaces, Mr. Prentice committed to triple infrastructure and maintenance investment, and Dr. Swann’s Liberals unveiled a full-day kindergarden and universal childcare strategy.
7 replies on “Where did Alberta’s party leaders spend the first week of the 2015 election?”
I wonder if we’ll see the NDP/Liberal/AB Party leaders go out of their comfort zone as to visit someplace smaller than Grande Prairie this election!
I have a list somewhere buried away of all the leader stops last election…Glenn Taylor obviously made quite a number of rural stops given he was former mayor of Hinton. Sherman I don’t think made a single ‘rural’ stop. Mason went to Redwater for an upgrader announcement and I believe that was all. Redford and Smith both made numerous stops throughout the province, including at least a couple on reserves.
Brian Jean was up here in Grande Prairie yesterday, and announced that they had unpacked their parachutes to get a candidate in GP-Wapiti (Infrastructure Minister Wayne Drysdale’s seat). See the Daily Herald-Tribune’s fawning story (with an erroneous headline) at http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/2015/04/13/wildrose-candidate-for-gp-smoky-announced.
The NDP’s candidate is local activist Mary Dahr, a lab tech at the QE II, and the Alberta Party’s candidate is GP City Councillor Rory Tarant; there is no Liberal announced in Wapiti.
Thanks for the update, Jerrymacgp. I have updated the map with Mr. Jean’s Grande Prairie, Falher and Spirit River campaign stops, as well as his stop in Neerlandia today. Also added is today’s stop by Jim Prentice in Wetaskiwin.
Dave
Ryan – I imagine we will see Swann and Clark stick closer to Calgary and Edmonton, probably with the odd stop in Red Deer or Lethbridge as well. I expect Notley will probably visit more smaller cities than Swann or Clark, as the NDP appears to have some momentum in this election.
– Dave
It makes no sense whatso ever at this time for the Liberals to reach out to rural ridings. Reaching to entrenched deaftone Trudea haters with so little time left is a compete and utter waste of time. Liberals should focus intensly on promoting their brand and policies and reaching doors. Any cooperation with small progressive parties only undermines Liberal chances. The polls are fickle and are so are the pseudo intellectual political scientists who never talk to real people, nor have they left the campus since they were 18. As one article recently said polls reveal attitudes more than intentions.
“Brian Jean was up here in Grande Prairie yesterday, and announced that they had unpacked their parachutes to get a candidate in GP-Wapiti” classic! I swallowed my gum!
@pogo: and pretty close to literally accurate; Prentice certainly chose to hit while the WRA was down.