A FAIR ASSEMENT CONSIDERING
Braid: Federal election campaign will come with challenges for NotleyFor the Alberta NDP, the most dangerous player in the looming federal election might be the federal NDP
Author of the article:
Don Braid • Calgary Herald
Publishing date: Jul 11, 2021 •
Publishing date: Jul 11, 2021 •
NDP leader Rachel Notley speaks to reporters while calling for faster relief for small businesses.
Thursday, May 20, 2021. PHOTO BY BRENDAN MILLER/POSTMEDIA
For the Alberta NDP, the most dangerous player in the looming federal election might be the federal NDP.
Opposition Leader Rachel Notley is in Calgary for Stampede. She won’t be riding any ziplines this year, but she’s spending a lot of time connecting with people in parks and communities.
Notley and her party are well ahead of the UCP and Premier Jason Kenney in the polls, even in Calgary, largely because of unhappiness with government performance on provincial issues.
But the federal election campaign, expected to launch in coming weeks, could be a challenge.
Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has been wildly contradictory about pipelines and energy development.
He calls for supporting workers in the energy transition without much reference to Alberta, which will obviously be most affected by the race to net-zero emissions.
Singh has said he would give every province — especially Quebec — the ability to stop energy projects. He would somehow do that without denying the federal constitutional power to override provincial opposition to works of national interest.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals could capture a majority, rendering Singh irrelevant after the election.
But to win the support they need in Quebec and Ontario, the Liberals may have to steal more NDP policies and attitudes than usual.
Kenney will find all this very useful. We can expect him to pin any hostile NDP suggestion on Notley. Hurting her chances might be the only benefit he gets from this election.
Asked about the obvious policy conflict with her federal party, Notley says: “It’s a bit of a work in progress. We’ve got a very good MP in Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona). She talks to the (NDP) caucus every day about the reality of oil and gas workers, and the oil and gas economy and its contribution to quality of life for regular folks in Alberta and across the country.
“The more we can have people like that in the NDP caucus, and also in all the caucuses across the country, the better that is.
“We will see what level of emphasis the federal party puts on oil and gas infrastructure as part of their campaign. There may well be certain things we agree to disagree on.
“Jason Kenney’s federal leader (Erin O’Toole) supports the carbon tax, yet nobody seems to call him out for otherwise supporting the federal leader on other issues.”
(Maybe that’s because O’Toole’s policy on carbon pricing, sort of a supermarket points scheme, is even murkier than Singh’s position on pipelines.)
But Notley is all in for many federal NDP policies.
“There are elements of what they’re proposing that we do strongly support.
“They’re pushing very hard for a comprehensive overhaul in how we provide long-term care for seniors in Canada, and I think that is long overdue.
“They’re pushing for pharmacare . . . and for more sustainable income support for people who have not been able to find work as we come out of the pandemic.
“Those are important bread-and-butter issues that we do support.”
If there’s energy conflict, she concludes, “We might have to allow for the complexity of national politics within the party.”
Notley’s Stampede style, meanwhile, is distinctly different from Kenney’s. While he appears in public without a mask, Notley and her crew wear them even outdoors.
“We’re not going to those big centralized events,” she said. “Even in the more careful events that we are creating, I’m connecting with hundreds of people a day and so I feel I have to be responsible in terms of how I interact with them.”
Overall, she said, “The (COVID-19) numbers right now are awfully low, so that’s encouraging . . . I’m going to be cautiously optimistic that we come through this without accelerating any negative consequences.
“Stampede is a hopeful event for Calgarians. I’m not interested in stomping on that hope.”
As for the federal campaign, her chore will be to get through unscathed.
Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald
For the Alberta NDP, the most dangerous player in the looming federal election might be the federal NDP.
Opposition Leader Rachel Notley is in Calgary for Stampede. She won’t be riding any ziplines this year, but she’s spending a lot of time connecting with people in parks and communities.
Notley and her party are well ahead of the UCP and Premier Jason Kenney in the polls, even in Calgary, largely because of unhappiness with government performance on provincial issues.
But the federal election campaign, expected to launch in coming weeks, could be a challenge.
Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has been wildly contradictory about pipelines and energy development.
He calls for supporting workers in the energy transition without much reference to Alberta, which will obviously be most affected by the race to net-zero emissions.
Singh has said he would give every province — especially Quebec — the ability to stop energy projects. He would somehow do that without denying the federal constitutional power to override provincial opposition to works of national interest.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals could capture a majority, rendering Singh irrelevant after the election.
But to win the support they need in Quebec and Ontario, the Liberals may have to steal more NDP policies and attitudes than usual.
Kenney will find all this very useful. We can expect him to pin any hostile NDP suggestion on Notley. Hurting her chances might be the only benefit he gets from this election.
Asked about the obvious policy conflict with her federal party, Notley says: “It’s a bit of a work in progress. We’ve got a very good MP in Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona). She talks to the (NDP) caucus every day about the reality of oil and gas workers, and the oil and gas economy and its contribution to quality of life for regular folks in Alberta and across the country.
“The more we can have people like that in the NDP caucus, and also in all the caucuses across the country, the better that is.
“We will see what level of emphasis the federal party puts on oil and gas infrastructure as part of their campaign. There may well be certain things we agree to disagree on.
“Jason Kenney’s federal leader (Erin O’Toole) supports the carbon tax, yet nobody seems to call him out for otherwise supporting the federal leader on other issues.”
(Maybe that’s because O’Toole’s policy on carbon pricing, sort of a supermarket points scheme, is even murkier than Singh’s position on pipelines.)
But Notley is all in for many federal NDP policies.
“There are elements of what they’re proposing that we do strongly support.
“They’re pushing very hard for a comprehensive overhaul in how we provide long-term care for seniors in Canada, and I think that is long overdue.
“They’re pushing for pharmacare . . . and for more sustainable income support for people who have not been able to find work as we come out of the pandemic.
“Those are important bread-and-butter issues that we do support.”
If there’s energy conflict, she concludes, “We might have to allow for the complexity of national politics within the party.”
Notley’s Stampede style, meanwhile, is distinctly different from Kenney’s. While he appears in public without a mask, Notley and her crew wear them even outdoors.
“We’re not going to those big centralized events,” she said. “Even in the more careful events that we are creating, I’m connecting with hundreds of people a day and so I feel I have to be responsible in terms of how I interact with them.”
Overall, she said, “The (COVID-19) numbers right now are awfully low, so that’s encouraging . . . I’m going to be cautiously optimistic that we come through this without accelerating any negative consequences.
“Stampede is a hopeful event for Calgarians. I’m not interested in stomping on that hope.”
As for the federal campaign, her chore will be to get through unscathed.
Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald
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