Leader issues for all parties
It seems no major political leader in this election can catch a break. The Tory’s Ed Stelmach, Liberal leader Kevin Taft and the NDP’s main man Brian Mason, all faced some issues on the campaign trail. Stelmach has been getting the short end of the stick lately, facing a lot of criticism from regular citizens at recent announcements.
The most recent embarrassment for Eddy came in Red Deer when a group of moms grilled him over the childcare plan he was there to announce. In this mornings Herald one mother is quoted as saying “you can decrease my taxes, but if my daycare costs go up another $100, you’ve still done nothing for parents.” It’s a harsh criticism that probably stings a bit.
He probably thought getting out of Red Deer would help, but the battle of criticism raged on when he arrived in Drayton Valley. Stelly was visited by a group of oil and gas workers who weren’t too happy with him. He was blasted for his new royalty plan, some calling it “the final nail in the coffin” or saying, “it’s going to have a terrible rippling effect.” Once again thank you to the Herald for the quotes.
On the other side of the spectrum Liberal leader Kevin Taft made a goof while tripping over his own policy. Taft announced that the Liberals would indefinitely halt school closures in the province…the problem is, that’s not what the Liberal policy book says. It promises a three-year moratorium on the closures. Instead of actually closing schools the Liberals want to keep some classrooms open for the children who do go to certain schools, even if there are only 90 kids attending, and then rent out the extra school space for other public services.
This isn’t going over well with the Calgary Board of Education or the Alberta School Boards Association who say they want the authority to close schools they need to close rather than be forced to keep them open and stretch their resources thin.
Finally we go to Brian Mason. The NDP stance on royalties is not exactly the most popular in our province. Out of all parties they want the biggest chunk out of royalty revenues, which hasn’t received the greatest buzz out of the oil and gas sector. Then yesterday Mason kicked off his Calgary campaign by unveiling his pharmacare plan that would cap the monthly drug costs for seniors at $25. I think that’s all I need to say.
Needless to say in the last couple of days the leaders have had a bit of a rough ride. It will be interesting to see how they fair from here on out. It could mean many votes, and it could mean some changes for Calgary and Alberta.