During the hour-long leaders’ debate on May 18, UCP Leader Danielle Smith touted her party’s record during her seven months in office, while NDP Leader Rachel Notley focused on the theme of trust and criticized the UCP government’s tenure.
The central topics covered in the debate between Smith, who is vying for reelection, and Notley, premier from 2015 to 2019, were affordability, health care, the economy, relations with Ottawa, and a “wild card” round taken from public submissions.
“I know you’re keen on fighting, you want to fight with Ottawa, you want to fight with the media, you want to fight, frankly, with your former self. It’s actually quite exhausting,” said Notley.
Smith countered, “Ms. Notley didn’t stand up. When [Prime Minister] Justin Trudeau cancelled Northern Gateway, she didn’t stand up. When Energy East pulled the plug, she didn’t stand up. When they brought in a tanker ban off the west coast for our product, and she didn’t stand up. When the ‘no more pipelines bill’ was passed—”
At that point, Notley interrupted Smith’s time and began talking over her, which set the tone for much of the debate.
CTV News’ Erin Isfeld, one of two media moderators for the event, had initially told both leaders “not to talk over one another.”
“We want to ensure that the discussion can be heard clearly for our audience at home, and we’re not going to hesitate to step in to ensure that that is the case,” said Isfeld.
Smith was interrupted on a number of occasions during her allotted time, without comment from the media moderators. Each time Notley interrupted Smith, Smith stopped talking until Notley ceased or the moderators invited her to speak again. Both women were wearing Conservative blue.
Smith had many pages of notes and took some notes during the debate, but seemed to be speaking largely without notes. Smith was very focused on presenting her party’s plans going forward and provided exhaustive statistics, facts, and concrete details of the UCP record and plan.
Notley also relied on notes, sometimes stumbling over words as she lost her place.
Both leaders were asked, “What can government do to bring down the actual cost of utilities going forward?
“What we absolutely have to do is find a way to reduce those costs,” said Notley. “Going forward, we have to find a way to keep those costs lower.”
Smith responded to the same question. “The first thing is that we have to build about a power grid based on it being reliable and affordable, as opposed to based on ideology. We have a federal government that is propped up by the NDP that has put a war on natural gas,” she said. “Our power grid here is almost 90 percent natural gas. And yet we have a federal government that wants us to be able to be completely abated on natural gas by 2035. That is the commitment that Ms. Notley has signed on to. She wants to achieve that. That’s going to cost $52 billion and increase our power bills 40 percent.”
The YouTube chat was open to the public during the debate, with supporters for both parties sparring back and forth with comments.
With less than 12 days until election day, the rules for the debate were simple. Each leader had one minute for opening remarks, and 10 questions were asked, with both Smith and Notley offered 45 seconds to respond. After each segment, there was a brief open debate.
Smith went first with opening remarks.
“This election, Albertans have a choice between a UCP government that is lower taxes, balance budget, and return Alberta to its place as economic powerhouse of Canada,” said Smith.
Smith said the province cannot afford a return to an NDP government that hiked taxes, drove out jobs and investment, “and almost bankrupted our province.” She highlighted the UCP platform of cutting personal income taxes with a new 8 percent tax bracket, continuing a freeze on fuel taxes until the end of 2023, hiring more police officers, and monitoring violent offenders out on bail with ankle bracelets.
She repeated the UCP’s promise that there will be no out-of-pocket charges for a family doctor.
Notley began her introduction by thanking firefighters and mentioning Albertans displaced by wildfires. “This election is about trust, and it’s about leadership. You know, you can’t trust Danielle Smith,” said Notley.
Notley promised to create jobs and “diversify for the future.”
“I won’t raise your taxes, I will cap your bills. I won’t fund a war room, I will fund an emergency room. And I won’t ever make you pay to see a doctor. I’ll protect our health care, protect our mountains, and protect your pension,” said Notley.
Each leader was asked what steps they will take to deal with the affordability crisis and the rising cost of living affecting Albertans.
Smith said the UCP provided $600 affordability payments, and offered rebates on fuel taxes and electricity to offset the federal carbon tax. She promised more going forward.
Notley said the NDP would put a cap on car insurance “and help families reduce their utilities.”
“Most importantly, we will never, ever, ever make them pay to see a family doctor,” said Notley.
The first open debate portion of the evening was opened up on affordability, with Smith stating that the NDP in power made the “ideological” decision to phase out coal too early. “They added $2 billion to the cost of your power bill,” said Smith.
The UCP leader said Notley had not stopped. “She wants to achieve the 2035 net zero target put forward by Justin Trudeau. That will cost $52 billion and increase your power bill another 40 percent. We can’t afford to do that,” said Smith.
On Notley’s turn, she said, “We actually put a cap in place. And we did that so that people’s utilities and their electricity wouldn’t get out of control.”
Smith was invited to comment further and said that Notley “racked up $70 billion in debt, more than any premier, actually all premiers combined in Alberta’s provincial history.” The UCP leader pointed to Notley’s term in power from 2015 to 2019 and said Notley introduced a carbon tax following that election.
More to come.