Politics
‘Cold and Tense’: 10 Americans on How Politics Changes Relationships
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Ten readers share their stories about the strain today’s politics has put on their family and personal relationships.
A woman in Colorado used to pride herself on engaging political opponents without judgment. But since relatives embraced Covid conspiracy theories while she was doing emergency pandemic response work, she has become viscerally wary of conservatives.
A lifelong Republican in Florida, disillusioned by former President Donald J. Trump, has listened to racist comments from friends and wondered if he ever truly knew them.
Nearly one in five voters said in a recent New York Times/Siena College poll that political divisions had hurt their relationships. After the poll was published, The Times asked readers to share their own experiences. More than 500 people responded, many of them describing friendships and familial ties that had long withstood disagreements, only to crumble over the past few years.
They expressed complex emotions: ambivalence about their choices; confidence that they had made the right calls, but sorrow at the circumstances that had prompted them; longing for a time when political differences felt easier to ignore. The trouble, some said, is that when the issues are as fundamental as democracy or as personal as abortion, it feels impossible to separate politics from core values.
Here is a sampling of the responses, which have been edited and condensed.
Elise Vinson, 33, Loveland, Colo.
‘I used to try to meet people where they were’
“I lost my immediate family to QAnon, far-right extremism and Covid denialism. My grandfather died of Covid, and no one wore masks at his funeral. I was doing emergency response work at the same time my family was reiterating misinformation that I and my co-workers, some committing suicide influenced by the trauma of the work, were liars or dupes. I tried to show them pictures of the refrigerated trucks, the field hospitals, to explain that I wanted them to be safe, but nothing mattered.
“I used to try to meet people where they were at and empathize with their underlying needs. Now every pickup truck I see with a ‘Blue Lives Matter’ sticker — or, like in my town, militia stickers — is a threat waiting to be realized. Every wayward glance from a middle-aged man at Home Depot is silent disapproval of me doing ‘man’s work,’ instead of what my family has explained as my ‘divine role’ as a woman to be pregnant and leave the rest to my husband. Every Second Amendment flag feels like an excuse for school shootings.
“I feel like I can’t trust a single conservative. It will only lead to more pain.”
J.G. Grissom, 63, Florida
‘They have become unreachable and irrational’
“My wife and I were lifelong moderate Republicans who rarely paid attention to politics. Trump’s tone and tenor changed all of that. Many of our friends and family members supported MAGA extremism, its rhetoric and insurrection.
“We avoid contact with them, as they have become unreachable and irrational in their undying devotion to Trump. They have been willing to express racist, homophobic, intolerant, anti-mask, anti-vaccination, irrational viewpoints. We view maintaining and justifying these extremist beliefs as reasons to question their judgment, rational thinking and character.
“My wife fled Cuba in 1965, and we are astounded by the number of similar Cuban relatives who are incapable of seeing the similarities between Trump’s rhetoric and Castro’s. It feels disheartening and unsettling to hear people close to you support a man so clearly flawed and willing to overthrow our democracy. It makes you question if you really ever knew them in the first place.”
Audrey Vera, 33, Oakland, Calif.
‘I finally told them my girlfriend was a cop’
“I played bass in a death-rock band for almost five years. We would say that we were like family. I could go to a show and either know someone playing or know people there and feel welcomed. I am a nonbinary lesbian, and my band mates are also queer and trans, so having chosen family is huge.
“I started dating my partner in June 2020, around the time of the George Floyd murder. She works as a cop. I knew that was going to be contentious, so I kept her profession a secret. Throughout that year, they met my girlfriend and never had an issue with her. Around the time the Floyd cop had his trial, my band decided they wanted to write an ‘ACAB’ [‘All Cops Are Bastards’] song, and I finally told them my girlfriend was a cop. They didn’t talk to me for a week and then called to say I wasn’t ‘a fit’ for the band.
“I find it all very disheartening, but mostly so because she became a cop to have an influence on changing the police work force culture and create a safer environment for women, queer and trans people. Before I met her, I never would have thought I would be romantically involved with a cop. But if I hadn’t been open to unpacking my own snap judgments about people who become cops, then I wouldn’t have won the lesbian lottery. It really just speaks to how much your life can get unlocked when your gut goes by what you experience of a person instead of social narratives you’ve been told.”
E.R. Wallerstein, 74, Prairie Village, Kan.
‘I naïvely thought our friendship could outlast this’
“I lost a good friend of nearly 40 years because he couldn’t stop making every text, every email, every phone call about my being a ‘hater’ for leaning liberal. He even sent me a birthday card with Trump’s photo because he knew it would upset me.
“Finally, I gave him an ultimatum: ‘I never once asked that you reform your political opinions, only that you stop sharing them with me.’ His response? ‘I can’t. I’m having too much fun.’ We haven’t communicated since.
“He was always kind and considerate until Trump was elected. His responses to remarks by high-ranking Democrats quickly became dismissive, cruel and even crude. I naïvely thought our friendship could outlast this, but after years of responding with ‘please stop,’ I realized that getting out of what had become an abusive relationship was my only option.”
George Fisher, 17, Cincinnati
‘It’s become less political and more personal’
“Developing conservative leanings in a relatively progressive family has been challenging. I’m pro-life, and when I began developing that opinion, people were willing to listen. But with Dobbs v. Jackson, it’s become less political and more personal.
“My cousins, we’ve had some conflict there. They kind of want to distance themselves from me because they view my opinions as so absurd that they would rather not associate. When it takes place digitally versus face to face, they’re different things. I was texting with one of my cousins through Instagram, and it was very hostile. We saw each other recently at a wedding, and we kind of laughed it off. I left social media, and now when I see my cousins, it’s a lot better. There is still awkwardness, but I don’t think it’s a completely ruined relationship.
“Politics can be deeply tied to someone’s values and can be a good judge of character, though it is important not to jump to conclusions. I am pro-life because of my deep reverence and appreciation for life that I derived from my religious background as a Catholic — not because I am anti-woman. I try to apply my same standards to others, but it can be difficult to see someone’s views from their angle.”
Cameron Morris, 30, Chico, Calif.
‘I couldn’t rise above his beliefs’
“He’s a self-proclaimed moderate conservative; I’m just right of being a social democrat. Besides this, we’re very compatible. I wanted to try a romantic relationship — to prove to myself politics didn’t matter — but I couldn’t sustain choosing silence for peace every day when something that provoked me left his mouth.
“It took a toll on my self image. Dismissing the chance to advocate for causes I’ve fought for my whole life to keep the peace in the house pushed me away from a guy who loved me. Even though he loved me for being the silly liberal that I am, I couldn’t return the favor.
“When we broke up, I was left wondering who is the worse person: someone who picks politics over genuine connection or someone who doesn’t ‘believe in feeding the homeless’? He’d never act on such cruel words, but the language he used in our home was gut-wrenching. I couldn’t rise above his beliefs to show to the world that it’s still possible to come together in these crazy times. I thought love was stronger than beliefs — I just found it’s so hard to choose to love someone when their political mind lacks any sense of compassion.”
Mari Verano, 43, Vacaville, Calif.
‘Utter dismissal and cruelty’
“I ended a personal and professional relationship with someone I had chosen to mentor in graduate school because of the derogatory way he had spoken about people who were upset at Trump being elected — ‘big babies’ — people in marginalized communities that both he and I had worked in.
“I went to graduate school for mental health counseling. His words of utter dismissal and cruelty made me conclude that I could not further associate myself with him without my own reputation as a clinician being compromised.
“However, the Los Angeles City Council scandal was a reminder that just because someone votes Democrat doesn’t necessarily mean they are anti-racist. Sadly, it wasn’t a shock to me, because I have let go of white liberal friends who co-signed racism when racist comments were made toward me on social media.”
Drake Dewey, 23, Timberlake, Ohio
‘I kind of feel like I’m the black sheep’
“No one in my family except my mother and my father know that I voted for Trump. They all think that I voted third-party. When any political discussion comes up, I give a very watered-down, moderate answer. I’ve been recommended many times to not get into any political debates with any of my family members.
“A close relative is very keen on her Democratic beliefs, and I don’t really get to express my beliefs around her. Anytime I do, I kind of feel like I’m the black sheep of the family. Another relative is a lot more vocal. She resonates so much with her beliefs that our relationship is completely fractured.
“If I were to open my mouth and say I voted for Trump, she would never, ever speak to me again — I am very sure of that. She doesn’t know, but my views are aligned enough, so I think she’s put two and two together. Ever since the election, it’s just been a very, very cold and tense relationship. Before the election, we were more concerned with enjoying each other’s company. There was a little more warmth, but since the election, I think the warmth has really just gone.”
JoAnn Jacobs, 71, Jacksonville, Fla.
‘They had never really seen me’
“I am an African American woman. I am also a retired F.D.N.Y. firefighter who was appointed to the first class of women in 1982. We entered burning buildings; we put out dumpster fires; we responded to lockouts and car accidents. We shared bellyaching laughs over practical jokes, and watched and agonized over 18 Super Bowls. But when we disagreed about the death of Eleanor Bumpurs and, many years later, the shooting of Amadou Diallo, I realized there was a true divide that could not or would not be crossed.
“I retired from F.D.N.Y. in 2000 but maintained friendships with two employees. These women were closer to me than my own sister. The fact that I was a Democrat and they were Republican never impeded our friendship. Even though I knew they’d voted for Trump, it wasn’t until the summer of 2020 that I began to question my own integrity if I maintained my friendship with them.
“In June 2020, I wrote letters explaining my feelings, my sadness and reluctance in ending our friendship. I still believed them to be good people. But after the deaths of so many unarmed Black people, I was especially dismayed, given the decades-long friendship we shared, that they did not see beyond the ‘racial divide.’ In essence, they had never really seen me.”
Maureen Penman, 65, Columbus, Ohio
Trying ‘not to cave in to my baser angel’
“Every day I remind myself that someone who did not vote as I did put out food and water for a little stray cat. I once busted my tail clearing invasive plants from a local park with a guy whose T-shirt showed a different political affiliation than mine. The volunteer who leads yoga classes for cancer patients is not of my party.
“These are the things that I have to focus on if I am going to contribute anything good to the world, rather than curl in on myself in anger. Every hour, a thousand kindnesses are being done by someone who does not vote as I do. Yes, it’s a struggle and I am not immune to bouts of despair, rage and anxiety. But I am going to do all I can not to cave in to my baser angel.”
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A year ago, it looked like Rachel Notley’s race to lose. Danielle Smith has caught up in high-drama, low-issue battle
But this time, with the two parties neck-and-neck as voting day approaches, the election is not about jobs or pipelines or even party platforms.
It’s about Rachel Notley, leader of the NDP, and Danielle Smith, leader of the United Conservative Party.
Issues have surfaced, none of them campaign-defining. The NDP has hammered away on health care. They’ve promised a recruitment strategy for doctors and nurses, and repeatedly raised the spectre of private medicine, which is actually part of the UCP’s handbook. It’s an issue the NDP poll better on than the UCP.
And the UCP have talked extensively about the economy. Former prime minister Stephen Harper even put out a video early in the campaign warning about the economic damage he believes the NDP would do if they were re-elected. The UCP polls well on the economy.
Albertans seem to put Smith and Notley in a dead heat in terms of who they like more: 39 per cent have a positive view of Notley, 38 per cent have a positive view of Smith. The numbers are equally tight for those who dislike Notley (46 per cent) and Smith (47 per cent), per recent Abacus Data polling.
Six months, a year ago, it looked like Notley’s race to lose. The NDP had good polling numbers, and Notley was well-liked. The party out-fundraised their opponents and was flush with cash.
After Jason Kenney quit the UCP, a leadership campaign last summer saw the party’s right edge emerge victorious, with Smith taking the helm in a narrow victory. By the time the UCP held its convention last fall, the party was united to defeat Notley’s NDP.
The latest polling — the bulk of it from Mainstreet Research — shows the United Conservatives with a modest lead. On May 25, the pollster reported 46 per cent of Albertans planned to cast a ballot for the UCP, and 42 per cent for the NDP, with seven per cent still undecided, and the remainder scattered between small parties.
“The fact that the NDP are even close is already an indictment of the Danielle Smith era of the UCP,” said Boessenkool. “There’s no way that any party should be close to a united conservative tent.”
At least part of the reason has been the “bozo eruptions.” In a country where an impropriety or an inelegant comment has been enough to end a political career — and scuppered Smith’s last crack at becoming premier in 2012 — the UCP has largely kept its candidates while dealing with a steady drip of controversy.
“I think these things will affect turnout: they’ll hurt UCP turnout and they’ll boost NDP turnout,” said Boessenkool.
Jennifer Johnson, a nurse and farmer who lives near the central Alberta town of Bentley, was the UCP candidate for Lacombe-Ponoka, at least until audio of her comparing transgender children in the classroom to feces in cookie dough leaked out. She’s still technically on the ballot — it was too late to remove her — but Smith said she won’t sit in caucus.
“(They’re) focusing on the UCP’s record on the economy, and really sowing equal doubt in the minds of voters about ‘do you want to go back to to a Rachel Notley-led government,’” Myatt said.
For most of her career in media and politics, Smith has operated on something of the political fringe; the libertarian wing of Alberta politics. As recently as June 2021, Smith argued in a position paper that out-of-pocket payments would be necessary to sustain the health-care system, and in October 2021, suggested selling off several Alberta hospitals. Those positions have been repeated ad nauseam by her NDP opponents, and Smith has had to swear, repeatedly, she doesn’t stand by her previous comments.
Additionally, she promoted hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, as a “100 per cent” effective treatment for COVID-19, and herself took Ivermectin — an anti-parasitic drug — when she came down with COVID-19, picking up the drug on the same day the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta said it should never be prescribed to treat the viral infection.
Trussler compared Smith’s actions to those of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the SNC-Lavalin affair. “In the whole scheme of things, it is a threat to democracy to interfere with the administration of justice,” Trussler wrote.
Again, the report didn’t seem to move voters. At least part of the explanation, said Menzies, is that everyone knew the report was coming and anticipated it wouldn’t exonerate Smith. It was already baked in with voters, Menzies said.
The UCP mentions in its campaign advertising that Notley once said Alberta risked being Canada’s “embarrassing cousin” if it didn’t get its environmental record under control. And that Sarah Hoffman, former NDP deputy premier, once called Wildrose supporters “sewer rats.” Campaign literature in Edmonton details “anti-police” NDP candidates, too, but none of it seems to have broken into the popular discourse.
“I think voters kind of look past the noise now,” said Menzies.
On May 18, Rachel Notley and Danielle Smith faced off in a one-on-one leaders debate. It was just hours after Trussler had released her report. The UCP had crowed victory, as Trussler also said that she could find no evidence that Smith had contacted Crown prosecutors directly regarding COVID prosecutions, a central allegation the CBC had been reporting that the NDP had seized on.
“Ms. Notley, the NDP and the CBC lied for months saying I was calling Crown prosecutors and my staff were calling Crown prosecutors and it wasn’t true, and that is what the ethics commissioner found,” Smith responded.
For Smith, the debate was a strong showing. Perhaps her best day on the campaign.
“The NDP has had a full campaign of draws and the UCP has had a full campaign of losses, with one draw,” said Boessenkool.
Anecdotal evidence from those working the doors around the province for the NDP suggests voters do care about some of the scandals.
There have been some high-profile defections from conservative camps, who aren’t voting blue this time.
There’s no way that any party should be close to a united conservative tent
Doug Griffiths, who served as a cabinet minister under former Progressive Conservative premier Ed Stelmach, said he’d be giving his vote to the New Democrat in Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville, a suburban and rural riding east of Edmonton.
“I don’t believe the UCP party is conservative anymore,” Griffiths said in a video. “They are conspiratorial, they are feeding anger. They are anti-science, anti-truth, anti-fact.”
“I’m a lifelong conservative both federally and provincially, and this is a big change for me to abandon my party, but I simply cannot any longer tolerate this,” Foster told the Calgary Herald.
“The vast majority of conservatives who are nervous about Danielle are ultimately going to wind up supporting her,” Myatt predicted.
The tight popular vote polling doesn’t break down cleanly in terms of seat count, which are weighted towards Calgary and small-town Alberta — conservative heartlands. There are 87 seats in the Alberta legislature, 20 of them in Edmonton, 26 in Calgary and 41 in the rest of the province.
On Monday, it may come down to who can get people out the door and to the polling stations.
“The only thing left to do is to motivate and mobilize your supporters to get to the polls,” said Leah Ward, Notley’s former communications director, now with Wellington Advocacy. “There’s very little persuading left to do.”
• Email: tdawson@postmedia.com | Twitter:
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An election in Alberta will be a test of a premier who has said that she models her politics after those of prominent right-wing U.S. politicians.
The News
Voters in Alberta, the epicenter of conservative politics in Canada, will select a new provincial government on Monday.
Albertans will vote for local representatives in the provincial legislature and the party that wins the most seats will form the government, with its leader becoming premier.
The election pits the United Conservative Party, led by the current premier, Danielle Smith, against a leftist party, the New Democratic Party, led by Rachel Notley, a lawyer.
Before the pandemic, the governing United Conservative Party appeared to have a firm hold on power. But last year, large and angry demonstrations against pandemic restrictions and against vaccine mandates helped spark a trucker convoy in the province that eventually spread, paralyzing Ottawa, Canada’s capital, and blocking vital cross-border crossings.
A small group of social conservatives within the United Conservatives ousted their leader, Jason Kenney, ending his premiership, after the government refused to lift pandemic measures.
The party replaced him with Ms. Smith, a far-right former radio talk show host and newspaper columnist prone to incendiary comments; she compared people who were vaccinated against Covid-19 to supporters of Hitler.
The Background
Ms. Smith likes to extol right-wing U.S. politicians, for example, calling Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican running for president, her hero.
She also has floated ideas that most Canadians would never support, like charging fees for public health care.
Ms. Smith now finds herself, analysts say, far to the right of many conservative loyalists, turning what should been a near-certain victory for her party into a close race that has provided an opening for their opponents, the New Democratic Party, a leftist party.
“This would not be a close race if anyone other than Danielle Smith was leading the U.C.P.,” said Janet Brown, who runs a polling firm based in Calgary, Alberta’s largest city.
Ms. Notley is seeking to steer the labor-backed New Democrats to a second upset victory in the province in recent years.
In 2015, she led the New Democrats to power for the first time in Alberta’s history, thanks in part to a fracturing of the conservative movement into two feuding parties.
The stunning win broke a string of conservative governments dating to the Great Depression. But her victory coincided with a collapse in oil prices that cratered the province’s economy. Ms. Notley’s approval ratings plunged and the United Conservatives took over in 2019.
Ms. Smith’s support is largely based in the province’s rural areas, surveys show, while Ms. Notley’s path to victory on Tuesday will likely be through Alberta’s urban centers, including its two largest cities, Edmonton and Calgary.
Edmonton, the provincial capital and a city with a large union presence, is likely to back the New Democrats.
That could make Calgary, which is generally more conservative leaning, a deciding factor. Calgary also has a growing ethnic population, particularly immigrants from South Asia, and Ms. Smith’s is unpopular with many of those voters because of some of her extreme statements.
Why It Matters
If Ms. Smith’s brand of conservatism fails to return her party to office in Canada’s most conservative province, the federal Conservative Party of Canada may need to reconsider its strategy as it prepares to take on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party in the next national elections.
The federal conservatives also replaced the party’s leader during the pandemic with a combative right-wing politician, Pierre Poilievre, who welcomed truck convoy protesters to Ottawa, the capital, with coffee and doughnuts. Mr. Poilievre shares Ms. Smith’s penchant for promoting provocative positions.
Even a narrow victory for Ms. Smith could actually be a loss, if it means fewer conservative seats in the provincial legislature, said Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University in Calgary.
In that scenario, Ms. Smith could find her position as premier and party leader tenuous and many of the policies she promotes could be cast aside, he said.
“If she loses, she’s gone,” he said. “If she wins, I think she’s still gone.”
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Alberta’s United Conservative Party jumped out to a lead over the NDP in early returns Monday in what was forecast to be a tight race in the provincial election.
Danielle Smith’s UCP was holding strong in its traditional rural strongholds while Rachel Notley’s NDP was faring well in Edmonton, where it won all but one seat in 2019.
Early results were still mixed in the key battleground of Calgary, with about 10 per cent of polls reporting, according to Elections Alberta.
Here are the incoming results by riding:
9 p.m.
Braid: Despite the wild and angry campaign, Alberta will settle down
Albertans haven’t gone crazy, OK? We’re still just regular Canadians who want decent, competent government and a team that can win a Stanley Cup.
Despite all appearances, this campaign was never about which side was more dangerous. It was about capturing the reasonable middle where most Albertans park their politics. Both parties tried to do that by demonizing the other, while offering policies and solutions well within the bounds of reason.
5:36 p.m.
Memorable quotes from the campaign trail
Candidates for both the United Conservative Party and New Democrats have been campaigning over the last four weeks for their party to form the next Alberta government.
Here are some memorable quotes from the campaign:
“(The NDP) devastated the Alberta economy. They created policies that drove investment out, drove jobs out, and we had to reverse all of that,” UCP Leader Danielle Smith said on May 1, the day the writ was dropped. “The choice in this election couldn’t be clearer. It’s a choice between a UCP government that will cut your taxes and make life more affordable or an NDP government that will make you pay more across the board.”
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“I am satisfied Mr. Pawlowski intended to incite the audience to continue the blockade — intended to incite protesters to commit mischief,” Justice Gordon Krinke said in Lethbridge on May 2, when he found Calgary pastor Artur Pawlowski guilty of charges related to his role in protests against COVID-19 public health measures. In a leaked phone call between Smith and Pawlowski, before his trial, Smith told Pawlowski the charges against him were politically motivated and she would make inquiries on his behalf and report back.
“(Smith) has a policy of not speaking publicly on matters before the courts, except when she’s talking to the person who’s before the courts about how she’s going to interfere with the matter before the courts,” Notley said when asked to comment on Smith’s no comment on the Pawlowski case. “That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard from her. OK, maybe it’s not the most ridiculous, because there’s a lot of ridiculous.”
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“(Judicial independence) is a fundamental pillar of our democracy. The premier breached this principle by discussing the accused’s case,” ethics commissioner Marguerite Trussler said in her report released May 18 into Smith’s actions as premier when she called her justice minister about Pawlowski’s case.
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“I’ve asked the ethics commissioner to give advice,” Smith said May 19. “I am a non-lawyer. As premier, I do need to be able to get advice from my top official, my top legal adviser. If she has recommendations on how to do that better next time, I will absolutely accept them.”
— The Canadian Press
5:30 p.m.
Special measures in place to enable voting for electors affected by wildfires
Alberta’s 2023 election campaign has taken place alongside a record-breaking spring for wildfires in Alberta. Ten communities were under evacuation orders Monday.
Elections Alberta has set up alternate voting locations for those displaced. Evacuation has been added as an eligible reason to vote by special ballot and mobile voting stations have been placed in evacuation centres.
— The Canadian Press
10:55 a.m.
Calgary region had 7 of the top 10 busiest advance polling stations in Alberta last week
Electors in Calgary and area were among the most eager to get to the polls.
Of the 10 busiest polling stations in the province during the advance polling period last week, seven were in Calgary, Elections Alberta said on Monday.
And of those seven, four were in the southern half of Calgary and another was located south of the city.
Generally speaking, more Alberta voters chose to cast their ballot during the advance voting period than ever before.
“For the second election in a row we have seen record-breaking voter turnout during advance voting days,” said Chief Electoral Officer Glen Resler in a statement issued Monday morning. “In 2019, we saw 700,476 ballots cast during the five days of advance voting, this year we have welcomed 758,550 to the polls so far.”
Here were the 10 busiest polling stations during the advance voting period, May 23-27, according to Elections Alberta:
- ED 83 (St. Albert): St. Albert Centre
- ED 81 (Sherwood Park): Sherwood Park Mall
- ED 01 (Calgary-Acadia): Southcentre Mall
- ED 14 (Calgary-Hays): McKenzie Towne Church
- ED 08 (Calgary-Edgemont): Foothills Alliance Church
- ED 65 (Highwood): Okotoks Centennial Hall
- ED 02 (Calgary-Beddington): Huntington Hills Community Hall and Sportsplex
- ED 33 (Edmonton-Gold Bar): Bonnie Doon Centre
- ED 47 (Airdrie-Cochrane): Frank Wills Memorial Hall
- ED 23 (Calgary-Shaw): Cardel Rec South
10:35 a.m.
Alberta votes in the strangest — and closest — election in its political history
Whoever wins the Alberta election on Monday, it will be one of the strangest campaigns ever fought in the province, with plenty of drama but few policy issues, and the real possibility of the closest outcome in Alberta political history.
In 2015, when the NDP won, it was the reversal of 40 years of conservative rule, aided by vote-splitting and a voting public whose patience was at an end. In 2019, when the United Conservatives won, it was a massive victory, featuring a re-energized right-wing movement looking to revitalize the province’s economy.
It’s about Rachel Notley, leader of the NDP, and Danielle Smith, leader of the United Conservative Party, writes Tyler Dawson.
5 a.m.
Alberta arrives at election day following bitter campaign
Albertans head to the polls Monday to elect their next government, wrapping up a divisive four-week campaign that’s seen each leading party pitch their vision for the province while taking aim at the opposing leader’s record.
Voters are set to decide whether they’ll re-elect Danielle Smith’s United Conservatives, or return to an NDP government headed by Rachel Notley, in a battle between premiers past and present.
Alberta election: Everything you need to know before you vote
Albertans go to the polls on May 29 — today.
While there are plenty of promises and policies from the parties to wade through, it’s also important to brush up on voting information.
Before you cast your ballot, here’s what you need to know.
Promises made: Where the NDP and UCP stand on top issues in Alberta election campaign
With Alberta’s election hitting the home stretch, what have the leading political parties in the province done or promised to do if elected today?
Both the UCP and the NDP have been making promises for weeks on major issues leading up to the official campaign, which began in May.
Here are some highlights, which don’t reflect the entirety of the platforms.
Profiles of main party leaders Danielle Smith and Rachel Notley
UCP Leader Danielle Smith
Succeeding Jason Kenney, Smith comes from roots in the socially conservative Wildrose Party. She has been premier since October 2022 after she won the UCP’s leadership race.
Smith, 52, who holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Calgary with a major in English and a minor in economics, started her career in media. First as an extra in the Vancouver film and television industry and then as a journalist on radio, television and in print. While working as a radio broadcaster in March 2020, Smith tweeted and later deleted claims that the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine is a cure for COVID-19.
Smith was a lobbyist for the Alberta Enterprise Group, encouraging capital investment and big business in Alberta. She introduced the Alberta Sovereignty Act to prevent the enforcement of “federal rules deemed harmful to Alberta’s interests.” The act passed but only with significant changes to remove the legislation-rewriting powers the original measure would have given Smith and her cabinet.
Since 2017, Smith and her husband, David Moretta, have owned and operated the Dining Car at High River station, a converted rail car in High River.
NDP Leader Rachel Notley
Notley, 59, became premier of Alberta in 2015, ending 44 years of Progressive Conservative Party rule in the Western Canadian province. She lost re-election in 2019 to Kenney.
The daughter of former Alberta New Democratic Party leader Grant Notley, Rachel Notley was a labour advocate and lawyer before entering politics. She specialised in workers’ rights and health and safety. She advocated for the rights of special-needs children with the organisation Moms on the Move.
The campaign has taken place alongside a record-breaking spring for wildfires in Alberta. Ten communities were under evacuation orders Monday.
Elections Alberta has set up alternate voting locations for those displaced. Evacuation has been added as an eligible reason to vote by special ballot and mobile voting stations have been placed in evacuation centres.
Incident Command Centres are working to have special ballots delivered to fire fighters and emergency crews.
war demonstration before she was ten years old.
While premier, Notley gave Canada its first $15 minimum wage, stabilised funding for healthcare, restricted money in elections and increased taxes on corporations and the wealthy. Her government introduced harm-reduction measures targeting the opioid and fentanyl epidemic.
Her husband, Lou Arab, is a communications representative for the Canadian Union of Public Employees and a campaign strategist for the NDP. Notley and Arab live with their two children in the historic Old Strathcona district in Edmonton.
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