Politics watchers and partisans were glued to their screens watching Thursday night’s debate between the leaders of the United Conservative and New Democratic parties.
But it’s unclear whether the event moved the needle for those who have not made up their minds for Alberta’s hotly contested provincial election.
Calgary pollster Janet Brown said it was a rare event for Alberta to have only two party leaders on the stage for voters to contrast and compare.
Add to that the fact that the UCP’s Danielle Smith and the NDP’s Rachel Notley are experienced political leaders. Both have spent time in the premier’s office and both have been involved in past leaders’ debates.
“They were very well matched. They both had their moments (in the debate),” said Brown.
It was a lively joust and both leaders hit key points in their platforms while taking a few potshots at each other.
Keen on fighting
“I know you’re keen on fighting,” said Notley to her opponent.
“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.”
Smith countered repeatedly by reminding voters of the NDP’s record in government from 2015 to 2019.
“I am running on my record. Ms. Notley is running away from hers,” said Smith.
“Last time around, she didn’t tell anybody she was going to increase the carbon tax. She brought in a business tax and she also ended up running up more debt than we’ve seen from any premier in our province’s history.”
Brown said there were many points laid out by the two leaders, but there wasn’t really a singular moment like the 2015 leaders’ debate.
Then Progressive Conservative leader Jim Prentice’s comment to Notley that “math is hard” left a lasting impression with voters that he was being patronizing.
She didn’t think there was anything close to that during this debate.
“I’m not sure that too many undecided voters would have been able to pick at that one thing that would give them confidence to commit to one side or the other,” said Brown.
“There was nothing that just kind of took your breath away.”
Clear communication
A former federal Conservative cabinet minister and politics watcher, Monte Solberg, said Smith scored well in communicating clearly her party’s plan while remaining calm under fire from the NDP leader.
He said Smith’s ability to communicate well through the TV camera because of her past political and broadcasting experience probably connected better with the average Albertan watching.
“I’m not sure Notley connected in the way she needed to in order to convince those undecided voters that the NDP has a platform that will be good for Albertans over the long run.”
Solberg said Notley turned in a good performance and scored better than Smith on education matters that were touched upon in the debate.
One thing he noticed about this debate is how moderate the campaign promises were from both parties. He said that’s likely because of the highly competitive races underway in many Calgary ridings.
“It was voters themselves who pulled those candidates towards the centre and caused them to present some pretty mainstream ideas. So in the end, Calgarians, in particular, can take a bow,” said Solberg.
Alberta UCP Leader Danielle Smith and NDP Leader Rachel Notley traded jabs over their parties’ records and which leader the province could trust. Questions focused on several issues most important to Albertans: health care, affordability and the economy.
Forgettable night
A campaign strategist, Stephen Carter, said while the candidates performed well, he suspects this debate will be largely forgotten later in this election.
For the undecided voter who tuned in, he said, it did have advantages over past debates.
“I really enjoyed it,” said Carter. “It was easier to watch. It was easier to understand. It was more entertaining because there were only two people.”
He also credits the format for making the debate more accessible and cutting down on candidates talking over each other.
“We actually had a debate structure that enabled us to watch the debate and understand what each of the two big proponents were saying,” said Carter.
Perhaps the most intriguing factor hanging over the debate was that there were two major political developments in the hours before the event got underway.
Alberta’s ethics commissioner found that UCP Leader Smith violated Alberta’s conflict of interest legislation by speaking to her justice minister about charges filed against a controversial street preacher.
Smith said Thursday that one of her candidates in central Alberta would not join the UCP caucus if elected due to offensive remarks she made about transgender children.
For a couple of debate day surprises, Carter said he was surprised Notley didn’t do more to work in those two developments to hurt Smith’s support with voters.
“I think that she could have pushed much, much further, but instead she took kind of a muted tone on both of those issues, which is unfortunate because those are big issues.”
