Alberta Institute – Provincial Election Roundup – Day 2

Submitted by Alberta Institute

Campaign Roundup – Day 2:

Candidates and volunteers continued knocking on doors and putting up lawn signs in constituencies around the province. Election campaigns take thousands of hours of work from engaged residents. If you want to get involved, find your preferred candidate and offer to lend a hand!
A new IPSOS poll showed that the UCP has a narrow, 4-point lead over the NDP. Decided and leaning voters favour the UCP by 48% to 44%. The two parties share roughly equal support in Calgary, which is largely considered this election’s battleground.
Rachel Notley accused Danielle Smith of hiding from the media on account of Smith not holding a press conference today. A little odd, given Smith did hold a press conference just yesterday. Joe Ceci, NDP candidate for Calgary-Buffalo, called it “unprecedented”, but we’re unaware of any precedent of any party’s leader holding press conferences every single day of the campaign.
Speaking of hiding from the media, we learned that yet another journalist – this time David Staples from the Edmonton Journal – was left off the campaign mailing list for NDP events. The situation was eventually resolved, but as Staples rightly pointed out, cherry-picking which journalists are and are not able to access information is becoming a concerning pattern for the NDP.
Flair Airlines opened their new Calgary base of operations, which will employ 150 people. Calgary City Councillor Walcott emphasized the importance of cheaper airfares, particularly in a time when people are struggling with affordability, while Danielle Smith highlighted the UCP’s recent business tax cuts and campaign promise to not raise business taxes as contributing to business confidence in Alberta.
Rachel Notley, meanwhile, promised healthcare improvements, including new health teams that would see a family physician work alongside specialists like therapists, dietitians, physiotherapists, and midwives. She pledged $350 million to establish 50 family health clinics and $400 million for hiring 4,000 allied health professionals.
The UCP released a new television ad highlighting affordability issues. The ad reiterates yesterday’s promise to lower income taxes for Albertans and extend the fuel tax holiday.

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2023 Election

Elections Alberta releases official list of electors, and information on recalls and petitions

Published on April 2, 2024

Government of Alberta

Elections Alberta releases post election day list of electors

Following a Provincial General Election, Elections Alberta releases an updated List of Electors to registered political parties and Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs).

The number of names on the Post Election Day List of Electors is also used to determine the number of signatures required for petitions relating to citizen initiatives, recall of MLAs, or forming a new political party. These thresholds will be in place until a new list is generated after the next Provincial General Election.

The total number of names on the Post Election Day List of Electors is 2,939,762.

Citizen Initiative Petitions

Electors can use the citizen initiative process to have a legislative or policy proposal introduced in the Legislative Assembly or have a constitutional referendum conducted.

Petitions for a legislative or policy proposal require signatures from 10 per cent of provincial electors, or 293,976 signatures.
Petitions for a constitutional referendum require signatures from 20 per cent of provincial electors (587,952 signatures), with the 20 per cent threshold reached in at least 2/3 of electoral divisions.

Threshold numbers for successful petitions are available at https://www.elections.ab.ca/recall-initiative/initiative/number-of-signatures-required-for-initiative.

Recall Petitions

A recall petition for a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) requires signatures from 40 per cent of the electors in the electoral division on the Post Election Day List of Electors. The number of signatures required in each electoral division for a successful recall petition is available at https://www.elections.ab.ca/recall-initiative/recall/number-of-signatures-required-for-recall.

The threshold numbers are only applicable for recall petitions relating to MLAs and do not impact recall petitions for municipal officials.

Petitions to Form a New Political Party

One of the methods to register a new political party is submitting a petition containing signatures from at least 0.3 per cent of the total number of electors that were eligible to vote in the last general election. Based on the Post Election Day List of Electors, the number of signatures required for a petition is 8,819. For more details on registering a new political party visit: https://www.elections.ab.ca/political-participants/parties/how-to-register-a-party.

Additional Details

List of Elector counts by electoral division and historical List of Elector counts are available at https://www.elections.ab.ca/resources/statistics-research/elector-counts.

The Chief Electoral Officer’s Report on the 2023 Provincial General Election will be released in May 2024. The report will include additional information on processes used to update the List of Electors and current demographics of the Register of Electors.

Elections Alberta is an independent, non-partisan office of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta responsible for administering provincial elections, by-elections, and referenda.

2023 Election

Campaign Update – Alberta Election 2023

Published on May 25, 2023

Todayville

From the Alberta Institute

Campaign Roundup – Day 25:

Pierre Poilieve, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, endorsed Danielle Smith. “[Notley] will help Trudeau attack the energy sector, putting you out of a job,” said Poilieve in a video message, adding that Smith would stand up for Alberta and fight the carbon tax.
Adriana LaGrange, UCP Candidate for Red Deer-North, noted that the NDP removed the Red Deer Hospital expansion from their capital plan in 2018 while the UCP has invested $1.8 million into the project.
NDP Candidates Sarah Hoffman (Edmonton-Glenora) and Jaelene Tweedle (Red Deer-North) promised to immediately increase funding by $100 million for children with complex needs. They also promised to modernize or build 125 schools.
Rachel Notley announced Bill 1, 2, and 3 of an NDP government. Bill 1 will be the “Save Albertans Money Act” and will include capping power bills and auto insurance, freezing tuition, and implementing $10/day childcare. Bill 2 would repeal the Sovereignty Act, and Bill 3 is designed to prevent any future government from leaving the Canada Pension Plan.
Shaun Fluker, the NDP Candidate for Airdrie-Cochrane, said yesterday that when he argued in favour of the No More Pipelines bill, that he was simply representing a client. More information has since come to light though, and it turns out that Fluker intentionally sought out that client.
The UCP promised to dedicate $80 million over four years to a fund that would build recreation facilities in growing communities.
UCP Candidates Brian Jean (Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche) and Rebecca Schulz (Calgary-Shaw) held a press conference in Calgary to highlight the NDP’s poor record on the economy and how the UCP will continue to move the province forward.