Alberta NDP candidate for Lethbridge-West Shannon Phillips (right) spoke in Red Deer alongside local candidates Jaelene Tweedle (centre) and Michelle Baer (left) on May 24, 2023, five days before the provincial election. (Alberta NDP)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

what is the tipping point of trust?

NDP’s Phillips, with Red Deer candidates, talk trust and strategy

May 24, 2023 | 4:29 PM

Trust was the crux of a campaign stop in Red Deer on Wednesday — five days pre-election — for the NDP’s Lethbridge-West incumbent Shannon Phillips, alongside Red Deer-North and -South first-time candidates Jaelene Tweedle and Michelle Baer.

The backdrop: a large sign listing the things the Alberta NDP insist the UCP’s Danielle Smith will carry out as premier — her “hidden agenda”; things like forcing Albertans to pay to see a doctor, selling off public hospitals, stealing pensions, disbanding the RCMP, hiring 5,000 tax collectors, and paying polluters $20 billion.

Many, if not all of those things, are actions Smith has denied she’ll do. They’re also among the views she’s stated on video and in writing, Phillips pointed out.

Therefore, much like the televised leaders’ debate last week, this discussion comes down to who Albertans can or should trust.

What should be the tipping point for voters, Phillips was asked.

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“Danielle Smith has issued various denials, but they’ve actually been less frequent and less full-throated than her absolute support of all these ideas,” said Phillips, adding that Smith ran on some of these ideas last fall, and is only shying away from them now because she’s realizing they’re unpopular.

“There is no question that we can make a choice right now to protect our health care, protect our hospitals, protect our pensions and our police officers, and Albertans are making that choice as we speak by showing up to the advance polls, because they know they cannot trust Danielle Smith.”

Phillips, who mentioned the NDP’s financial and shovels in the ground commitments for expansion of Red Deer Regional Hospital, called Smith risky and unpredictable, saying she’s focused on the wrong things.

She then alluded to Artur Pawlowski, a “convicted criminal extremist,” in Phillips’ words, who’s also the leader of a party this election called the Solidarity Movement of Alberta.

Pawlowski and Smith were at the centre of a recent ethics investigation, through which the Ethics Commissioner determined Smith breached the Conflicts of Interest Act in connection to a conversation she once had with Pawlowski.

Pawlowski, as Phillips was referencing, held a press conference of sorts in Edmonton on Wednesday afternoon, where he made unsubstantiated claims about being offered a safe seat in the Legislature.

Smith issued a brief statement saying she, “is not aware of any of the conversations or alleged offers referenced,” by Pawlowski today.

Media reported on Twitter a number of homophobic and transphobic remarks were said at Pawlowski’s presser, though it’s not clear if they were said by Pawlowski or his supporters.

“We’re on yet another day of talking about Danielle Smith’s interactions with [Pawlowski]. This is not the type of leadership that will lead us to a better future,” said Phillips, defending herself when asked about not being in her own riding; Phillips noted she’s been in and out of Lethbridge-West, and will be back in the coming days after stumping for the party elsewhere.

NDP Leader Rachel Notley also issued a statement, saying that hate and transphobia being shouted from the steps of the Legislature is only intended to harm Albertans, referring to Pawlowski, as, “the fringe of the fringe,” and as, “folks Danielle Smith has been giving her time to.”

Back in Red Deer, NDP candidates Tweedle and Baer were asked about the lack of media availabilities had by UCP candidates Adriana LaGrange (Red Deer-North) and Jason Stephan (Red Deer-South). To rdnewsNOW’s knowledge, other than public appearances at two election forums hosted by the Chamber of Commerce and a local high school, there have been zero such media availabilities by any party other than the NDP.

“When you talk about a party, under different names, which has been in power over 40 years, there’s some entitlement that comes,” said Tweedle. “To me, the lowest bar anyone should ever cross if they run for public office is to show up and talk to the people they want to represent.”

Baer added that it comes down to accountability and transparency.

In a statement provided to rdnewsNOW on Thursday, LaGrange says, “I have spent the last few months on the doors talking to the people of Red Deer-North. I have been honoured to serve as their MLA and will continue to work hard to be given that privilege again on Monday. What I hear at the doors is that Albertans are tired of being lied to and misled by Rachel’s Notley’s NDP. Shannon Phillips’ recent tour stop in Red Deer is a prime example of their negative fear and smear campaign tactics. Albertans deserve better, they deserve a government that will focus on a positive vision for the future that moves Alberta forward, and that is what they get with the United Conservative Party.”

For all our election coverage, including candidate profiles, visit rdnewsnow.com/alberta-election-2023.