Several local political junkies tuned in to the leaders debate Thursday evening, although they said it will have no impact on the candidate or party they vote for come election day.
“I’m still very much open ended because I really want to see more what’s going to happen Monday night at our own debate,” said local businessman Mike Howes.
A local debate kicks off at 7 p.m. at the St. Albert Inn & Suites on Monday, April 16 for candidates in both the St. Albert and Spruce Grove-St. Albert ridings.
Jim Starko, former St. Albert councillor, said he already knew which local candidate he would support prior to Thursday’s televised debate, adding it has nothing to do with party affiliation.
“I vote for the local candidate that I think is going to best represent me and not the party,” he said.
This is why Neil Korotash, former councillor and teacher at Morinville Community High School, said he will support Progressive Conservative candidate Stephen Khan on April 23.
Although he isn’t entirely impressed with the PC government under Alison Redford, he said he feels it is more important to elect the local individual based on their values rather than the platform of the party.
Ivan Mayer, president of the Riel Business Park Association, also had his mind made up heading into the debate, but said he could have been swayed if leaders were convincing enough.
“If somebody would have come out with a better platform or a better delivery, that could have changed my opinion,” he said. “They had the chance and they blew it.”
Debate champ
Wildrose leader Danielle Smith was favoured as the winner of the debate by 538 Albertans who participated in an Ipsos Reid online poll immediately following the debate.
She was declared winner with 37 per cent of the votes with PC leader Alison Redford trailing behind with 28 per cent. Liberal leader Raj Sherman received 13 per cent while New Democrat Brian Mason earned 10 per cent, with the remaining 13 per cent of voters undecided.
Mayer said he feels polls like this aren’t a fair evaluation of who actually won the debate and instead reflect the voter’s favoured party.
Regardless, he agreed with the findings and would declare Smith the champion.
“I thought maybe she’d get a little flustered because she’s kind of a rookie. She’s not really as street smart as perhaps you could say Redford is,” he said. “I didn’t think she’d do as well as she did.”
Howes was also surprised at the performance Smith delivered, but said her coming out on top might also have to do with capitalizing on Redford’s shortfalls.
“Redford was sort of scrambling at the expenditures that she’s putting out,” he said. “She had … probably more to lose than anybody in that debate.”
Despite placing Smith at the top of the leader board, he noted Redford was a close second.
Starko said Redford and Smith were frontrunners in the poll, but his pick for winner was Sherman.
“Previously, I thought he was more of a one-trick pony,” he said. “From last night, it would appear that he’s a lot more than that. I thought he was very, very good and he was very hard hitting.”
Starko said he enjoyed the many one-liners that Sherman dished out during the debate, like referring to the provincial budget as the “fudge-it budget.”
He said he was looking for a reason to vote Wildrose but felt Smith’s performance was “disappointing” and “lacklustre.”
“I thought she was very quiet most of the night and I think that her political inexperience really showed through,” he said.
Missing issue
Natural resources has been a hot-button issue throughout the campaign and leaders made no mention of it during the 90-minute debate – something each politico noted.
“Sort of the gigantic, elephant, mammoth in the room was the oilsands and everything related with it,” said Peter Bailey, librarian at the St. Albert Public Library, citing global warming, climate change and the general environment as main points. “It’s strange that no one brought it up.”
This issue was also largely neglected at a local candidate forum held at the library earlier in the week.
“I don’t think you can have any kind of political debate or discussion in Alberta when you don’t even talk about the engine that runs your economy,” Starko said.
Mayer agreed, adding he would have liked to see the leaders discuss the future of natural resources within provincial borders.
Although this topic is touched on in party platforms, he said he feels it should be a major campaign point for leaders and candidates.
“Rather than pushing all of our natural resources … south of the border to be refined there, we’re passing up an opportunity to have our own refineries here, our own upgraders and keep the jobs here,” Mayer said.
Korotash said he would have like to see the leaders discuss environmental issues in relation to natural resources.
“I don’t recall any discussion about environmental issues,” he said. “To me, that whole issue about oilsands, Fort McMurray, Northern Gateway, all that kind of stuff, I feel like that aspect was missed.”
