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Alberta election expected to be most competitive in decades
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Canada Politics
Albertans will head to the polls on April 23.
Premier Alison Redford asked Lt.-Gov. Donald S. Ethell to drop the writ Monday morning, to start what's expected to be one the most competitive Alberta elections in decades.
While many are expecting the right-leaning Wildrose Party to be the Tories' biggest foe, the NDP's prominence in this race may surprise some.
Nobody is expecting a NDP government or even for them to form opposition but the left leaning New Democrats are rising in the polls.
"At least eight political polls were conducted in Alberta in 2011, some of better quality than others," political analyst David Climenagah wrote in his blog.
"Together, they demonstrated the NDP to be on a gradual but steady upward trend in support province-wide."
For decades, being a New Democrat in Alberta was a lonely existence.
But, with Calgary electing Naheed Nenshi - their left-leaning progressive mayor and the federal orange crush which saw 25 per cent of Albertans vote NDP, the political landscape in Canada's most conservative province might be changing.
NDP leader Brian Mason is promising the New Democrat campaign will focus on improved health care and education, lower electricity prices, a tougher approach to polluters and getting more royalty revenue from energy companies.
He also says his party doesn't want to shut the oil sands down, they just want to clean them up.
"You can't just take out ads in the U.S. to say, gee, well, we're a reliable ethical partner when everyone is seeing ducks dying in tailings ponds on the news," Mason whose party currently only has two seats told the Calgary Herald.
"We're not against pipelines in principle.
"We think environmental and first nations issues have to be addressed. If a case can be made that they're environmentally responsible, we would support them if they export upgraded products."
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