During a visit to Sundre last week, Wildrose Party Leader Danielle Smith said the election of a second female party leader in Alberta levels the playing field.ìNow that you have a choice of two female leaders of different political parties, the issue of gender is not going to be a factor in the next election,î she said.ìWhat it will come down to is who has the best vision for Alberta.îSmith was in Sundre to present the Wildrose candidate for the Rocky Mountain House constituency, Joe Anglin.Her last visit dates back to September 2010, when she was invited to be a guest speaker at the Sundre Women's Show. Town councillors had also taken her on a boat ride to witness the erosion of the Red Deer River banks. Smith was glad to learn that the town had finally received the funding to fix the erosion.ìIt still sounds like Sundre is dealing with a bunch of bureaucratic red tape to actually be able to do what needs to be done to fix that river,î said Smith.ìI hope that I can, with the candidate for Wildrose in this riding, continue to press that issue at the different levels of bureaucracy in government so that it can actually be fixed.îAnglin, former Alberta Green Party leader and present Town of Rimbey councillor, has gained fame throughout the province as a landowners' rights advocate and an energy company critic.ìI have a passion for the issues that are very important to the people in and around my constituency, which are landowner rights,î he said.ìLandowners are environmental. They care about their water, the land.îDuring the event, both Smith and Anglin frequently mentioned Premier Redford's record during the last month.Smith says Redford is not delivering on her campaign promise to bring change to the legislature.ìShe has appointed into patronage positions charter members of the old boys' club, whether it is her appointments to international postings, whether it is her appointments to cabinet, whether it is her appointments of staff to key positions,î Smith said.ìAgain, there is a bit of mythology that she is trying to get out there that she is doing things differently. When you look at the actual practice of what we have seen in the last four to five weeks, there is not a whole lot of difference.î
