One wonders what UCP Leader Jason Kenney would be clamouring about if there was an investigation digging into an alleged kamikaze campaign of a rival politician suspected of paying a friendly candidate to smear and attack the main competition so as to secure the party leadership.
Not to mention if the matter had been passed on to the RCMP from Alberta’s Office of the Election Commissioner, whose own inquiry into the complaint identified potential violations that fall outside of its jurisdiction.
One imagines the former Conservative MP and career politician, who couldn’t wait to abandon his federal constituents for a chance at power in Alberta, would be pounding his fists demanding the opposition comes clean to address the accusations.
If, for example, evidence was mounting that Premier Rachel Notley had been involved in a shady scheme to undermine any NDP leadership candidate contenders to guarantee for herself the party’s crown, there is no way on Earth Kenney and his cohort would remain silent.
They would, as their federal counterpart Andrew Scheer has been tirelessly doing with the SNC-Lavalin affair, be posturing and grandstanding as they pretend to be bastions of transparency and moral righteousness.
What they certainly would not be doing is pulling any political punches.
An onslaught of attack ads, especially with an election around the corner that their party is potentially poised to win, would be churning out non-stop in an effort to ensure a sweeping, landslide victory.
Of course since the accusations are against them, the UCP is simply following the timeless strategy of the three Ds.
Dismiss, deflect, deny.
But what’s the old saying about where there are massive columns of billowing smoke?
Perhaps none of this even matters. Polls seem to indicate many Albertans — a majority even — are in a hurry to return to the rule of the conservatives.
If and when that happens, one wonders whether those voters will welcome with open arms painful austerity measures that will undoubtedly result in cutbacks that will hurt the province’s most vulnerable.
Of course despite the fact conservatives governed this province for more than 40 years, directly setting the stage to be miserably unprepared for what should have been a predictable crash in the energy sector, the blame will all undoubtedly be placed firmly upon the shoulders of the NDP.
However, there may be a few months before the election, which leaves plenty of time for new information to surface, and the UCP lead in the polls has been eroding.
If nothing else, this will be an interesting election.
— Simon Ducatel is the Round Up’s editor
