Good morning. Mark Iype in Edmonton today.
The Alberta election campaign continues, even as the government deals with wildfires burning in the north and western parts of the province that have forced nearly 30,000 people to evacuate and destroyed dozens of homes and buildings.
When Premier Danielle Smith declared a provincial state of emergency late Saturday afternoon, it was expected she would step back from campaigning as United Conservative Party leader to make sure the focus was on keeping Albertans safe and that the fires could be contained as quickly as possible. Same went for NDP Leader Rachel Notley, whose party had a number of candidates announce they were stepping off the campaign trail in their wildfire affected ridings.
In practice things are much more complicated than that.
In the middle of an election campaign, it’s awfully hard to just flip a switch and turn off the politics. And to the casual observer, you wouldn’t know whether news conferences were being run by the government or by the party – hence the mishmash of questions and answers being asked of the two leaders.
While Ms. Smith did speak with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about federal support and also sat down with Ms. Notley to brief her on the wildfire situation, both sides were quick to get back to the race to win the May 29 election.
At a news conference Monday, the Alberta government announced wildfire relief payments for people and their dependents forced from their homes for more than seven days. By Tuesday, Ms. Smith said she would consider changing eligibility rules after complaints about how long one needed to be out of their home to qualify.
Ms. Notley, for her part, toured the Expo Centre in Edmonton where some evacuees were staying on the weekend. And on Monday she made an announcement about protecting Alberta pensions and better funding for home care.
But the biggest headache of the week for Ms. Smith had nothing to do with campaign announcements or wildfire funding. A video emerged on the weekend in which she compared those who got the COVID-19 vaccine to people who supported tyrants, referencing Adolf Hitler.
Ms. Smith made the comments in a podcast with an accompanying video on Nov. 10, 2021.
The UCP Leader has tried to back away from controversial statements before. After her first news conference as premier, for example, she said those who chose not to get vaccinated were the most discriminated against people in her lifetime. But this time she was forced to respond.
Ms. Smith, who became the leader of the UCP after campaigning on COVID-19 grievances, has previously argued she should not be judged on comments she made as a talk-radio host, columnist or lobbyist. (It should be noted a prospective candidate for the UCP was dumped for very similar comments last fall.)
The comments, which prompted a response from the Canadian Legion, as well as prominent Jewish organizations, are the latest distraction in a tight election that could come down to a handful of ridings and a few thousand votes.
It remains to be seen if the latest video to emerge does any long-term damage to Ms. Smith’s election campaign.
This is the weekly Western Canada newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox and Alberta Bureau Chief Mark Iype. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.