With a marathon federal election underway, Conservatives faced sharp criticisms in their traditional stronghold of Calgary where opposition challengers accused them of using any means available to “cling to power.”
Liberal Kent Hehr, who is hoping to unseat Tory Joan Crockatt in Calgary Centre, said the governing party has scheduled an 11-week campaign to outspend its rivals with a deeper war chest. But he said the manoeuvre will not have a material impact on the Oct. 19 vote.
“Money is not all election campaigns are about; they’re about ideas and meeting with constituents,” Hehr said. “We see the announcement for what it is: a government trying to cling to power.”
Crockatt, who narrowly won her seat in a 2012 byelection, did not respond to requests for comment Sunday.
Efforts to reach Michelle Rempel, the Conservative candidate in Calgary Nose Hill, were equally unsuccessful. A campaign spokesman said Rempel declined to comment for the day, referring a reporter to statements made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Harper told reporters in Ottawa his opponents had already begun campaigning, and that an early election call means parties must fund these activities on their own, rather than relying on government or parliamentary budgets.
The prime minister, who is running in the redrawn Calgary Heritage riding, said his party would have a financial advantage over its opponents “whether we call this campaign or not.
“What we do by calling this campaign is making sure we are all operating within the rules and not using taxpayers’ money directly,” Harper said.
Opposition parties have not won a seat in Calgary since 1968, but this race may be “their best shot in a while,” said Lori Williams, a political science professor at Mount Royal University.
Williams said big spending promises that Tories recently made in their traditional Calgary fortress – $583 million for the city’s southwest ring road and $1.5 billion for the Green Line LRT – are evidence they are worried.
“What we want to watch is where they’re spending their time and money,” she said. “That will give us the clearest indication of what’s going on.”
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, who is hoping for breakthroughs in the city, is scheduled to meet with supporters Monday in Calgary Confederation, a riding with no incumbent MP.
The Conservatives and Liberals have nominated candidates in all of Calgary’s 10 ridings, though the Grits have not yet selected hopefuls in two other southern Alberta constituencies: Bow River and Foothills.
The Green Party, which vows to run candidates in every riding, has selected contenders in all but one Calgary riding, Calgary Rocky Ridge, where a nomination meeting is scheduled for Aug. 8.
The New Democrats, meanwhile, have nominated only two candidates in the city, Laura Weston in Calgary Midnapore and Dany Allard in Calgary Shepard.
Williams noted many NDP candidates who were planning federal campaigns had run in the May 5th provincial election and won under Rachel Notley’s orange crush. But with such a long election race — a stunning 78 days — and with “such little attention being paid by most to the race until probably September, I think they’ve got a little breathing room,” she said.
Weston said she wasn’t nervous about the party’s currently sparse roster of candidates, arguing that upcoming nomination contests will be fiercely competitive to draw out strong competitors.
The NDP candidate said she also isn’t worried about running against Jason Kenney, the Conservatives’ political minister for southern Alberta.
“I hear at the doors over and over again that people are looking for a change,” Weston said. “I’m not intimidated at all.”
Despite brewing challenges, the Tories continue to have “home-field advantage” in Calgary, where they are better prepared with deeper voter lists and more money to spend, said David Taras, a political analyst at Mount Royal University.
“The soft underbelly for Harper is the economy,” Taras said, noting a downturn has come after the prime minister pitched himself as the best leader to manage the national economy.
“The other parties are going to take aim relentlessly on the whole issue of Harper and the economy.”
