Alberta NDP candidate for Lethbridge-West Shannon Phillips (right) spoke in Red Deer alongside local candidates Jaelene Tweedle (centre) and Michelle Baer (left) on May 24, 2023, five days before the provincial election. (Photo: Alberta NDP)

By Josh Hall

NDP’s Shannon Phillips, with Red Deer candidates, talks trust and strategy

May 25, 2023 | 9:45 AM

RED DEER, AB – Trust was the crux of a campaign stop in Red Deer on Wednesday, May 24, 2023, five days pre-election, for the NDP’s Lethbridge-West incumbent Shannon Phillips. She was joined by first-time candidates in Red Deer-North and South Jaelene Tweedle and Michelle Baer.

The backdrop: a large sign listing the things the Alberta NDP insist the UCP’s Danielle Smith will carry out as premier — her “hidden agenda”; things like forcing Albertans to pay to see a doctor, selling off public hospitals, stealing pensions, disbanding the RCMP, hiring 5,000 tax collectors, and paying polluters $20 billion.

Many, if not all of those things, are actions that Smith has denied she will do. They are also among the views she is stated on video and in writing, Phillips pointed out.

Therefore, much like the televised leaders’ debate last week, this discussion comes down to who Albertans can or should trust.

Phillips was asked what the tipping point should be for voters.

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“Danielle Smith has issued various denials, but they’ve actually been less frequent and less full-throated than her absolute support of all these ideas,” said Phillips, adding that Smith ran on some of these ideas last fall, and is only shying away from them now because she’s realizing they’re unpopular.

“There is no question that we can make a choice right now to protect our health care, protect our hospitals, protect our pensions and our police officers, and Albertans are making that choice as we speak by showing up to the advance polls, because they know they cannot trust Danielle Smith,” adds Phillips.

Phillips, who mentioned the NDP’s financial and shovels-in-the-ground commitments for expansion of Red Deer Regional Hospital, called Smith risky and unpredictable, saying she’s focused on the wrong things.

She then alluded to Artur Pawlowski, the leader of the political party called the Solidarity Movement of Alberta. Pawlowski was found guilty of two charges in connection to events at the Coutts border protest in early 2022, but had a third charge stayed.

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Pawlowski and Smith were at the centre of a recent ethics investigation, through which the Ethics Commissioner determined Smith breached the Conflicts of Interest Act in connection to a conversation she once had with Pawlowski.

Pawlowski, as Phillips was referencing, held a press conference in Edmonton on Wednesday afternoon, where he made claims about being offered a safe seat in the Legislature.

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Smith issued a brief statement, saying she “is not aware of any of the conversations or alleged offers referenced,” by Pawlowski.

Phillips, defending herself when asked about not being in her own riding. Phillips noted that she has been in and out of Lethbridge-West and will be back in the coming days after stumping for the party elsewhere.

Back in Red Deer, NDP candidates Jaelene Tweedle and Michelle Baer were asked about the lack of media availabilities by UCP candidates Adriana LaGrange (Red Deer-North) and Jason Stephan (Red Deer-South). To rdnewsNOW’s knowledge, other than public appearances at two election forums hosted by the Chamber of Commerce and a local high school, there have been zero such media availabilities by any party other than the NDP.

“When you talk about a party, under different names, which has been in power over 40 years, there’s some entitlement that comes,” said Tweedle. “To me, the lowest bar anyone should ever cross if they run for public office is to show up and talk to the people they want to represent.”

Baer added that it comes down to accountability and transparency.

Full election coverage: AB Votes 2023

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