Albertans will go to the polls April 23.
Premier Alison Redford ended months of speculation Monday morning, when she visited Lt.-Gov. Donald Ethell and asked for the writ to be dropped, commencing the 28-day campaign.
Moments later on the legislature steps, Redford said Albertans would be presented with a clear choice in the coming campaign.
“I hope the election will be about positive change for the future of the province,” she said. “I believe that Alberta is about opportunity, progress and really understanding and appreciating who we are in this country and around the world.”
She said the election would be about Alberta’s long-term future.
“This election will be a defining moment where we will decide what we want the future to be.”
Wildrose leader Danielle Smith also launched her opening salvo of the campaign at the legislature and said her party was a new option for Albertans tired of the PC government.
“We are in this to give Albertans something new, something many Albertans haven’t had before a choice, a real choice,” she said. “After four long decades of PC party rule, Albertans finally have a real opportunity to break with the past.”
Smith said the government has simply been in power too long and has forgotten who they are there to serve.
“The PCs have succumbed to a culture of entitlement in which the only thing that matters is what is in it for them.”
She said she expected the Tories to paint her party as extreme and risky, but she said the status quo is the greatest risk.
“Giving these guys another majority government – talk about risky. How much longer do they need to fix the messes they have created?” she said.
NDP leader Brian Mason continued the choice theme, but said his party is the only one prepared to stand up for average Albertans.
“They can vote for a party that stands for the rich and the powerful over the interests of most Albertans or they can vote for Alberta’s New Democrats.”
He said Redford might represent a new face for the long-governing Conservatives, but it is the same party overall.
“Underneath the new paint job is the same old Conservative party looking out for the same old interests,” he said.
Alberta Liberal leader Raj Sherman said the campaign would be defined by trust, something he argued Albertans should no longer have in the government.
“Who do you trust to fix the number one humanitarian and fiscal issue in the country – health care. Do you trust the guys who broke it?” he said.
He said the Tories have had every opportunity to improve the province and have somehow managed not to do that.
“Look at the Tories, look at the record. Oil is at $100 a barrel. Every Albertan is working harder than ever and we can’t balance the budget,” he said.
He said while the Wildrose and Conservatives will fight each other, his party is pledging to offer answers.
“We are the party of solutions to the challenges that Albertans face,” Sherman said. “We have the best ideas. Albertans have had input into our platform. We have the best platform.”
