"Build that pipe" became "Build those pipes" in Jason Kenney's victory speech after his United Conservative Party (UCP) won 63 of the 87 seats in the Alberta election. The UCP campaign was an angry one and Kenney's speech started out pretty angry, aimed more at Ottawa, the United States, and the world than the people of Alberta. Kenney had telegraphed this given his legacy as a member of Stephen Harper's federal cabinet in Ottawa.
The UCP wasn't campaigning against Rachel Notley or the NDP in Alberta, but against Justin Trudeau and the United States.
Unlike Doug Ford's 2018 acceptance speech in Ontario, Kenney did speak French but that was to ask for Quebec's help over the Energy East pipeline project.
There were a number of UCP candidates who left the ballot over horrible things they said. Mark Smith, a UCP MLA who stayed on the ballot, was caught saying horrible things, including equating homosexuality with pedophilia. Smith stayed on the ballot and won re-election in the Drayton Valley-Devon riding. Kenney made an issue in the campaign over not protecting the privacy of students who join gay-straight alliances.
There is also a RCMP investigation over whether the Kenney campaign coordinated with a minor candidate in the UCP leadership race.
Rachel Notley in her concession speech thanked all the party leaders running, including Derek Fildebrandt of the Freedom Conservative Party of Alberta. Kenney mentioned every one except Fildebrandt. Notley said she will remain as the opposition leader.
The NDP went from 52 seats to 24 seats in the latest election, though stronger than the 4 seats before the 2015 election. The NDP seats are concentrated in the Edmonton area. The UCP grabbed the vast majority of the seats in the Calgary area.
We will have more tomorrow on Notley's legacy.
The Alberta Party got about 10% of the votes. Greg Clark had the only seat but lost his riding. Alberta Party Leader Stephen Mandel failed to win is riding.
The Liberal Party lost its own seat when leader David Khan lost in his riding.
Great job, Alberta! Approximately 696,000 people have voted at the Advance Polls – a new record! Thank you to all our hardworking officers who made voting as easy and accessible as possible. Election Day is April 16. Make your mark! #chooseyouralberta #abvote #ableg #abpoli pic.twitter.com/kcX9Zvu2jo
— Elections Alberta (@ElectionsAB) April 14, 2019
The early voting results were almost tripled over the 2015 election total of 235,000 voters. Voters had a choice at voting in their riding or vote anywhere. The votes from vote anywhere — 223,000 voters — those votes will be counted this week. This might affect some close races in a few ridings but won't change the overall outcome.
Voter turnout was expected to be higher, unofficially at 64%, than the last time (57%), not even factoring in the early voting ballots.
2019 Alberta election preview
2019 Canadian politics preview
Analyzing NDP win in Alberta: Keystone XL and beyond
Alberta votes for change, NDP, Rachel Notley
CanadianCrossing.com Canadian politics coverage
Alberta Liberal Party David Khan knew the term "laying pipe" but only in the literal sense before mentioning it in a televised debate among party leaders. Khan was referring to getting "pipelines constructed in Alberta and get people back to work."
Khan now knows of the double meaning to the phrase that is about having sex.
The Liberal Party took advantage of the #layingpipe hashtag on hats and other merchandise.
Danielle Smith, Alberta Wildrose Party gain attention for big 'wheels,' not big ideas
We would be remiss if we overlooked another great sexual innuendo moment in Alberta politics. In the 2012 election, the Wildrose Party bus had Danielle Smith's persona strategically placed over the rear bus wheels to imply the wheels were her breasts.
Alberta may be conservative but Albertans think about sex.
We knew the NHL Center Ice free preview might bring us some Alberta election ads. These were the only 2 ads I saw, both from the UCP.
The first ad is pretty straight forward. Conservatives don't like the carbon tax, which is a free-market conservative idea. So they vow to get rid of the carbon tax. Notley and her NDP government put in its own carbon tax rather than accept the federal version. If the UCP does get rid of the carbon tax, the federal version will be put in place.
The second ad was a bit more bizarre. Notley, in reference to the previous Progressive Conservative government, referred to them as an "embarrassing cousin" in 2015. The ad strips the context. If Notley had said that in 2019 or maybe 2018, I'd get the slight. But 2015? That screams petty in ways I haven't seen and I've witnessed a lot of political ads.
CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage
CBC stations in Calgary and Edmonton did their civic duty. The rest of the network got Game 4 of the NY Islanders-Pittsburgh series. For those NHL fans in Alberta, they could have watched a different CBC station on cable or satellite or chosen to stream the game on CBCSports.ca.
photos credit: CBC News Network (first 2 photos); @dave_khan Twitter
Twitter capture: ; @ElectionsAB
videos credit: United Conservative Party ads
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