Alberta’s NDP Provincial Government have now completed their first full legislative session, and it was both eventful and, in some respects, painful for them.
They increased Alberta’s minimum wage. They approved a new budget, including increased corporate taxes, high income earner taxes, a job creation program, infrastructure spending and a growing budget deficit. They introduced a new climate change plan, which will usher in a broadly based carbon tax, usher out coal-fired electricity, and cap oil sands emissions. And they (clumsily) tackled the issue of farm worker safety, managing to incite much of the province’s farming and ranching communities in the process.
The accomplishments of their first real session as government have cost the NDP in terms of political capital as our December Eye on Alberta Survey finds the Alberta New Democrats now trail the Wildrose Party in popular vote. On a province-wide basis, the Wildrose Party currently holds 33% of the decided vote, followed by the NDP (29%), PCs (still showing signs of life at 25%), the Liberals (8%), Alberta Party (3%) and various other parties (2%). Almost one-in-five (18%) Alberta voters are undecided. These latest results represent a 9 percentage point drop for the NDP since September.
The province-wide vote share masks significant regional differences. In rural and small urban communities, the Wildrose have a more pronounced lead over the other parties. In Edmonton and the Edmonton-region, the NDP continue to enjoy a commanding lead over the other parties, although they have seen their share of the vote slip sharply over the past few months. Calgary is a three-way tie: the NDP, Wildrose and Progressive Conservatives are all statistically even in terms of popular vote.
Click the link to view detailed findings and methodology: EOA December 2015 Prov HR Release