Arena deal, CTrain airport expansion among pledges as Smith addresses Calgary UCP supporters at Leader's Dinner

Premier Danielle Smith meets and greets members during the sold out UCP Leader’s Dinner at the Hyatt Regency in Calgary on Wednesday, March 22, 2023.

Premier Danielle Smith pledged her support for Calgary at her United Conservative Party’s leader’s dinner Wednesday night, underlining the city’s status as the key battleground in this May’s provincial election.

Speaking to a sold-out crowd of party faithful at the $250-per-ticket event at Calgary’s Hyatt Regency, Smith kicked off her speech by boasting big infrastructure commitments from her party for the city — including reiterating her intention to help facilitate a deal for a new arena for the Calgary Flames.

“We will be working with the city to reach a deal with the Flames on a new, world-class Calgary arena and events centre that also respects the expectations of taxpayers, but gets the job done,” Smith said. The city and Flames ownership are in the midst of renegotiating an arena deal after the previous $650-million deal fell apart in December 2021.

Smith also promoted provincial plans to help fund a CTrain expansion to the Calgary International Airport and other boosts to roads, hospitals and schools infrastructure.

“Yes, these are big projects, but this a big world-class city, and that means we must invest in the infrastructure that will drive economic growth, tourism and the quality of life,” she said. Elsewhere, she drove hard into the issue of social disorder and safety in downtown Calgary, charging an NDP government would worsen those problems.

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The campaign-style address from Smith was filled with similar volleys at the Opposition NDP as well as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, drawing big applause from the room of more than 900 UCP supporters, and drilled into key party issues, including health-care reform, affordability and defending the energy industry.

Calgary key battleground in upcoming election

Smith acknowledged the coming election, expected to take place May 29, saying its results would have “ramifications on the direction and success of this province for potentially decades to come.”

Calgary is widely regarded as the key battleground for the election — with the NDP slated to win big in Edmonton and the UCP expected to sweep much of rural Alberta and its smaller cities, the parties are left to vie for Calgary’s 26 legislature seats. That focus has been evident even before the writ drops, with a series of big announcements from each party in the city, including the NDP moving its headquarters to downtown Calgary .

New polling data from ThinkHQ released Wednesday show the two parties in a statistical tie, with the NDP holding 46 per cent of the decided vote, a marginal lead over the UCP’s 45 per cent — a recovery from ThinkHQ’s most recent January poll, which showed the NDP trailing. Only 13 per cent of voters say they’ve yet to decide how they’ll cast their ballot in May.

The poll shows the NDP currently holds a lead in Calgary, with 48 per cent vote intention to the UCP’s 42 per cent.

“Calgary is seat rich, and the two parties are highly competitive,” said ThinkHQ President Marc Henry.

“This is going to be one of the most competitive elections we’ve ever seen in Alberta … To be honest, the way things are standing right now, if any party gets over 50 seats, they’re going to have to move the needle a little bit here.”

Smith pledges ‘strong, stable, conservative government’ at Leader’s Dinner

Henry said he was surprised there was no “budget bounce” for the UCP in the polls, losing grounds in his nose-count despite the generally well-received Budget 2023 unveiled late last month .

The Wednesday Leader’s Dinner was the first for a sitting Tory government in Alberta since 2015. The once-annual tradition faded with the Progressive Conservatives’ 2015 defeat at the hands of the NDP and subsequent merger with the Wildrose Party into the UCP, where new leader Jason Kenney declined to carry forward with the splashy fundraising events.

Smith, who did not speak to media at the event, ended her speech by boasting a fiscally conservative approach she said her government would continue if re-elected.

“That, my friends, is what the UCP and I have to offer: Strong, stable, conservative government that will empower Albertans, like those in this room, to set the course for our province’s great future,” Smith said.

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Twitter: @jasonfherring