The Wildrose campaign bus rolled though St. Paul on Wednesday afternoon, stopping for a meet and greet at a seniors bonspiel at the curling rink. Leader Danielle Smith, Lac La Biche – St. Paul – Two Hills candidate Shayne Saskiw, two Senate candidates and several campaign workers met with curling teams and supporters before boarding the bus to Fort Saskatchewan.
Smith received news of the endorsement of her party, herself and Saskiw by former MP for the area, Deb Grey, while in St. Paul
“These are just fine young folks putting their name forward for public office and I think that's great to see," Grey told the Journal earlier this week, regarding Smith and Saskiw.
Grey said Alberta “has swung every few decades" and expects to see the Wildrose make big gains on April 23.
“Something old is dying, but something new is being reborn, which is what we saw in Reform at the federal level. I think that the Wildrose is doing this in large measure at the provincial level."
“I'm delighted that she has endorsed our party. I think that is fantastic news," Smith said. “For a young woman in politics, Deb Grey was one of the heroes I looked up to. She just had such a battle and such a fight when she first went to Ottawa as the first Reform MP."
Smith praised local senatorial candidate Raymond Germain.
“I'm so excited to be able to have someone who understands energy industry issues, someone who understands rural issues, someone who understands northern issues. I think his voice is tremendously needed in Ottawa in the Senate chamber and I'm looking forward to seeing him as an elected Wildrose Senate candidate."
Wildrose plans to bring a third candidate for Senate on board this week, Rob Gregory, a former police office and Crown prosecutor, after previous candidate Jeff Calloway was determined to be ineligible by Elections Alberta.
Vitor Marciano from the Edmonton area is also running under the Wildrose banner as a Senate candidate and attended the meet in greet in St. Paul.
“I think people are excited to send people to the Senate who are going to sit with Stephen Harper and his caucus," said Marciano. All three Wildrose candidates would sit with the Conservatives, he said.
“If you're a Wildroser, you believe in a strong Alberta and a strong Canada. You believe that it's your job as an Alberta senator to go to the Senate and stand up for Alberta."
A poll released this week predicted a Wildrose majority government.
The only one that matters is the one on election day, according to Marciano. “I do like the trend though … We think we've gotten the voters' attention now. It's feeling pretty good. There's lot of work to do."
For more local election coverage, see the Journal on Tuesday.
