On day nine of the Alberta election campaign, the NDP promised more hockey rinks and playgrounds, while the governing UCP vowed to improve public safety and get tougher on crime following the May 6 fatal stabbing of a mother and her child outside an Edmonton school.
Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley announced she will build new playgrounds, hockey rinks, community halls, and soccer fields if elected, under the Hometown Alberta fund.
“That means fewer tough choices for parents. No more struggling to choose between soccer or swimming lessons, art classes or coding camp,” said Notley.
Ankle Monitoring
UCP leader Danielle Smith, speaking at a news conference on May 9 in Edmonton, said one of her party’s top priorities is to crack down on crime.“Almost every day, Albertans wake up to news that someone in their city or community has been attacked or worse,” said the premier. “Just yesterday, Edmonton police chief Dale McPhee spoke about the horrific murder of a mother and her 11-year-old child in broad daylight.”
The accused was “well known to police, having a history dating back to 2009 that included multiple charges,” said Smith. “Enough is enough.”
We will not wait on the federal government to reform the bail system and the “catch and release plaguing our communities,” Smith said.
The UCP’s Safe Streets action plan includes ankle monitoring of dangerous and high-risk offenders out on bail and the deployment of sheriffs for a 24/7 bail monitoring process. Smith said the plan would include 100 more patrol officers on the streets, as well as the creation of new anti-fentanyl, gang suppression, and crime gun tracking teams. The program also promises more funding to fight internet child exploitation, and investments in women’s shelters and sexual assault counselling.
Smith said the UCP government plans to extend a pilot project started in February, which added Alberta sheriffs to police patrols in Calgary and Edmonton. The UCP said the measure will “address chronic and worsening crime, particularly downtown and on transit.”
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis, running for reelection as a UCP candidate for Calgary West, also spoke at the news conference.
“I spent over 10 years as a police officer on the streets of Calgary. A lot has changed in law enforcement since my time on the streets,” he said. “We’ve seen crime, especially violent crime increase.”
Ellis said there was increased social disorder in communities, and he was “concerned about the number of ‘defund the police’ candidates running in the election” for parties other than the UCP.
According to Ellis, fentanyl is destroying the lives of thousands of Albertans, and he said some political parties want to decriminalize “the incredibly dangerous drugs.”
“This would only empower organized crime,” said Ellis. He said criminals are profiting off addiction and the death caused by hard drugs.
“It’s time that we say as a community, no more. A new anti-fentanyl team led by the Alberta sheriffs will take the fight right to our U.S. border to stop these drugs from crossing into our province. And they'll be joined by an anti-gun trafficking team that will work to stop illegal guns from making their way into the hands of the criminals and the gang members,” stated Ellis.
“While the federal government targets legal gun owners, we know that the gun violence being perpetrated on Alberta streets come from illegal sales and trades of guns, and people whose first thought, unfortunately, is violence.”
“We are putting criminals on notice. Albertans are no longer going to tolerate being harassed or frightened or victimized. You have a right to take transit to school, or work without harassment. And your children have a right to play on the streets without fear,” added Ellis.
