FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, April 25, 2024
EDMONTON – Tonight, only Gil McGowan presented NDP members with a plan to defeat Danielle Smith’s UCP, making him the winner of the NDP leadership debate in Lethbridge tonight.
Alberta NDP members are looking for a new leader who can defeat the Smith UCP and become Alberta premier. Tonight, only McGowan met the essential test of having a plan to do it.
“As NDP leader, I’ll focus on what working families are listening for – wages, affordability, prosperity and Alberta investment – and bring them into a winning NDP coalition,” McGowan vowed.
Multiple polls show the NDP lost to the UCP because of significantly lower support among self-identified working class voters and Albertans with college, trades or high school education. To “add the missing piece to a winning coalition” the next NDP leader must sharply contrast with the Smith UCP on prosperity and affordability issues, McGowan argues.
This weekend, McGowan will make his fourth “bid idea” policy release. His first three big ideas focused on securing Alberta jobs and opportunity in a changing work, returning to Alberta wage prosperity, and affordability measures for working families.
“My prosperity message is urgent for working people. And it’s something every Albertan wants. Prosperity is the message of a winning coalition,” McGowan told the audience.
More celebrity and no policy is not what working people are listening for, and won’t win, McGowan said.
Working class Albertans are struggling with the highest inflation and the lowest wage growth in Canada, and UCP policies deserve a lot of the blame, said McGowan.