FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday April 9, 2024
EDMONTON — Alberta NDP leadership candidate Gil McGowan has launched a new 90 second campaign ad calling for a “winning coalition” and challenging the claim a watered-down NDP could win against Danielle Smith’s UCP in 2027.
“Before we defeat her in 2027, we need to understand where we lost to her in 2023. Put simply, we lost because we didn’t attract enough support from working class Albertans,” McGowan tell viewers.
View the video: https://youtu.be/gOtwS_QdDhk?si=5TaevHen3jA_u_SJ
Multiple polls show the Alberta NDP won among voters with a university degree or consider themselves middle class. But among voters with high school, college or trades education and those who consider themselves working class, the UCP beat the NDP handily.
“Working Albertans are the missing piece. Let’s welcome them in, build on the strong foundation Rachel Notley left us, and create the winning coalition we need to defeat the UCP in 2027,” says McGowan.
McGowan’s “winning coalition” strategy challenges his rival’s claim a win can come from changing values, becoming wishy-washy Liberals, and jettisoning NDP icons Ed Broadbent, Tommy Douglas and Rachel Notley.
To support his “winning coalition” strategy, McGowan is releasing a series of policy papers, all aimed at boosting NDP support among Alberta workers. McGowan believes the NDP must show this key group of voters what the NDP is for, not just what it is against.
On Monday, McGowan released a policy to transform the NDP into the party of wage growth. Alberta workers have received the lowest wage growth in Canada under the UCP, and Alberta’s wage advantage is now being eclipsed by British Columbia.
In a previous policy announcement, McGowan vowed to make the NDP the party of economic growth. McGowan would use Biden and Lougheed-style industrial policy to bring new investment and industries to Alberta and protect opportunities for Alberta workers through changing times.
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