As wildfires upend Alberta election campaign, here’s where the race stands

Wildfires raging across Alberta have upended this month’s election campaign, but political watchers are split on whether it has made an impact on the razor-thin race.United Conservative Leader Danielle Smith has had to juggle campaigning with leading the province’s response to the crisis as premier.

Her opponent, NDP Leader Rachel Notley, has also suspended some campaign events and even offered to help Smith, pointing to her own experience as premier during the Fort McMurray wildfire of 2016.But pollster Janet Brown told Mercedes Stephenson during a panel discussion that aired Sunday on The West Block that voters are not seeing the wildfires as a political issue.“It’s definitely an important story,” she said, “but when it comes to dealing with these fires, the premier is really a figurehead.“I think the bigger question for Albertans is, was the government ready to handle this?”The fires have given Smith — who’s facing her first campaign as UCP leader after being elected by the party seven months ago — an opportunity to prove she can be an effective leader and work with other levels of government.

But experts on the panel disagreed on whether she’s passing the test.“The premier kind of stumbled off the blocks on this one,” said former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi, who during his time in office had to navigate the emergency responses and recovery efforts during the devastating 2013 floods that hit Calgary and southern Alberta.“It took a few days to make a statement.

It took her a couple of days more to contact the prime minister and ask for federal help.”Nenshi also criticized Smith for continuing to attend fundraisers while tens of thousands of Albertans were being evacuated from their communities due to the wildfire.