EDMONTON – Laurie Hawn, Conservative candidate in Edmonton Centre, shies away from predicting victory in a seat the party would dearly like to claim from Liberal incumbent Anne McLellan in the Jan. 23 election.
The former air force pilot offers the stock answer when reporters swarm him after an all-candidates’ meeting.
“We are doing well and the national trends (in favour of the Conservatives) are helping but I take nothing for granted but the need to work hard until Jan. 23,” Hawn said.
The campaign to unseat McLellan, deputy prime minister and a four-time Liberal winner in a traditional Conservative seat, has taken on a sharp tone.
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In 2004, she won by slightly more than 700 votes.
Last week, voters in the downtown riding received envelopes from the Conservative campaign with a note inside: “If this was from the Liberals, it would be stuffed with cash.”
McLellan denounced the ploy as dirty politics.
At a Jan. 10 all-candidates’ meeting at Ross Shepherd High School, the first student questioner to the microphone was a Grade 12 Hawn supporter with a very pointed question.
Since the Liberal margin of victory was so small in previous elections and since McLellan represents only a minority of her constituency’s voters, does she “truly believe” she has the authority to be deputy prime minister, the student asked?
McLellan seemed taken aback.
“It doesn’t matter how much you win by,” she responded. She is the “senior woman” in the Liberal caucus and prime minister Paul Martin has recognized her talents to make her public security minister and deputy prime minister.
“He must have seen something.”
Frequently during the 80-minute session, McLellan found herself facing hostile questions.
“It doesn’t bother me at all,” she said later. “I think it is encouraging that young people are taking an interest in politics.”
The former law professor is accustomed to close political battles.
In 1993, she took the riding by one vote, giving the Liberals an important beachhead in a province that has not been kind to Liberals for decades.
In each of the three following elections, reports of her impending defeat turned out to be premature as she scratched out close victories.
“I have been declared defeated a number of times,” she said last week. “That’s why on election night, I never say anything until the last vote is counted. It is always close and it will be no different this time.”
In an urban riding with concerns about violence, affordable housing, education costs, health care and urban native poverty, McLellan is running on the Liberal record of committing more money to cities, aboriginals, students and the health-care system. She is also running on her record as one of the most senior candidates in the Liberal party, having held justice, health and public security portfolios.
“I believe I have a record that shows I work for my constituents and my country,” McLellan told students.
Second-time Conservative candidate Hawn said a desire for change and Liberal failures to resolve many of the urban issues facing Edmonton voters are part of his campaign.
And since his opponent is a former justice minister and public security minister, he said the gun control issue will also play a role in the local contest.
He said the registry for long guns is not a big issue for voters who do not own rifles.
“But the issue is more the waste of money on the registry and what could have been done with that $2 billion,” said Hawn. “The fact is it has had absolutely no effect on street crime in Edmonton and street crime is an issue here. For the prime minister to stand up and wave his arms and ban handguns, he might as well have banned crime. That is not selling here.”
