EDMONTON – Deborah Grey figures she’s hit the big time.
The Reform party candidate has been lampooned on Canada’s three main comedy programs – CBC TV’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Royal Canadian Air Farce and CBC radio’s Double Exposure.
“You know you’ve made it to the big time when you’ve been on Double Exposure,” said Grey.
She is counting on that national recognition to help her win in the Edmonton North riding. Grey was forced to find a new riding after the Beaver River constituency she represented for eight years was eliminated when the election boundaries were redrawn after the last federal election.
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People recognize Grey, the first Reform party member ever elected, on the streets, going door-to-door and riding her Honda Gold Wing motorbike.
“I have a track record and people recognize my name. Most people know me,” she said.
People complain about the same problems in the new urban riding as they did in her old rural riding, just east of Edmonton: Taxes, justice, health care and the budget, said Grey.
“This is Reform country.”
Liberal candidate Jonathan Murphy isn’t convinced. In the recent provincial election, the four ridings which make up Edmonton North voted Liberal, defying the provincial Tory tide.
“There are a lot of people in this riding who find the Reform party very frightening,” said Murphy. “Deb was very popular in rural Alberta, but this isn’t rural Alberta. This is Edmonton, where they are moderate liberal people.”
While Murphy doesn’t have the same profile as Grey, he is known in the city as a social activist. Until seven years ago, Murphy was a New Democrat. He switched after deciding the Alberta New Democrats were “out of touch” with the need to balance compassion with fiscal responsibility.
During the last federal election, Liberal John Loney edged out Reform candidate Ron Mix by 202 votes. Applying 1993 election results to new Edmonton North boundaries would give the Liberals a 425-vote edge.
The riding is an ethnic mix of mainly working class people. The average household income is $46,402.
Many of the 97,450 who live in the riding work at the new Canadian Forces superbase at Namao and at two smaller bases in the riding. All parties are targeting the military vote and Reform is highlighting what it calls the Somalia inquiry fiasco.
Conservatives note former military major general Lewis MacKenzie is running for them in Ontario. Mac-Kenzie gained fame leading the United Nations military mission in the former Yugoslavia.
The Liberals emphasize their government developed the superbase, which contributes more than half a billion dollars to the local economy each year.
“The Liberals have a strong record on jobs, not just the superbase, but in the oilsands,” said Murphy. “This is a blue collar area.”
On health care, he said the Liberals have “built a compassionate policy on a sound fiscal basis.”
He does not expect much opposition from New Democrat Ray Martin but “Deborah Grey is a formidable opponent.”
That’s not what NDP candidate Martin says he’s hearing. He is counting on his high profile as the former leader of the Alberta New Democrats to get elected.
“The recognition factor for me is very high,” he said. “All indications at the start of the campaign are pretty positive.”
Martin’s revenge?
Many people were surprised at Martin’s return to politics after he led the provincial New Democrats to disaster in the 1993 provincial election. The party lost all 16 of its seats.
He wasn’t planning to leave his new career as a financial planner with Investors Group for another round of politics, but said he wanted to come to the aid of his party.
“Let’s be honest,” he said. “We’d been beat up pretty badly both federally and provincially …. If the party had been doing better, I may not have run, but rather than just walking away I thought I’d give it another shot.”
He said the country needs an NDP presence as a social conscience to keep politics balanced between deficit cutting and more progressive policies.
PCs like tax issue
Progressive Conservative candidate Mitch Panciuk said he is hearing concerns about jobs when he goes door knocking. He also hears complaints that taxes are killing the economy.
“I realize how important it is to get a tax cut here so they can spend it in businesses like mine here,” said Panciuk, general manager of the Rosslyn Motor Inn.
Panciuk said he is still feeling a backlash against the Conservatives as many voters recall former Conservative prime ministers Brian Mulroney and Kim Campbell.
He insists the new generation of PCs is different. “We’ve got a different party, a different leader and different candidates.”
Edmonton North voters will also have a fifth choice on the ballot. Ric Johnsen is running for the Natural Law party in the riding.
