CALGARY — Alberta Tory cabinet ministers are shrugging off new poll results suggesting the upstart opposition Wildrose Alliance party is nipping at the heels of the government in terms of popular support.
Ministers said Thursday they believe support for the Wildrose Alliance will quickly fade once voters get to know the opposition party a bit better. They also argued the survey results won't affect Premier Ed Stelmach's leadership review this weekend at the Progressive Conservative convention in Red Deer, Alta.
"I'm not worried about it. It's got nothing to do with the leadership (review)," said Treasury Board president Lloyd Snelgrove, one of Stelmach's top lieutenants.
"I got a hunch the bloom will come off the rose," he said of the Wildrose party.
The poll, conducted by Environics Research Group and provided exclusively to the Calgary Herald this week, shows the governing Tories have sunk to their lowest popular support in 16 years, barely ahead of the Wildrose Alliance as the preferred party among decided Alberta voters.
The independent survey of 1,000 adult Albertans (840 decided voters) reveals the Wildrose Alliance has firmly cemented itself in second place provincewide — and overtaken the dynastic Tories as the favoured party in Calgary.
The telephone poll, conducted Oct. 19-31, finds that 34 per cent of decided voters would cast a ballot for Stelmach and his Conservatives if an election were held today, compared to 28 per cent for the fledgling Wildrose Alliance and new leader Danielle Smith.
David Swann's Liberals are in third with the backing of 20 per cent of voters, followed by Brian Mason's NDP at nine per cent and the recently delisted Green party at eight per cent.
The Wildrose Alliance has shot to prominence on the provincial political radar after a surprising byelection win in Calgary and the election of a new leader, former journalist Danielle Smith, who has promised to build a mainstream conservative party to challenge the governing Tory dynasty.
The Progressive Conservatives have won 11 consecutive elections in Alberta.
jfekete@theherald.canwest.com
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