Liberal Leader Mark Carney is in Calgary, where his party could pick up its largest share of federal seats in decades.
“This could be the best vote result for the federal Liberals in 100 years,” said Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University.
Carney arrived in Calgary on Tuesday night, telling a rally that he has “a plan that builds an energy superpower in both clean and conventional energy.”
He says the Liberals can work with Indigenous Peoples, provinces and the private sector “to fast-track projects that build our energy security, by displacing foreign suppliers such as the United States,” and produce low-carbon oil and gas.
“I know that Alberta will be at the heart of all of these solutions,” he said.
Carney will hold a morning press conference in Calgary, before meeting with young supporters and volunteers. He will then fly to Saskatoon for a late-afternoon rally.
The Conservatives have been branding Carney as anti-energy, having dubbed the Liberals’ megaprojects law, Bill C-69, as the “No More Pipelines Act.”
But Bratt said the Liberals appear to have some momentum in parts of Calgary and Edmonton, even if they have no chance of gaining seats outside the cities.
He said that while Alberta remains the epicentre of conservativism in Canada, people in the two large cities are primarily worried about U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats against Canada’s economy and sovereignty.
“Things have fluctuated based on Trump and tariffs, just as they have in the rest of the country,” he said.
Bratt said the Liberals might get five seats in Alberta, a few that historical records suggest last happened in 1949.
The Calgary ridings in play include those with many urban progressives downtown and near the city’s university, as well as the ethnically diverse northeast. Those are all areas where Smith’s provincial conservatives are unpopular.
MP George Chahal is seeking re-election, after paying a $500 fine after a video showed him replacing an opponent’s pamphlet with his own during the 2021 election.
The Liberals’ only other Alberta MP at the time Parliament was dissolved last month is Edmonton MP Randy Boissonnault. He resigned from cabinet amid varying claims about his Indigenous ancestry and questions about business dealings.
At Tuesday’s rally, Karen Fraser from the nearby town of Canmore said Carney has the chops to navigate divisive regional issues.
She said his vision of a strong energy economy with a green focus could resonate across the country, and heal some of the Western alienation that she blamed conservatives for hyping up.
“It may be a little bit harder to be a Liberal in Alberta — but those people who are Liberals are truly Liberals,” she said.
Her friend Ian Schofield agreed.
“You have to be able to stand up to the prevailing attitude toward conservatism and Tories and anti-east and anti-establishment — the whole thing,” he said.
Carney is visiting Alberta just days after sparking backlash over comments he made about Premier Danielle Smith.
At a rally in Victoria on Sunday, Carney said that while Ontario Premier Doug Ford had been pushing Canada’s case against U.S. tariffs on the conservative Fox News network, it would be “a bad idea” to have Smith appear.
Smith has been accused of being too cosy with U.S. Republicans. She told a U.S. right-wing media outlet in March that the White House should pause its tariffs on Canada until after the election because they were helping the Liberals in the polls. She also said that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is “very much in sync” with the Trump administration.
Carney alluded to those remarks on Tuesday during his speech in Calgary.
“A person who draws his inspiration from President Trump like (Conservative Leader) Pierre Poilievre will kneel down before him, before he stands up to him. He’s in sync with President Trump, I’ve heard in this province,” he said.
Before that, on Monday, Smith had shot back at Carney, saying that his joke suggested a dismissive attitude toward her and other conservative women.
Bratt said Carney’s Monday comments about Smith were the same sort of “mistake” she has often made by saying what people in the room want to hear, without thinking of how others would hear it.
“He got pushed off a message because he was trying to be funny in front of a room of Liberal supporters,” Bratt said.
He said Smith needs to be careful in her messaging around Carney, after painting him as destructive to Canada and raising the ire of Alberta separation, just as she tells voters that Canadians must tone down the rhetoric against Trump. That sentiment, Bratt said, is offside with most Albertans.
Article by Dylan Robertson.
— With files from Michel Saba.
