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   Don Braid, Calgary Herald - April 23, 2015   
      
   Braid: Notley shines in the best-ever Alberta leaders' debate   
      
      
   Now, that was a heck of a debate — tough, lively, blunt without being   
   vicious,   
   often highly entertaining; a vivid reflection of divisions in the province and   
   the rise of three almost equal political forces.   
      
   And the winner is … Rachel Notley of the NDP, hands down.   
      
   That was the opinion pouring in after the debate, from the political world,   
   average voters and even business people.  Notley was all over the others —   
   aggressive without being unpleasant, constantly interjecting without seeming   
   rude, throwing even Premier Jim Prentice off his game.   
      
   There was one deadly moment when Prentice looked at Notley, as they were   
   debating corporate tax rates, and he said: “I know that math is difficult   
   â€¦â€�   
      
   It sounded patronizing.  Notley smiled faintly.  She had him — and sure   
   enough,   
   a few minutes later when talk turned to royalties, she said Albertans are   
   always told, “Don’t worry your pretty little heads …â€�   
      
   One woman tweeted: “Right there, That was the moment that I decided how to   
   vote.â€�  A new Twitter hashtag — #mathishard — instantly went ballistic.   
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   Prentice seemed jolted by Notley’s quickness and skill.  She was a tough   
   target   
   for the premier.   
      
   Notley played him like a fiddle, often interrupting adroitly, without seeming   
   angry, just pleasantly indignant.  A few times he just gave up and let her go   
   on.  Indeed, there was a moment near the end when the premier looked like he   
   wanted to pack up and leave.  ヽ(^。^)ノ   
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   Prentice himself was cool and able, as usual, except for a couple of shaken   
   moments.  He has a coherent program that’s well understood.  But he faced the   
   usual premier’s problem — he was constantly blasted from all over the   
   stage.   
      
   Most of the criticisms reflected things Prentice has said himself about past PC   
   regimes. Even Prentice loyalists will have trouble seeing this debate as more   
   than a draw for the PCs.   
      
   The real puzzlement was why Prentice spent so much time directly confronting   
   and questioning Notley, even after it became clear she was very tough to   
   handle.   
      
   Partly it was placement on the stage — they stood right next to each other   
   â€”   
   but a move like that always has some strategy behind it.   It may mean the PCs   
   are worried about an NDP breakthrough beyond Edmonton, perhaps into Calgary   
   ridings.   After last night, they may have good reason.   
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   Then there was new Wildrose Leader Brian Jean, the sharpest contrast to Notley   
   imaginable.  He was blunt and highly scripted, repeating the same point again   
   and again — “Wildrose will not raise your taxes.â€�  He called all the   
   other   
   parties “a coalition of tax-raisers.â€�   
      
   It’s unlikely that Jean made a big breakthrough with a wider public beyond   
   Wildrose supporters, but he did a solid job of defending the party’s core   
   position as the party of cuts to government, rather than tax hikes for   
   individuals.  There’s a big Alberta market for that view and Jean was not   
   about   
   to give it away.   
      
   Once, when Prentice attacked Wildrose budget numbers, Jean said: “I always   
   appreciate a good fearmongerer.â€�  He was also careful to cover off a few   
   Wildrose danger points, including Danielle Smith’s 2012 statement that   
   climate   
   change science is not settled.   
      
   â€œMan-made climate change is real and we need to tackle it head on,â€� Jean   
   said.   
     It was a curious thing for a modern party leader to have to say, but   
   essential to elude a scare campaign on that issue.   
      
   Overall, Jean seemed quite wooden and humourless.  Even Prentice managed the   
   odd genuine smile under fire.  It wasn’t easy to see Jean as a premier,   
   although he certainly looked like one hard-nosed opposition leader.   
      
   While Jean tried to paint himself as the polar opposite to Prentice, Notley   
   stuck in a needle that pinned them back together.   
      
   â€œThat’s no way to talk to a donor,â€� she said to Prentice when he   
   criticized   
   Jean.  It was a reminder that only last fall, Jean donated $10,000 to the PC   
   leadership campaign of his former federal caucus mate.   
      
   Liberal Leader David Swann seemed almost secondary to the great three-party war   
   being fought around him, but he was no pushover at all, attacking both Wildrose   
   and the NDP as too extreme, and accusing the PCs of “corruption.â€�   
      
   The obvious goal for Prentice was to discredit the opposition parties and paint   
   the PCs as the only possible government.   
      
   It’s not at all clear that he achieved his aim.  The last 10 days of this   
   campaign are still crucially important.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)