Notice Board

The Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA) present a special Tuesday session discussing the future of the ruling UCP party and whether it can recover its popularity with Albertans.

With the UCP Government running behind NDP in the Polls halfway through its Mandate, what can they do to re-earn the trust of Albertans?

Tuesday, May 18, 2021 at 10 a.m. MST

YouTube Live link: https://youtu.be/HcTwFJfN2vk

Following their convincing election victory April 16, 2019, Alberta’s UCP Government, led by Jason Kenney, has seen a steady decline in their support from Alberta voters. This is particularly evident in Calgary and some other urban centres, where the opposition NDP and other parties have made gains according to the latest polls. While it can be argued that the COVID-19 pandemic has made life difficult for all provincial governments in Canada, it appears Jason Kenney and his party have suffered more damage than most.

Right from the start of UCP forming government, many of their stated policy changes and initiatives did not age well for a variety of reasons, some of which may have been out of their control. Severely lowering the corporate tax rate without creating the promised jobs hasn’t worked out so far, and neither has picking fights with doctors, health-care providers and public service workers during a pandemic. Massive funding cuts to universities and colleges, opening up for coal mining in the Eastern Slopes and blaming others for pretty much anything that’s gone wrong, hasn’t been a winning strategy either. The speaker will contextualize what the Alberta UCP will need to do if they are to re-emerge as a voter favourite in the next election.

Speaker: Dr. Duane Bratt

Duane Bratt is a political science professor in the Department of Economics, Justice, and Policy Studies at Mount Royal University (Calgary, Alberta). He was educated at the Universities of Windsor (BA 1991, MA 1992) and Alberta (PhD 1996). He teaches in the area of international relations and Canadian public policy. His primary research interest is in the area of Canadian nuclear policy.

Recent publications include: co-editor, Orange Chinook: Politics in the New Alberta(University of Calgary Press, 2018), co-editor, Readings in Canadian Foreign Policy: Classic Debates and New Ideas 3rd edition (Oxford University Press, 2015) and author of Canada, the Provinces, and the Global Nuclear Revival (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2012). Current projects include the risk assessment of Canada's nuclear waste site selection process. Duane is also a regular commentor on political events.

In order to ask questions of our speaker in the chat feature of YouTube, you must have a YouTube account and be signed in. Please do so well ahead of the scheduled start time, so you’ll be ready. Go the YouTube Live link provided in this session flyer and on the top right of your browser click the “sign in” button. If you have Google or Gmail accounts, they can be used to sign in. If you don’t, click “Create Account” and follow along. Once you are signed in, you can return to the live stream and use the chat feature to ask your questions of the speaker. You can only participate in the chat feature while we are livestreaming.

SACPA’s YouTube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/SouthernAlbertaCouncilonPublicAffairs/videos

For further information on the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs, visit the SACPA website.