Fighting Ottawa is 'good politics' in Alberta: Derek Fildebrandt

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Albertans are set to head to the polls in just a few short months on May 29. With polls showing a close race between Premier Danielle Smith's UCP and Rachel Notley's NDP, any edge in the home stretch could prove pivotal.

Derek Fildebrandt, the publisher behind the Western Standard and a former MLA, joined last night's episode of The Ezra Levant Show for a deeper look at the upcoming election.

Agreeing with Ezra's assertion that fighting Ottawa can be a successful strategy in Alberta, Derek said that in most provinces outside of Ontario it works well — but it comes with a potentially dangerous catch:

The caution is that it can't look like some contrived, silly fight. It has to be genuine over an issue. You know, every once in awhile Rachel Notley would try to work herself up into a tiff and say 'Justin Trudeau is could do better' and people are like 'I'm not really buying it'.

But conversely, you know, if Danielle Smith had a grievance but Albertans weren't bought into it and they thought it was just for political show — this was party of Jason Kenney's problem.

He ran against Ottawa in the last election, he ran against Ottawa in the UCP leadership when he got made leader. And then for his roughly three years as premier, he would talk a game against Ottawa but he never actually really did anything.

And so, talking against Ottawa can get you in office but if you can't show anything for it — if you're not willing to actually do something about it — it can be on the negative side.

For more from Derek Fildebrandt, be sure to visit the Western Standard.