Controversial candidate statements come up every election, but with the fight for the premier's office so tight, political watchers say Premier Danielle Smith needs to keep them to a minimum if she wants to keep her job.
Among them is former campaign manager Tom Flanagan, who is also professor emeritus in U of C's faculty of Political Science. He was at the helm of Smiths campaign during 2012's infamous "Lake of Fire" eruption.
"Premier Smith got caught in the 2012 election, with inadequate opposition research," Flanagan recalls. "Old statements by one of our candidates came, played a pivotal role late in the campaign."
"In my view, the best defense is a good offense. Somebody attacks a crazy thing that one of your candidates may have said in the past, you should be ready to come up with something crazy that an NDP candidate has said," says Flanagan.
The comments come days after Lethbridge UCP candidate Torry Tanner resigned following a video where she claims young children are being exposed to pornography in the classroom, and that gender reassignment is taking place without parent's knowledge.
COURTING CONTROVERSY
Lacombe-Ponoka UCP candidate Jennifer Johnson also has some past posts finding the light of day, including reposting material showing sympathy for Jan 6 rioters, claims that vaccines are "poison", and comparing abortion and "infanticide" to Second World War crimes against humanity. She has not commented publicly on posts.
Johnson beat out a field of rivals backed by the UCP establishment to win the nomination.
Another UCP candidate for Calgary-Lougheed, Eric Bouchard, lost his restaurant business during the pandemic. Among his social media posts critical of pandemic public health measures is one expletive-laden response to a tweet by councillor Gian-Carlo Carra, which appears to celebrate the second anniversary of municipal restrictions.
"We could argue through every single comment whether it's outrageous enough to be disqualifying or not, or whether it's problematic or not," says pollster Janet Brown.
"It's just about how challenging it's going to be for the UCP to stay on their message if they're playing Whack-a-Mole with all these individual candidates saying controversial things," Brown says.
UCP support appears locked up in rural ridings, but Calgary appears situated to be a battleground where some of the more radical wing of the party runs the risk of turning off voters.
"Look, conservatives can only win if they have a fairly big tent," Flanagan says. "It doesn't have to be huge, but it has to be bigger than the populist base."
