Calgary

Alberta election 2015: Can you imagine an NDP province?

We ask the Calgary Eyeopener's Unconventional Panel whether our province could flourish under the reign of Rachel Notley.

Our Unconventional Panel weighs in on what a Notley government would look like

Unconventional Panel on Alberta as an NDP government

"This is not an NDP province, I don't believe that the voters of Alberta want to see an NDP coalition or an NDP government," said premier Jim Prentice in response to the latest polls, which show a close race between the Tories and the NDP.

While Prentice may be adamant that Rachel Notley and her party are the wrong fit for Albertans, we asked our Unconventional Panel what would happen if the NDP do win.

"Oh he's scared. He's talking trash now," said Andrew Phung, a Calgary actor.

Left to right: George Brookman, Shelley Youngblut, Andrew Phung (CBC)

"Tigers always have the same coloured stripes," said local businessman George Brookman.

"I looked at what happened in Ontario and in B.C. under NDP governments and I think it would be a disaster," he said.

"Let's just get away from labels," said Calgary writer Shelley Youngblut, who was also recently named the interim general director of Wordfest.

"There's something very attractive in the leadership quality of Rachel Notley," said Youngblut. 

"So, assume that the NDP has a leader. And then assume that we actually have a very strong civil service and a very strong business community. Why can't that leader work with those two communities to create an interesting, changing province?"

No one on this week's Unconventional Panel believes the PCs will get voted out, but they all think the Tories will have far fewer seats in the Alberta Legislature after May 5.