NDP leader shrugs off Tory attacks

CALGARY — Buoyed by a series of new polls that show the New Democrats ahead of all rivals, NDP Leader Rachel Notley shrugged off new Progressive Conservative attack ads aimed at her party.

Notley told reporters in Lethbridge she didn’t think Albertans will be swayed by TV ads warning of the “economic damage” NDP governments have caused in provinces where they have governed.

“Personally I think it’s unlikely,” she said following a noisy rally with about 75 supporters in an old firehall turned restaurant. “I think people are particularly tired of the same old-style PC model and that extends to that old style form of campaigning, I think the window is starting to close in terms of people shifting back to the Tories.”

A new Mainstreet Technologies poll shows the NDP with 44-percent support among decided voters, compared to 26 per cent for the Wildrose and 21 per cent for the Progressive Conservatives, who have governed Alberta since 1971.

It is one of several polls released between Wednesday and Friday showing the NDP — who have never formed government in Alberta — with a strong lead.

Wildrose Leader Brian Jean also went after Notley, saying the NDP would devastate Alberta’s economy with their “risky economic experiments.”

Jean, in Calgary on Thursday, has depicted his party as the only option to block an NDP government.