United Conservative Party leadership candidate Rebecca Schulz sent supporters an email pretending to be an NDP supporter begging Conservatives not to vote for Schulz because the NDP are afraid of her.
UCP members on Schulz’s mailing list received an email from “Your Friendly Neighbourhood NDP Supporter” with the subject “The NDP’s Worse Nightmare.” The actual email address listed is [email protected].
The email is written to Conservative voters and says the UCP appeared to be finished governing until Schulz came on the scene as a candidate to take over as party leader and Premier.
“We’re terrified of Rebecca Schulz,” the email says. “Some of us actually say she’s the NDP’s worst nightmare.”
The email says Schulz is the only candidate who has a chance of beating the NDP due to her “clean record” and “fresh perspective,” which will win in both urban and rural areas.
“She is leading with common sense, compassion, and strong Alberta conservative values,” the email reads. “We don’t have an answer for that.”
The NDP were ready to win the next provincial election and move forward with its agenda to phase out the energy sector, blow the surplus budget and “cozy up the Trudeau Liberals,” the email continues.
“We could never figure out how to make our budgets balance,” it reads. “Trudeau told us that our budgets would balance themselves, but that strategy didn’t pan out.”
The email says the NDP thought it would win the next election but “our celebration may be cut short” because of Schulz’s candidacy.
The Schulz campaign says the email was “clearly” from Schulz as it contains Rebecca’s logo and was sent from her email.
“The intent of the email was to ring the alarm on the possibility that the NDP will be the ones who come out as winners should we get this wrong and that is precisely what it has done,” the campaign said in a statement to True North.
“In this race, some candidates, members, and media have been so singularly focused on the legitimacy of the Sovereignty Act that we’ve missed the big picture – that the outcome of this race will impact on whether we win or hand the province back to the NDP in Spring 2023.”
The email address [email protected] is the same email listed on Schulz’s leadership campaign website.
The email concludes by urging readers not to “click the link below” to donate to the Schulz campaign.
“If we’re facing Rebecca in 2023, we are going to need the biggest head start possible.”
The email is signed from “Your Friendly Neighbourhood Socialist.”
The fake email campaign strategy comes as Schulz has been falling behind in the polls.
A Mainstreet Research survey conducted earlier this month found that Smith looks poised to win the Premiership with 44% support of party backers.
Another 20% said they backed Brian Jean in the leadership race, followed by former finance minister Travis Toews with 19%, and 7% for Todd Loewen. Schulz received 6%, Leela Aheer had 3% and Rajan Sawhney had 1%.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include comment from the Schulz campaign.
