Letter: Smith not necessarily front-runner

By Letter to the Editor on August 3, 2022.

Dear editor,

Following the UCP leadership debate this week, I was disappointed by the News’s July 29 front page headline “Smith deemed front-runner.”

In the article several political analysts are quoted to have reached the conclusion that Smith is leading the race due to the fact that the other candidates focused most of their attacks and criticism on her policies and comments.

There is a totally different conclusion that can be drawn from the same fact, and that is that Smith was the focus of attack not because she is seen as having the most support, but simply because of weaknesses in her platform and faults in comments she has recently made.

There was no polling evidence cited in the article to support the analysts’ assertions that Smith must be leading. The analysts took their observation that Smith bore the brunt of attacks and criticism to mean that Smith’s opponents saw her as their major adversary. The focus of attacks on Smith could also be seen just as evidence that her opponents see the flaws in her platform, and were seeking to eliminate her from the race, not because she is leading the race, a conclusion for which no real supporting evidence was given.

Michael Seitz

Medicine Hat

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