Moe watching as Alberta heads to the polls

In a little over three weeks, Albertans will head to the polls to either pick a new provincial government or reaffirm the current one.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is wishing everyone running the best of luck, but added on to the sentiment.

“Probably from Saskatchewan, just looking at the alliance that we have politically (with Alberta), I’d likely wish just a little bit more luck to all those UCP candidates that are running there,” he said with a bit of a smile.

Moe said his government and a UCP government are closer together from a party perspective. The UCP is the current government, led by Premier Danielle Smith.

“But most certainly, whoever’s successful in Alberta, they can’t ignore what is creating the wealth in communities across that province and it’s the energy sector, it’s the agriculture sector, it’s to a lesser degree (than in Saskatchewan) the mining sector … but we align very closely in what is creating wealth in our communities and we align very closely with what hindrances we have in continuing to create that wealth,” said Moe, referring to the federal government.

In recent years, Saskatchewan and Alberta have moved together on several challenges to federal government policies — sometimes the only provinces to do so. But Moe didn’t want to speculate on what an NDP win in Alberta might mean for those challenges, saying it may be a question that doesn’t need answering.

“From our province’s perspective, we’ll work with whoever’s successful, but we would align much closer … on policy issues (with the UCP), in particular policy issues that are defending the right of us as Saskatchewan residents to continue to create wealth in the industries that we have been creating wealth in,” Moe said.

Moe pointed out his government has things it agrees on with governments across the country including the federal government — and they work together on what they agree on. But there are other points they don’t align on and “that’s fine too,” Moe said.

Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck said her party is facing some similar concerns in Alberta politics as there are in Saskatchewan’s.

“We wish Rachel Notley and her team all the best in their election and we’ll be following closely,” said Beck.