Rebecca Schulz and her team wrote a message to party members posing as NDP supporters and claiming Schulz is the only candidate who can win for the Conservatives in next spring’s provincial election. “We are terrified of Rebecca Schulz,” he says. “Some of us are actually saying she’s the NDP’s worst nightmare. So please do the NDP a favor and don’t vote for Rebecca Schulz.” The email ends with a link to donate and a signature from “Your Friendly Neighborhood Socialist.” Schulz is not currently regarded as one of the pioneers of the race. “I think all the candidates did their best to say pretty much the same thing: ‘if you don’t vote for me, all hell breaks loose,’” said University of Lethbridge political scientist Trevor Harrison. “Clearly, Schulz is hoping to be a dark horse in the race. I’m not sure it’s really going to work at this point.” Schultz’s team says the fictitious character wasn’t intended to fool anyone. “The email clearly shows who the sender was as it has Rebecca’s logo and was sent from the campaign email,” a statement said. “The intent of the email was to sound the alarm about the possibility that the NDP will be the one to emerge victorious in the event that we get it wrong, and that’s exactly what it did.” Leadership candidates are bound by certain Elections Alberta and CRTC regulations, but it doesn’t appear that the email violated any races. The party forces all correspondence from candidates to include identification and contact information, and the email was sent from Schulz’s commonly used campaign email address. The UCP Caucus declined to comment. “He’s very desperate for Rebecca Schulz and her campaign,” NDP MLA Irfan Sabir told CTV News. The counting of votes will take place on October 6.
