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Calgary Herald

'Behemoth of Conservative support:' Why Liberals' hoped-for breakthrough in Calgary fizzled

Their campaign did all the right things but ran into a brick wall fortifying Calgary's Conservative fortress, said the campaign manager for Calagary Centre Liberal candidate Linsday Luhnau. Article content Article content It's a sentiment shared by non-Tory candidates, particularly Liberal, whose efforts failed to breach that bastion to realize a much-discussed breakthrough in the city, with four seats supposedly at play. Article content Article content When the dust from Monday's federal election cleared, the Liberals were left with one seat, a status they carried into the contest and their one sitting MP – George Chahal – was defeated. Article content Article content 'Calgary is such a massive behemoth of Conservative support and voters view Conservatives as the home team,' said Hannah Wilson, campaign manager for Lindsay Luhnau, who went down to defeat at the hands of Calgary Centre incumbent Greg McLean. Article content The riding, along with Skyview, McKnight and Confederation, were widely considered fertile for Liberal success among the 11 Calgary constituencies, but in the end, only the latter one fell into the Grit camp, and narrowly at that. Article content Wilson said she's convinced Luhnau and her team ran a top-notch campaign and encountered encouraging signs along the way, including a receptive doorstep audience, an excited volunteer group and motivated Liberal voter base. Article content Article content Article content But that campaign got on its feet five days after the writ was dropped and against a well-established incumbent meant 'we were always playing catch-up.' Article content Luhnau, did well among advance voters, she said but some of the election day locales, such as Inglewood, proved more Conservative-leaning than expected. Article content 'A lot of voters felt left out (by the Liberal government) and that was hard to overcome – I don't think it was Lindsay herself,' she said. Article content Liberal leader Carney, she said, might not have communicated his pro-energy stance clearly enough, added Wilson.