'Self-inflicted wounds' that helped undo the Wildrose in Alberta election

EDMONTON - Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith, ahead in the polls for most of the Alberta election campaign, said her party suffered "self-inflicted wounds" in the last week that caused people to think twice. A look at the final days of the Wildrose campaign:

Allan Hunsperger and the lake of fire

The year-old blog post began circulating on the Internet as the leaders prepared for the final week before the vote. By Sunday, April 15, Smith was facing questions about it.

Edmonton-Southwest candidate Allan Hunsperger had written that gay people must change their ways or forever be damned. He used the Lady Gaga song "Born This Way" to build his argument.

"You see, you can live the way you were born, and if you die the way you were born, then you will suffer the rest of eternity in the lake of fire, hell, a place of eternal suffering," he wrote.

When the post made headlines, he pulled it down and offered an explanation. The blog was written as part of his work as a pastor, he said.

"I fully support equality for all people, and condemn any intolerance based on sexual orientation or any other personal characteristic."

Smith stood by her candidate, saying he understood the Wildrose had no plans to legislate on contentious social issues.

Hunsperger was not elected.

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Climate change in doubt

The question was direct and came from a reader in an online leaders forum a week before the vote: what is your position on climate change?

"We have always said the science isn't settled," Smith responded.

Smith's position is held by some people on the right of the political spectrum, but it put her offside with many large players in the world.

The Tory-led government in energy-rich Alberta has long officially accepted the science behind climate change, as has the federal government. They are joined by the rest of Canada's provincial and territorial governments, the U.S., Mexico, the European Union and the United Nations.

Most scientific bodies, including the Royal Societies of Canada and the U.K., as well as the American Association for the Advancement of Science, also accept that human activity is changing the Earth's climate.

A recent study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences surveyed 1,372 papers on climate and found at least 97 per cent of the most active climate researchers supported the standard model.

"I wonder if she thinks the flat Earth debate is settled?" asked University of Alberta ecologist David Schindler.

Smith reiterated her stance at a CBC leaders debate last Thursday and was roundly booed by the live studio audience.

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The white advantage

The interview aired the same day Hunsperger's comments were making news, but it didn't get noticed by the broader public until Tuesday.

Calgary-Greenway candidate Ron Leech told a multicultural radio station that he had an advantage because he is Caucasian.

"When different community leaders such as a Sikh leader or a Muslim leader speaks, they really speak to their own people in many ways. As a Caucasian, I believe that I can speak to all the community," Leech said on CHKF-FM.

Leech apologized Tuesday and said he had misspoken.

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi didn't like Leech's apology and suggested it was important to know what Leech really believed.

Smith stood by Leech. She said 30 years of service to the people in his constituency couldn't be undone by one mistake. But a video surface on YouTube last Friday in which Leech made similar remarks, suggesting what he said wasn't a one-off.

And Leech was not elected.