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“One thing that this opposition has done throughout this flood issue is they’ve tried to politicize it, they’ve tried to tear people down, they’ve tried to undermine and pit community against community,” said Redford.

Political opponents have criticized the Tories for not implementing flood mitigation measures that had been called for after floods hit southern Alberta in 2005.

‘I was bullied’

Redford, answering a question about her party’s zero tolerance approach to bullying, also spoke about getting bullied as a child.

“I was bullied. And I tell you that to this day still when I’m in groups of people, doesn’t matter how old we get, I can kind of tell the people who were bullied.

“When you’ve been in those shoes, you have a different appreciation for everybody else, and that’s important for us to remember.”

Party members debated resolutions behind closed doors and did not make the resolutions themselves available to the media.

The party affirmed Redford’s promise to not bring in a sales tax. They also recommended the province do more to bring in more workers, pursue flood preparedness issues and review the proportion of how much students pay for post-secondary education versus how much the government pays.

Red Deer Tory MLA Cal Dallas said delegates also voted to look at bringing back health premiums, but he said it’s only a discussion topic for now and will not be part of the next budget.

While Redford promised delegates that her team would now get back to work to win the 2016 election, recent polls suggest they have some work to do.

The PCs have been neck and neck with the opposition Wildrose party while Redford has trailed Wildrose leader Danielle Smith in personal popularity.

Last month, Wildrose members gave Smith a 90% vote of confidence in their leadership review.

The PCs ended 2012 almost $800,000 in debt, and in the first nine months of 2013 have raised $1.4 million compared with $1.9 million for the Wildrose.

The Canadian Press