EDMONTON — Conservative candidate Ryan Hastman says he’s losing in Edmonton-Strathcona and has issued a plea for help.

“Honestly, if tomorrow was election day, we’d probably lose,” Hastman wrote in a leaked e-mail to supporters last weekend.

“We’re giving it our best. But to be honest, we’re losing. I need help.”

Hastman is running against incumbent NDP candidate Linda Duncan in a riding she won by 463 votes in 2008. It’s the only riding held by an opposition MP in Alberta. Conservatives from across Alberta have been sending money and volunteers in the hopes of winning the riding.

But that’s not enough yet, said Hastman, when asked about the e-mail after an all-candidates debate Tuesday.

“We’re the underdog, there’s no question,” he said.

“I’m the challenger. We have a mountain to climb. Our volunteers are rallying and we’ve seen a good turnout but she’s the incumbent. We’re racing to catch up.”

The Hastman campaign has about 200 core volunteers delivering flyers, phoning supporters and putting up lawn signs. The Duncan campaign said they have more than 500, close to double what they had when they won last election.

Both candidates spoke Tuesday at the debate at the University of Alberta, getting equal criticism from the two independent candidates running against them. A Marxist-Leninist, a Liberal and a Green candidate round out the slate. Only the Liberal candidate missed the debate.

In the most emotional appeal, Hastman was confronted by the widow of former mayor and Liberal MLA Laurence Decore, who chastised him for using her late husband’s name in politicking.

“It’s insulting,” said Anne Marie Decore in front of the 200 students and supporters. “He’s a man who is nothing like you.”

Hastman had used Decore’s name in a radio appearance, saying that like Decore, he was a fiscal conservative with a social conscience.

Hastman said he used the name out of respect.

But Decore wasn’t accepting that. “To try and ride the coattails of a man who has been dead 12 years is repugnant,” she said. “My husband’s ideals and beliefs were not like this Tory government or Mr. Hastman’s.”

Steve Patten, a political scientist at the University of Alberta, said it’s hard to judge from Hastman’s e-mail if the campaign is really struggling.

“You’ve got to motivate people,” he said. “Sometimes campaigns send out positive messages when you know very well they are losing.

“I think it’s absolutely true that Linda Duncan’s campaign is going effectively and that she has a chance of winning. Hastman’s had some stumbles in his campaign, but I also think the Harper campaign overall is going fairly well and Hastman still has a chance of winning. He might just be trying to use a line that motivates workers.”

The all-candidates debate was standing room only, with a long line of students at the microphone asking questions.

Kevan Hunter, candidate for the Marxist-Leninist party, called on voters to stay involved in grassroots initiatives between elections. “Accountability begins at home,” he said.

Green candidate Andrew Fehr said he would raise the income tax cut-off to $20,000, so those making less than that would not pay taxes.

Duncan said the NDP would bring in an education act, similar to the Canada Health Act, which include a commitment from the universities to reduce tuition in exchange for funding.

On the question of how the candidates would support LRT development, Duncan said we’re “the only party that has actually tabled a bill for a national transit plan.”

To which, independent Kyle Murphy replied: “Tabling something in the House of Commons you know is not going to get past is just tokenism.”

Hastman said there is nothing wrong with students taking out loans to go to school. The Conservative government is making sure there are jobs for students when they get out, and increasing funding where research is likely to create more jobs.

Murphy had a comeback for that, too. “Personally, I think it’s too easy for a political party to take credit for the economy doing well.”

estolte@edmontonjournal.com

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