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Does the NDP rule Calgary?

That’s the unspoken ballot question in the Calgary-Foothills byelection, to be held Thursday before a long weekend, when the school-supply stores may see a lot more visitors than the polling stations.

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The danger to the NDP, which should be the runaway favourite, is the growing impression that the new government is sometimes tone-deaf to Calgary.

Normally, the government’s candidate would be a cinch for victory at a moment when the conservative vote is divided, so soon after a general vote that brought in a popular new premier.

But honeymoons run short in Calgary these days. NDP candidate Bob Hawkesworth is in a fight, and his party knows it.

They’ve thrown the book at this campaign. Premier Rachel Notley has campaigned there three times. On Tuesday, the New Democrats rallied most of their Calgary MLAs high on a lonely hill (Scotchman’s Hill, actually) in support of Hawkesworth.