Really, really important. Important enough to make the difference — in Alberta, and anywhere else.

Lots of Canadians are now watching the dramatic Alberta contest, now entering the home stretch. Non-Albertans can’t vote in the election, but they, too, have a stake in the outcome. That’s because the far-right Wildrose Alliance has been leading in the polls, and has an excellent shot at forming the government.

If they do so, Wildrose will be the most socially conservative government Canada has seen since the days of Social Credit in Alberta and the Union Nationale in Quebec. A Wildrose government will shatter decades of social and economic peace like the Socreds did. Canada doesn’t need that.

Over the weekend, the ugly face of Wildrose — an ugliness leader Danielle Smith has frantically attempted to hide from voters — revealed itself. Edmonton Southwest Wild-rose candidate Allan Hunsperger wrote on his website that public education is “Godless.” He also wrote that gays and lesbians are going to burn in Hell.

“As long as they keep that in their personal lives, and don’t anticipate that there’s going to be legislation on that, I don’t believe we’re doing anything different than other political parties.”

When asked if there were personal opinions that were beyond the pale for the party, Smith did not directly answer the question, wrote reporter James Woods.

Edmonton-Southwest candidate and pastor Allan Hunsperger posted a rant on his blog last June, using Lady Gaga’s hit song, Born This Way, to blast the Edmonton public school division’s policy of accepting students for who they are.

“Sounds great at first except nobody is mentioning what the results will be of living the way you were born,” read the post, which has since been removed, with a statement from Hunsperger addressing the issue.

The debate centres on some of the most difficult issues of our era: Reproductive choice for women, equal marriage for gays and lesbians, the wall that exists (supposedly) between church and state.
Alberta Wildrose leader Danielle Smith wants to tear down that wall, although she would never be so impolitic as to say so out loud. When a microphone is pointed in her direction, the frontrunner in the Alberta election insists she doesn’t want to defund abortion.

She claims she doesn’t want to stop gay marriages. She will say, with a straight face, that she wants to keep religion out of politics.

But here’s the thing: Smith — who, with her background in TV journalism, knows how to lull voters to sleep — isn’t telling the truth. She’s lying, in fact. She’s trying to have it both ways.