NDP Leader Rachel Notley and United Conservative Party Leader Danielle Smith are shown on the Alberta election campaign trail in this recent photo combination.NDP Leader Rachel Notley and United Conservative Party Leader Danielle Smith are shown on the Alberta election campaign trail in this recent photo combination.

UCP’s Danielle Smith and NDP’s Rachel Notley have been neck and neck during the campaign. Polls close at 10 p.m. EDT.

CALGARY—Election day is finally here in a deeply polarized Alberta, after a month-long campaign that has drawn eyeballs from around the country, marked by discriminatory comments, fallout over ethics rules violations and very different visions for one of the country’s biggest economic powerhouses.

The race has pitted two titans of prairie politics against each other: The sitting premier and United Conservative leader is Danielle Smith, a libertarian former radio talk show host who has been in office less than a year. She is looking for a fresh mandate based on lower taxes, more resource extraction and a louder fight against Ottawa.

Hers is a vision even further to the right than most past governments in Alberta, and her very public missteps — from breaking the Conflicts of Interest Act by speaking to the justice minister about a homophobic street preacher facing charges, to calling the unvaccinated the “most discriminated” group she’s seen in her lifetime — have moved even some former conservative leaders to speak out against her.

Most polls have her only slightly ahead of Rachel Notley, a former labour lawyer, and her New Democrats, who have run on a platform of bolstering health care and education, while taking aim at Smith’s leadership.

Despite Alberta’s reputation as a conservative heartland, the two parties have been neck and neck for much of the campaign.

Thanks to record oil profits, the UCP has sprinkled money across the province, promising big-ticket items like a new Calgary arena and lower income and fuel taxes. Smith has also moderated some of her most controversial stances — there has been little mention of her promises to fight back against Ottawa, or create a provincial pension plan — in a bid to win back traditional conservative voters who have raised an eyebrow at some of her more controversial statements.

Meanwhile, Notley is looking for a comeback of her own. She led the Alberta NDP to its first victory in 2015, before being defeated by Jason Kenney’s UCP after one term. On the campaign trail, she has defended her record while pledging to hire more teachers and doctors and raise corporate taxes to increase revenue, while freezing university tuition and blocking coal mining in the Rockies.

Polling stations will close at 8 p.m. local (10 p.m. EDT). With the NDP expected to sweep Edmonton, the government and university town that is its traditional base of support, and the United Conservatives expected to take most rural and small town seats, eyes will be on Calgary.

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