Alberta may be in election mode sooner than originally thought.
According to the fixed election date legislation, an election must happen sometime between now and the end of May.
Premier Alison Redford has always maintained, though, that she will call an election when the budget is passed. And on Friday, she re-iterated that to reporters in Calgary.
"I haven't broken any promises. I'm not pushing anything back. As I said last summer and through the fall, I said we'd pass the budget first."
"We have a process in the legislature which means we can pass it fairly quickly and we're looking to that calendar. Those votes are coming up quite soon but we will pass the budget before we go to the polls," Redford said.
The budget can be passed as early as next week, since Thursday will be the last day MLAs meet before they head home for constituency week.
If the writ drops next week, some say we could see an election by late April, others think it could come even earlier.
"I think the speculation is idle. We're going to have a vote, probably, probably by the middle of April," said political scientist James Lightbody.
Sources tell Global News that in the last month, Premier Redford has changed her mind about when to hold an election no less than 4 times".
The uncertainty has opposition taking aim at Redford.
"She's indecisive about when she's going to have an election date," said Liberal Party leader, Raj Sherman. "We're just going to have to roll with the punches"
Wildrose Party Leader, Danielle Smith, added, "I think her credibility suffers every single day she refuses to come clean on when she's holding the election."
Opposition has also had plenty of political ammunition because of a series of scandals plaguing the ruling Progressive Conservative Party recently.
One of the scandals involves Gary Mar, Redford's chief rival last year for the Progressive Conservative party leadership. She later appointed Mar to serve as Alberta's Hong Kong-based Asia trade envoy.
Redford suspended Mar without pay last week after learning he may have tacitly offered to open doors in Asia for benefactors who attended a $400-a-plate dinner to help him pay off campaign debts.
The case is now being handled by an independent investigator, but Redford has been criticized from those both inside and outside her party.
The premier also had to do damage control this week when it was revealed an all-party legislature committee was paying politicians thousands of dollars to sit on a panel that hasn't met in years.
On Monday, Redford froze the committee pay for all members of her government pending a review.
She's also coming under fire for her less-than-stellar attendance recently during Question Period.
Redford said that once the election is called, though, voters will quickly shift their attention to the economy and Alberta's future.
"I'll tell you that from my perspective, once we're going to the polls, we're going to talk about what Albertans want the future of this province to be, we're going to talk about their optimism, economic development and health care," she said.
"I think once we engage in that and we talk about the future and get people thinking about what they want this province to be about, we're going to be just fine."
With files from Vassy Kapelos, Global News and The Canadian Press
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