Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
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When Danielle Smith accepted the leadership of the Wildrose Alliance in 2009, she made sure to praise Calgary oilpatch veteran John Murdoch, the man who lobbied her to seek the job and cheered her on throughout that campaign.
“Through this race he has never hesitated to send a positive word of encouragement,” Smith told party supporters then. “It meant a lot to me to have his support.”
But now, with reports Smith and several other Wildrose MLAs are negotiating to cross the floor of the Alberta legislature and join the governing Tories, Murdoch’s faith has been shattered.
“This is a person that I vouched for and have been vouching for the past several years,” Murdoch said in an interview Tuesday.
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Tom Flanagan, the Wildrose’s campaign manager in the 2012 election, said the political manoeuvring bears all the trademarks of “blatant opportunism.”
“It really looks like they’re looking after themselves first rather that thinking of the party,” said Flanagan, a former university professor who once taught Smith as a student at the University of Calgary. “The logic seems to be, ‘Well we were successful as an opposition party and we got the government back on track. Now we can join the government.
“That might make some kind of sense, but in the longer term it leaves Alberta without an effective opposition.”
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Tim Dyck, vice-president of policy for the Wildrose, said Smith did not consult with party members about a possible merger and should resign because “she’s made it clear to … our party that she has no interest in being here.”
If she gets re-elected anywhere, ever again, I'm going to be so disappointed in my fellow Albertan/Canadian. This has got to be the sleaziest political move I can think of.
The only other one I can think of that comes close was Belinda Stronach. Someone who betrayed her party and principles for power, then quickly bailed out of politics entirely when the going got tough. Seems Smith may follow a similar path.
Blah blah blah..... If I had a looney for everytime you mentioned the Morgans i'd be rich
Even if I had to pay a $1 Morgan tax, I'd still keep laughing. They're the perfect embodiment of WRP mindset and tactics (mudslinging, negative all the time), and watching him rage 24/7 is a treat.
I cannot wait to hear what sort of speech Smith gives to justify this, 2 weeks after she lambasted the Prentice gov't and the other crossers. The real question is how will she survive when she no longer is required to give negative soundbytes at every press scrum, rumour has it that she may implode or create an anti-matter black hole.
I've seen this kind of thingwritten several times now, in this thread and others.
How do the liberals to merge/turn into a credible centre-left entity when no one in the province will vote for them, often in large part just because of their name? They don't have any seats to combine now, does the alberta party really syphon votes off the Liberals in such a number that it would impact the final election results?
If something as superficial as their name is a limiting factor in attracting votes, how on earth are they going to be 'credible'?
Seems like a great big red herring to me. A moby dick sized red herring.
As far as the value of a name brand goes, just ask the Saskatchewan Party how much of a difference separating ones-self from a tarnished image via rename can make.
The larger issue though is the utter lack of leadership within the Liberal party. Wildrose only became what it was because of the general incompetence of the Tories under Stelmach and Redford. And that was with Danielle Smith as their leader. The Liberals had the same chance but completely blew it with ineffective leaders like Swann and Sherman, and managed to not only fail to make inroads, but instead saw their support evaporate.
And you can use the "anybody but Wildrose" defence if you like, but credible leadership could have taken advantage of the vote splitting on the right to wallop the Tories in the last election.
That failure is entirely on the party, not the populace.
So the PC caucus will vote on this? I really do hope they vote no to allowing them to join. Its not like the PCs need the seats (as a minority govt might) and the WR is effectively done anyways so theres no worry about them as opposition in the next election. What benefit is there for the PCs to bring them in?
Even if I had to pay a $1 Morgan tax, I'd still keep laughing. They're the perfect embodiment of WRP mindset and tactics (mudslinging, negative all the time), and watching him rage 24/7 is a treat.
I cannot wait to hear what sort of speech Smith gives to justify this, 2 weeks after she lambasted the Prentice gov't and the other crossers. The real question is how will she survive when she no longer is required to give negative soundbytes at every press scrum, rumour has it that she may implode or create an anti-matter black hole.
Rumour is she might be the new Finance Minister or even Deputy Premier.
I think she'll have plenty of sound bites in those roles.
So its not a merger or reunification, its 6 MLA's choosing to cross the floor. Yes I'm dissapointed that Smith is doing it as the leader of the party and that she sold out for what is probably a prime cabinet position. I am even more disappointed if Rob Anderson crosses the floor. He did a decent job of understanding the Conservatives books and budgets.
Smith is showing little in the way of personal integrity here.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Everyone here has been talking about how badly Wildrose supporters must be feeling after this traitorous defection, but I have a bigger question.
How do liberals who voted for the Tories feel, now that the party they voted for now consists of the Wildrose?
All those Super right wing, scary anti-gay and lake of fire folks, well, they now represent the government that they voted for. Better the devil you know than the devil you don't? Congrats! Now we have both!
To all those "strategic voters", how must you be feeling about the party you voted for?
It is difficult to find any precedent for it—outside the Third World.
That’s a decision the Wildrose caucus cannot make for its party, which will limp along for now, keeping as much of the big war chest as it can hang onto and presumably choosing a more authentic Old Reformer-type leader. The Wildrose turncoats have been promised a smooth path to PC renominations, but it will be awkward for them to campaign, and loyalists in deep-south Alberta ridings, where the presiding spirit is that of the ranch and not the homestead, will probably have an easier time surviving in the assembly than most of the floor-crossers.
For now it looks as though the Wildrose rump will hang onto enough members to remain as the Official Opposition in the assembly. But the big immediate winner is obviously the New Democratic Party—not just for the next Alberta election, whenever that comes, but perhaps even for the fall federal election. Prentice and the PCs have extinguished an immediate threat and absorbed some fierce critics. In exchange they have angered the temporary Conservative voters who, in 2012, got stampeded into believing the Wildrose Party was some kind of atavistic gay-baiting menace. Prentice has, with Bill 10, blown some of the social-liberal credibility he earned for supporting same-sex marriage as a CPC minister. Progressive youth in Edmonton and Calgary presumably won’t get fooled again, although one must not underestimate their capacity for it.
Yeah I really really really want the PCs to say no to the floorcrossers. If they want out of the WR that bad, say to them 'sit as independents, next election try to get a PC nomination, and then run as a PC if you do'
I have to wonder how much of Smith's motivation to leave is coming from her push to make the Wildrose party more socially moderate (ie: her support of the gay straight alliances) and some of the resistance from the socially conservative portions of the wildrose to this.
If you can't convince the party to leave those viewpoints behind and come to the realization you are unelectable because of it, even perhaps being pushed out of the leadership because you don't share those views, maybe this is a better option.
We'll have to wait and see what happens with the remainder of the Official Opposition to see if there's a pronounced move towards social conservatism.
Everyone here has been talking about how badly Wildrose supporters must be feeling after this traitorous defection, but I have a bigger question.
How do liberals who voted for the Tories feel, now that the party they voted for now consists of the Wildrose?
All those Super right wing, scary anti-gay and lake of fire folks, well, they now represent the government that they voted for. Better the devil you know than the devil you don't? Congrats! Now we have both!
To all those "strategic voters", how must you be feeling about the party you voted for?
I'll come out as one of the voters who did this and take my lumps. The fact is though that I attended to forum in my riding and the PC was the best candidate of the group. It wasn't close in my opinion. I also was voting for them knowing full well that the idea of trying to keep the Wildrose out of government was part of that influence.
Am I upset that the Wildrosers are now likely to make it into cabinet? To some extent. I do think its pathetic and if anything just makes me recognize what politicians are in general. It makes me more apathetic because "they're all the same". I know that a lot of people feel the same as me and thats a huge loss (not because of me personally, or anything I would do, but because of the damage to the system as a whole that apathy causes).
As far as whether I wish that I wouldn't have voted for the PCs? Nope. In reality I would either vote PC or for one of the other parties (likely the Liberals or Alberta Party) and they weren't winning my riding, let alone government anyway. So my strategic vote was to try to keep out the Wildrose, and I'm totally good with that.
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