Quote:
Originally Posted by llama64
So... for all the people who went out and voted PC. Are you still angry at Stelmach for the royalty issue?
There is a lot of support for the PC's in Calgary it seems. Much more then anyone predicted (not that anyone actually seemed to vote).
Or does this victory give credence to his policies? I remember this board coming down on Ed pretty hard for "ruining" the oil patch. Now it seems like most people have forgotten that and reverted to voting along party lines again.
Personally, I wanted a functional government again. Yet another landslide majority does nothing but damage the chances at having a decent official opposition. Taft had better step down soon. He's a smart guy but one of the worst party leaders I've ever seen. Next to Dion of course.
The only saving grace is that Stelmach so far has been more "Tory" then Klein was.
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So look at what the "alternatives" presented instead. The Liberals were going to decrease the royalty tax on gas a bit but compensate for that by raising royalty taxes on oil more. That gonna win them votes in Tory Calgary? Not in your dreams.
The NDP were gonna further raise royalty taxes on both gas and oil. That gonna win them votes in Tory Calgary? or anywhere in the oil patch?
In the end, while Calgarians in particular might have been miffed at Ed for not giving them more representation in his cabinet, they decided to tow the line because the alternatives were far worse. And no matter what you might say or think about him, Ed is one of the nice guys, quieter than Ralph of course by a long shot, but a nice guy who seems trustworthy. And that is why so many yet again chose to vote Conservative, they trust that they are best able and best suited to keep this province on course.
And another thing that blew it for the chances of either the NDP or the Liberals is the money that the Labor congress spent on those negative ads trying to discredit the Conservatives. Many who belonged to the unions were mighty tiffed that their union dues were spent on those ads, especially in light of the fact that they never got to vote on that decision. Yeah, the elected officials have the capacity to make those decisions but many belonging to the unions thought it unethical to spend such an amount of money on negative ads without some direct consultation from union membership. Don't forget that a lot of the labor force in Alberta is working on oil rigs and in the oil industry in some capacity. They don't want to lose their jobs anymore than the next man on the street.