Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunk
You're right. Calgarians are not actually as conservative or right wing as they like think they are. Sure they're free market oriented, but that is pretty much orthydoxy anywhere in Canada now. The presence of union labour is minimal here, so labour is not a big issue like it is in manufacturing based economies. Certainly we're socially libertarian (or perhaps just socially ambivalent). You wouldn't find Calgarians marching against things like gay rights, nor would you really find them actively driving social movements in support.
On issues like healthcare, education and other critical areas of government, Albertans and Calgarians are really the highest supporters of such public systems (and spend the most). One could argue that Alberta has one of the best, if not the best public education system, perhaps only behind Finland. In many ways Albertans seem to epitomize mythical "canadian-ness".
I just don't see Calgarians at all as ideologically driven - they just vote for the supposed "home" party the (in reality centrist) conservatives, because they're not the central canada based liberals that screwed them a generation ago. I think we're more driven by competence and good governance, not blind ideology.
Remind me in what ways Calgarians are actually conservative on issues? Not many obvious things come to mind
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Well-said.
The bottom line is that, as you say, Calgarians vote Conservative simply because it's the only real option. NDP have a reputation as socialist and disinterested in big business, which is a problem for Calgarians, the Greens and other smaller parties are just too small, and the Liberals are simply not an option. Thus leaving the Conservatives as the only true option, along with, of course, not voting at all. I can't tell you how many Calgarians I've spoken to have said the words "at least the Conservatives are better than the Liberals"... Fine if that's an informed opinion; up until recently I'd have agreed with them, but more often than not it seems to be just a repetition of the status quo with no thought put into it whatsoever.
That isn't to discount the very real right-wing movement in the city, but simply to suggest that quite a large portion of the enablers of the movement, the voters, don't really know much about what/who they're voting for. Voting Liberal is treason as an Albertan, and many don't see the smaller parties as anything but a wasted vote, so they vote Conservative. There is, of course, a smaller but still very active left-wing and left-of-centre movement in the city as well, particularly among youth, and I do suspect that the left will have much more of a say in politics in the future, starting about 20 years or so from now (though I don't think they will ever dominate, or even come close to doing so during my lifetime).