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Originally Posted by Slava
Its not just "boogeyman" stuff though. I guess I just find it hard to believe that people would vote against their own best interests just to prove a point of some sort.
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Right now, I am leaning towards voting for Turner. Neither Crockatt nor Locke have done anything to make me think otherwise. I do not believe that it would be against my best interests, nor do would I do it to prove a point.
I think there are a lot of positive things in the Green platform, but as a whole they do not have a pragmatic approach to the oil/gas industry. In the previous federal election, I ruled them out on that point alone. So, I am thinking long and hard on whether I want to vote for them. But it will still be a conservative majority after the by-election regardless of what happens. I think there are a couple of positive spinoffs of having a second Green MP and having that MP from Calgary. For one, I think Turner is a good individual to have as a representative. I would not vote for him otherwise. If all of the candidates were weak, my vote would be based on the party they represent and the Greens would probably not get my vote. I think he would listen to his constituents, and would start to understand the concerns of Calgarians. I think this would have a good probability of having a practical approach to the petroleum industry start to seep into the Green Party. If this happens, the voice of the Green Party becomes twice as loud (which is still a whisper) and potentially a lot more practical. That could only be good for Canada.
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Its not a comment on Turner either; I would be thrilled if either he or Locke wins! I just think that when there are two progressives with a chance that the more moderate would get my backing. When I look at the GPC platform though its not only sparse on details, but you can see that many of the points in it are simply platitudes and not fleshed out policies at all.
I know that Turner supporters are fond to point to similarities to the Turner campaign and the Nenshi campaign. They might end in the same victory from behind, I have no idea. The major difference though is that Nenshi had a full slate of ideas and policies; he ran on a very specific platform with fleshed out ideas and how they would be implemented. Like it or not though, federal politics is still about party politics and the GPC platform isn't nearly as fleshed out as the Nenshi campaign was.
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As I mentioned above, I agree with your comment about the Green platform. However, the entire party platform is a lot less relevant in this by-election than it would be for a federal election.