Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuzz
Sure, but they also had a strong leader going against a mental invalid. If voters couldn't see the obvious choice and the potential for disaster in Smith, well, I'm not sure how a name and colour change is going to alter that. Conservative voters have voted the same forever, and will continue to do that. Logic, common sense and, I dunno, having a brain don't really play into this. Your level of cynicism isn't aligned with reality, you need to go waaay deeper to get there.
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I'm not so sure. I have someone close to me who absolutely despises Trudeau (OK - many do, but to the point of obsession, regardless of policy, and blames literally everything on him), occasionally slips in conspiracy references like the WEF into debates, lots of "both sides" arguments and false equivalency, plus a few other popular right wing talking points. Perfectly reasonable guy in most ways, and definitely not "hard right", but I see many Albertans with similar casual views about politics.
He voted NDP. And it wasn't even a hard choice for him. I'd like to think that I helped him realize that the UCP are not even remotely similar to the Lougheed conservatives, or even those of Klein, or even those of Kenney (but we're getting a lot closer). Party unification, both provincially and federally, is an obvious point of divergence. Ultimately he came to his own conclusions and voted accordingly.
But I hear it again and again - "I don't like the UCP, but I just can't bring myself to vote for the NDP", "I wish that there was a centrist option, not just left and right", "The Alberta NDP is affiliated to the federal NDP" (they are, technically, but policies are not aligned, thankfully), etc.
I genuinely feel that, although Albertans are definitely more conservative than other parts of Canada, the UCP is actual quite a few notches farther to the right than even the average Albertan conservative. A lot of them enable Smith, the UCP, etc. because of an incorrect perception that the NDP are like the federal ones, they are "far left", etc. when it just isn't true. Why share the branding?