Quote:
Originally Posted by powderjunkie
There have been rumblings of an early election...the main reason I've heard is to do it before the ridings are adjusted with 2 additions (though IIRC UCP was trying to put their finger on the scale for how that would go, but in any event it should mean 2 more ridings in the cities).
It looks like the initial report will come in October 2025, but presumably it would be several more months before its fully implemented
https://abebc.ca/
And this referendum could be more reason for them to pull the trigger on that, particularly before the first 3 steps have happened. But even after the first 3 steps, this implies they could hold an election without the referendum, which only needs to happen before the 'fixed election date': Oct. 18 2027. I think they'd be less likely to do such a brazen move (though I feel silly typing anything that gives the UCP any assumption of sanity), but I doubt they want this referendum tied to a general election at all.
I think they'd just campaign on saying they would hold the referendum ASAP, so it being a separate event really neuters the turnout. Which would be really really disappointing.
Then again the looming teacher strike probably argues against an election. Or maybe they come with a shockingly generous offer/pledge on class size etc for a pre-election spin. |
I don't think the UCP will let the Forever-Canadian question go to referendum. More likely they would let it go to committee where the decision would then be to dismiss the question because the report would show that Alberta should absolutely stay in Canada and it does not make sense for the government to put that question on the ballot. (The referendum only works if it is a 'people led' question)
As much as the UCP are willing to flirt with separatism and support the people driving it to referendum, it is a very different thing for the UCP to outright declare in legislature that they are separatists. That is a level of political suicide that I think they are trying to avoid.
As for the new ridings, yes, I think the UCP is interested in an election before those ridings are put in place. However, I thought they were still trying to steal those ridings from the big cities and put them in rural areas to "reduce the driving time of MLAs" or something equally stupid. It goes hand in hand with their gerrymandering plan for Lethbridge and really reinforces the idea that we should simply convert the province over to a proportional representation government. It makes no sense for a vote in slave lake to have 3 times the voting power of a vote in downtown Calgary.