Alberta Green Party deregistered

[First Lady]

The “Alberta Greens” Green Party of Alberta has been de-registered by Elections Alberta as a political entity in the Province of Alberta. De-registration of the party is an administrative opportunity to re-organize and rebuild the party into a viable political organization. The importance and mainstream acceptance of the Green Party’s values and principles are on the rise, and the Green Party's many supporters can now look forward to a fresh start.

http://www.albertagreens.ca/

[corporatejay]

now THAT is political spin if i've ever heard it.

[Ducay]

"We are excited to have lost the war, Germany sees this as a great opportunity to rebuild its army with only the best new equipment"

Can they deregister Rob Anders?

[Cowboy89]

NOOOO, where are the politically ignorant going to park their protest vote now?

[CaptainCrunch]

Now if only they would deregulate Elizabeth May.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

NOOOO, where are the politically ignorant going to park their protest vote now?

The NDP, as usual.

[llama64]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

now THAT is political spin if i've ever heard it.

Spin maybe, but it's also true.

10 years ago when Green parties started forming, they were on the fringe and their issues were no where near the discussion table. Now the environment routinely makes top election issues lists.

Seems to me they accomplished their goals (well, their goals not involving assent to power).

[driveway]

It will take years and years in this province, but in much of Canada the various Green parties are moving closer and closer to being legitimate political options with each passing election.

Also, you have to recognize the accomplishment the environmental movement has had, given that even the most conservative of parties has to have some kind of environmental policy in order to be considered legitimate.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by driveway

It will take years and years in this province, but in much of Canada the various Green parties are moving closer and closer to being legitimate political options with each passing election.

Also, you have to recognize the accomplishment the environmental movement has had, given that even the most conservative of parties has to have some kind of environmental policy in order to be considered legitimate.

I don't think that the Greens are a legitimate political option at all. They are a protest party and basically extremists, just of a different sort. Not many people think that they could actually govern much of anything and don't know many of their other policies.

The environmental movement has been sort of successful. I say sort of because no one is "against" the environment to begin with, but not everyone is in favour of what the Greens (or any one party) is proposing.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

NOOOO, where are the politically ignorant going to park their protest vote now?

Snob

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by driveway

It will take years and years in this province, but in much of Canada the various Green parties are moving closer and closer to being legitimate political options with each passing election.

Also, you have to recognize the accomplishment the environmental movement has had, given that even the most conservative of parties has to have some kind of environmental policy in order to be considered legitimate.

Nationally they're a non entity, we can talk about the number of votes but they had a mere 2% leap between 2006 and 2008 and that 2% increase took them to 6.78% of the popular votes, and they haven't managed a breakthrough in terms of seats. They are definately a non entity and a protest vote but the results show that Canadians' might be onboard with environmental issues, they're not onboard with the Greens ever moving into the legitimate political options area. A lot of that can be blamed on Elizabeth May, but a lot of it is based around the inability for the Green Party to leap from a one platform party to a multiplatform party which could successfully balance a environmental platform with other economic and political platforms that this country requires.

Right now 6.8% of the popular vote also says that they're not a very realistic protest vote as they have no active say in the government.

If I'm going to protest vote, I want at least a chance that my protest vote goes towards a seat at the table, not to the guy or gal who needs to realize that the closest that he's going to get to actually being able to change things requires a mega phone and a airline ticket.

[Mark]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

NOOOO, where are the politically ignorant going to park their protest vote now?

Is that any better than continually blindly voting for the party their family has always voted for? *cough* Rural Alberta.

But seriously, I just wish everyone was an informed voter and I wouldn't care who they voted for.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Mark

Is that any better than continually blindly voting for the party their family has always voted for? *cough* Rural Alberta.

But seriously, I just wish everyone was an informed voter and I wouldn't care who they voted for.

Problem is that those opposition parties continually bring in whacky insane leaders with bad platforms that make no sense, and as much as the Conservatives piss you off, you as an informed voter look at the Alberta Liberals and the Alberta NDP and go "No Frackin Way"

The time is really ripe right now for these oppossition parties to put in the work and go hard after the conservatives and basically start campaigning now, and they don't even do that effectively.

The Liberals and NDP gave up their desire to run this provinces several decades ago and it shows.

[Mark]

CaptainCrunch, if everyone just looked at only numbers then how could change ever occur? Your vote should be based on who most closely resembles your own opinions. Federally, your vote for a party gives that party something like $275. On a side note, Harper tried to remove that and that is one of the items that caused the whole kerfuffle in November/December before he took his ball home and cried undemocratic.

Realistically our form of democracy has pretty terrible representation. There are many other forms being practiced that better reflect the popular vote (which I believe to be truer democracy). The one that BC has voted on in the past 2 elections was not really better, but first past the post has to go. For example in our last provincial election, the PC's received 86% of the seats with 53% of the popular vote...

[FanIn80]

One down...

[Resolute 14]

Not to mention that when the Conservatives pull out a dud as a leader (Getty), they are able to find a charismatic successor who can both reinvigorate the party, and inspire the populace (Klein).

The Liberals? God, their list of leaders is a whos-who of dull, uninspiring, unwanted people. Swann, Taft, Nicol, MacBeth, Mitchell, etc. Truth is, the Liberals probably haven't had anyone worth electing as premier since Sifton - a century ago.

Alberta's politics are in such as state that you could argue anyone is blind depending on your own political leanings. Given the utter lack of a reason to vote for the Liberals or NDP, I could just as easily state that their supporters are only blindly voting against the Conservatives.

Green, WRA, Liberal, NDP, Communist, Saparation Party, etc. None have a chance until they find a leader who will inspire trust.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Mark

On a side note, Harper tried to remove that and that is one of the items that caused the whole kerfuffle in November/December before he took his ball home and cried undemocratic.

God forbid we force the Liberals to actually earn their own money rather than have Canadians pay for their mismanagement. That policy is classic Liberal self-entitled pork barrelling, and it is no surprise, really, that they became so upset at being told to be self reliant.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

The first-past-the-post system also minimizes these types of parties. Until we look at some electoral reform I can't see non-Liberal, non-Conservative parties making an impact nationally, or in Alberta.

There are large portions of the population who aren't being represented because first past the post encourages two major parties and discourages the rest.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Mark

CaptainCrunch, if everyone just looked at only numbers then how could change ever occur? Your vote should be based on who most closely resembles your own opinions. Federally, your vote for a party gives that party something like $275. On a side note, Harper tried to remove that and that is one of the items that caused the whole kerfuffle in November/December before he took his ball home and cried undemocratic.

I actually agreed with this. If a party wants to survive it has to fund raise and do it effectively, I don't like the idea of truly taxpayer voted parties. I was extremely happy with the limititations on donations sizes which also effectively removed dollars for influence.

I agree that you should vote based on your own opinions, but you should also vote based on your opinions getting you a voice at the table.

Originally Posted by Mark

Realistically our form of democracy has pretty terrible representation. There are many other forms being practiced that better reflect the popular vote (which I believe to be truer democracy). The one that BC has voted on in the past 2 elections was not really better, but first past the post has to go. For example in our last provincial election, the PC's received 86% of the seats with 53% of the popular vote...

First past the post is never going to change to change to a one vote means one vote system as long as Canada continues to have unbalanced population centers.

[Mark]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

First past the post is never going to change to change to a one vote means one vote system as long as Canada continues to have unbalanced population centers.

This is very true. I am not encouraging splitting up the country, but the shear size of the country hinders everyone and their voice. Such a large area is bound to have so many different sympathies and needs. Is the solution more power to the provinces?