PC leadership race

[Slava]

I don't like either way of appointment quite frankly. I thought it was distasteful when Harper did it, and if Prentice does it I will be equally as critical. What we see here though is people justifying this when a party they support does it and being against it when a party they don't like does it. It's the same practice. The people voted and didn't elect these individuals...they haven't even run to be rejected! But under the guise of good stewardship we have them rammed down our throat anyway.

The whole business of representatives around the cabinet table doesn't mean much to me either. I think cabinet should be ridiculously small though, so naturally in my way of thinking a bunch of areas are not going to be represented.

[Jacks]

Originally Posted by Slava

Why do I have a feeling that when Harper did this you were fine with it?

No, didn't like it then either but at least there was a solid reason.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Jacks

No, didn't like it then either but at least there was a solid reason.

To me there is no solid reason at all. Putting someone unelected in a position of power and decision making authority is completely undemocratic. The appointment itself is terrible, but then you have the fact that these appointed individuals don't even answer to anything in the legislature. Just overall ridiculous.

[Jacks]

Originally Posted by Slava

The appointment itself is terrible, but then you have the fact that these appointed individuals don't even answer to anything in the legislature. Just overall ridiculous.

We agree on something. Is it that time of year already?

[FireFly]

I have listened to Prentice a number of times now being asked direct questions and him avoiding any sort of thoughtful answer. He's said repeatedly that things will change and we'll see a different party in a few weeks but he hasn't said how or what at all. I'm not going to hold my breath. It has sounded like more of the same; I guess we'll see if anything does change.

[CaptainCrunch]

While he will probably get a honeymoon period from the press, I doubt its going to be a long one.

He should have done a Stalinesque purge the minute the votes came in.

[killer_carlson]

his honeymoon period will be measured case by case. If he mucks up the cabinet positions (and I doubt he will) it's done.

If he makes some strong cabinet moves and things simmer down scandal wise, he'll get to play the "it was them, not me" card through the fall session.

[Resolute 14]

It will be curious to see if he gets a honeymoon period from the polls. The PC's certainly didn't get a leadership vote bump - or at best, any bump they did get canceled out any drop they could have expected from the AG report.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Alber...929/story.html (From six days ago).

[RinkRat]

Biggest issue I see going foreword for the province at the moment besides having Prentice who will sell out citizens without question, is that we have no viable alternative to elect, the Wildrose is a pathetic mash up of rejects and former P.C's so more of the same there, and the Liberals are as far out to lunch as the NDP.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by RinkRat

Biggest issue I see going foreword for the province at the moment besides having Prentice who will sell out citizens without question, is that we have no viable alternative to elect, the Wildrose is a pathetic mash up of rejects and former P.C's so more of the same there, and the Liberals are as far out to lunch as the NDP.

Alberta Party?

[RinkRat]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Alberta Party?

Can't say I've honestly looked at anything related to them before, besides hearing about some merger between them and some other sidelines party.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by RinkRat

Can't say I've honestly looked at anything related to them before, besides hearing about some merger between them and some other sidelines party.

I don't know anything about them either.

[c.t.ner]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I don't know anything about them either.

I know some of the people involved with them personally and I think they have good intentions and are nice people. But they seem to really struggle at getting any attention except from the hyper-partisan Twitter folk.

http://www.albertaparty.ca/

Their leader

http://www.albertaparty.ca/greg_clark_bio

They're making a hard push for Redford's old seat in Elbow with an interesting team of politicos running Greg's campaign.

http://www.albertaparty.ca/greg_clar...se_campaigners

Now if they can take Elbow with a political win it could be a massive, massive win for them. But that might be pretty difficult. While elbow is a pretty progressive area and probably pretty embarrassed about Redford's actions over the past two years, it's also a pretty affluent area that has a lot of connection to the Prentice family.

[Slava]

The other point about Elbow which makes it so hard for the Alberta Party is the Liberal candidate was a former Alberta party supporter who said she left because the party was going nowhere. More specifically to Elbow though, it's a former Liberal riding and there are actually a lot of Liberals there. So the challenge is not that different from what we saw in Calgary Centre. All these progressives have to coalesce around a candidate. For a party that has nothing, no common knowledge and only hopes and dreams that's asking a lot.

It is a different animal because it's a by election, (assuming it is), but it's still uphill all the way for the Alberta party here.

[killer_carlson]

If there is a debate about which party is going nowhere, the Alberta Liberals have to be leading that race. They may be wiped out next election.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

If there is a debate about which party is going nowhere, the Alberta Liberals have to be leading that race. They may be wiped out next election.

I don't know if there is a debate, its just that there are so many to choose from!

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Slava

The other point about Elbow which makes it so hard for the Alberta Party is the Liberal candidate was a former Alberta party supporter who said she left because the party was going nowhere. More specifically to Elbow though, it's a former Liberal riding and there are actually a lot of Liberals there. So the challenge is not that different from what we saw in Calgary Centre. All these progressives have to coalesce around a candidate. For a party that has nothing, no common knowledge and only hopes and dreams that's asking a lot.

It is a different animal because it's a by election, (assuming it is), but it's still uphill all the way for the Alberta party here.

Calgary Elbow was only once a liberal riding but you are right in that the riding does have a significant portion of residents who are left leading. It could potentially be a good riding for the Alberta Party which is supposedly a centrist party, from what I have read today. If the leader, who needs a seat, is likeable and can hit the pavement hard with a credible message he could be a dark horse in the by election (unless the PC's put Prentice in that race.)

[c.t.ner]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Calgary Elbow was only once a liberal riding but you are right in that the riding does have a significant portion of residents who are left leading. It could potentially be a good riding for the Alberta Party which is supposedly a centrist party, from what I have read today. If the leader, who needs a seat, is likeable and can hit the pavement hard with a credible message he could be a dark horse in the by election (unless the PC's put Prentice in that race.)

I can pretty much guarantee that Prentice won't be running in that riding. Mainly for the reasons mentioned above, elbow is too much of a wild card with a strong liberal contingent and the backlash towards Redford makes it too much of a wildcard. My feeling is that it'll be somewhere in Calgary where there is a strong blue contingency and near where Prentice was an MP.

Because it's not going to be Prentice, that's why I think one of the liberals or alberta party could be ripe for a win. Unless the PCs send in a rockstar candidate, but I doubt that'll happen.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by Slava

The other point about Elbow which makes it so hard for the Alberta Party is the Liberal candidate was a former Alberta party supporter who said she left because the party was going nowhere. More specifically to Elbow though, it's a former Liberal riding and there are actually a lot of Liberals there. So the challenge is not that different from what we saw in Calgary Centre. All these progressives have to coalesce around a candidate. For a party that has nothing, no common knowledge and only hopes and dreams that's asking a lot.

It is a different animal because it's a by election, (assuming it is), but it's still uphill all the way for the Alberta party here.

A by election is a different animal so a lot could happen. In the long run both the Liberals and Alberta Party will struggle independently. In my opinion they NEED to merge. It's mostly the same kind of people anyway, put egos aside and start building something with hope together. Politicos like myself should not be sitting on the sideline because we have little belief in the prospects of either (I would jump in if they were working together). If the weight of the baggage ends up dragging down the PCs (seems not an unlikely scenario), people will be shopping for alternatives (including disaffected PCs), and that more centrist alternative needs to get its stuff together, and quick.

[GGG]

I actually like Prentice bringing in people from outside the legislature to sit in cabinet. If particular skill sets are missing in the leg. Having a random MLA as a figurehead and fall guy when the deputy minister (unelected position) has the expertise and does the work. Why not just cut out the middle man.

Since we run a system of an elected dictatorship where the premier essentially has free range as long as their party supports them the entire party is still accountable for the actions of the cabinet minister. I think the biggest field where this will be beneficial is healthcare where it seems the ministers are out of their league in trying to deal with the health care bearucrats.