Calgary Centre Federal By-election - Nov 26 (UPDATE - Crockatt wins for CPC)

[longsuffering]

Originally Posted by First Lady

I was referencing the evening news. They barely acknowledged the fact that CPC had won.

To be fair, what is bigger news in Calgary? A Conservative winning a by-election or a Liberal coming within a whisker of pulling an upset?

[AR_Six]

^The winner is always the lead. But who cares really.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by AR_Six

^The winner is always the lead. But who cares really.

Or an attempt at being balanced. But yeah, no big deal; was just an idle observation.

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by First Lady

They probably borrowed Locke's magic spreadsheet.

I like how on CBC tonight their headline was "Locke finishes second" - - don't even want to mention the CPC won....LMAO

The CBC knows who butters their bread..

And with the Conservatives in power, they're stuck with margarine.

[GP_Matt]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Well I'm replying to how the rest of the country looks at you just as you look at Elizabeth Mae. The other parties that have popped up are even more right wing than the PC. Honestly speaking the Wild Rose looks like a bunch of scary wing nuts and the only thing keeping a lot of the federal PC from crossing the line is the hold that Harper has on them.

I don't think you quite understand the party system. You are talking about three distinct parties who have no relationship with each other. The Progressive Conservatives and the Wildrose are both provincial parties. They only run candidates in provincial elections. If they win their candidates become Members of the Legislative Assembly. The Conservatives are a federal party. They run candidates in federal elections and if their candidates win they become Members of Parliament.

Not picking on you, but in the last provincial election it blew me away how many people didn't know the difference. I spoke to a ton of people who said they liked the Wildrose but really didn't want to vote against Stephen Harper.

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

I spoke to a ton of people who said they liked the Wildrose but really didn't want to vote against Stephen Harper.

Really? That's disturbing.

[GP_Matt]

For those complaining about the vote splitting I think you have the Liberal Party to blame for that. They introduced the per vote subsidy which pays each party $2 per year for each vote they received. If the NDP had dropped out of the races that they weren't the favourite to win they would be giving up a large portion of their annual funding. In the end I think the NDP like themselves more than they dislike the Conservatives so they would never take a hit to help the Liberals hit the Conservatives. That, and of course the NDP and Liberals do not see eye to eye on a ton of issues.

[GP_Matt]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

Really? That's disturbing.

I spent some time door knocking with a candidate in the last election and the amount of misinformation really shocked me. Probably one in five told us that they were ineligible to vote for some reason or another that was simply not true. Some thought that because they had been convicted of a crime they were no longer allowed to vote. Others figured that they hadn't been living in the city long enough.

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

Really? That's disturbing.

But not surprising. I suspect that if you stopped 100 people on the street and asked them who the Federal party leaders were, the majority wouldn't get it right. Provincial party leaders would fare even worse.

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by transplant99

I wonder how the pathetic voter turnout affected this decision.....cause 30% seems just dismal.

By-elections will almost always have very poor turnouts. Its the only reason it was a race really. Especially in areas where one party/candidate dominates the people who stay home will be those supporters. Its how Craig Cheffins won Calgary Elbow when Klein left; it wasn't that the riding changed to Liberals, its that the PC voters stayed home (out of apathy or protest).

After that the PCs had to put in a decent candidate and that was the person who'd become Justice Minister and eventually Premier. In Calgary Centre we've gone from backbencher to backbencher (would you rather call an MP who can walk across the hall to a minister or just call the Minister themselves?).

[GP_Matt]

From what I have heard and it is entirely hearsay but apparently a large volume of the calls to an MP's constituency office are in fact about passports. Lost, stolen, in need of a signature or in a pinch and in need of one in a hurry.

I had a friend without a passport who needed one last minute and his MP hooked him up with a rush one.

[Cowboy89]

So when does Chris Turner announce his candidacy for ward 8 in next year's municipal election?

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

From what I have heard and it is entirely hearsay but apparently a large volume of the calls to an MP's constituency office are in fact about passports. Lost, stolen, in need of a signature or in a pinch and in need of one in a hurry.

I had a friend without a passport who needed one last minute and his MP hooked him up with a rush one.

SEE!!!! And you guys were making fun of Crockatt..... I hope you're sorry now.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Bunk

It would be interesting to see what would happen if we had automatic run-offs until someone got at least 50% of the vote.

Bottom first place vote getter drops off and those second choices get added.

In this case bottom three would not have mattered that much to the total, but if Turner was then next to drop off, how would those voter's second preference gone? I suspect Locke would have won under that format.

I really don't like the automated run off system. Essentially you would forever elect liberal governments or even worse governments who don't stand for anything. Taking a stand on an issue will always alienate people so in a 3 way race if one person is say Pro Pipeline and one person is Anti Pipeline and the third was non-commital everyones second vote goes to the middle person and they always win. This has become a problem in provincial politics as the last two premiers have been people who don't want to make any decisions. In a run off system taking a stand results in losing.

Part of the problem is it doesn't allow voter apathy to take place. The main arguement behind the vote split assumes that a large portion of the votes for the green or liberal person would have gone to eachother. I wonder if that is actually true or if that group wouldn't just stay home. In this case being as tight as it was it would change the results but on a macro scale you can't just say conservatives only have support of under 40% of the nation just because that is how many votes are cast.

[CaptainCrunch]

Unless there's a major issue people just aren't interested or motivated to vote in by-elections.

All of the Candidates bragged about their door knocking, and about constituants crying for change. But at the end of the day, they didn't do a good enough job in motivating voter turn out.

all that's left to the analysis is groans that this many people promised to vote for me, clearly they didn't bother.

[Addick]

Originally Posted by Jacks

Not true at all. Alberta generally votes right of centre but that vote has drifted between parties many times.

However, on a municipal level don't the larger centres tend to elect Liberal-leaning mayors? It's hard to think there isn't some truth to the joke that if the Liberal Party in Alberta simply changed their names and colour they'd be able to compete. Nevertheless, I think that in the 'They ignore Alberta, they only vote Conservative" blame game it is probably six of one, half a dozen of the other.

I do find it interesting that Turner managed to get a quarter of the votes. If they were able to become more like their German counterparts, I wonder if the Greens could become a viable left/centre party in Alberta.

[GP_Matt]

I think the Green leader is too polarizing to gain much traction in Alberta.

On the municipal level it is definitely true that most leaders are left of center. I don't think it is a Calgary thing either but more a result of their job. The Mayoral level is closest to the people and is responsible for the softer aspects of government. They also oversee a lot of social services on a micro level while the other levels of government have a much more macro oversight.

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by Addick

However, on a municipal level don't the larger centres tend to elect Liberal-leaning mayors? It's hard to think there isn't some truth to the joke that if the Liberal Party in Alberta simply changed their names and colour they'd be able to compete. Nevertheless, I think that in the 'They ignore Alberta, they only vote Conservative" blame game it is probably six of one, half a dozen of the other.

I do find it interesting that Turner managed to get a quarter of the votes. If they were able to become more like their German counterparts, I wonder if the Greens could become a viable left/centre party in Alberta.

I think the fact that the Green party got a quarter of the votes is deceptive. I believe a lot of people who normally would support the Conservatives, parked their votes there because they couldn't find it within themselves to vote Liberal or NDP.

In the next federal election, with more at stake, I think the Green party vote will decline, and the CPC vote will increase.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

I don't think you quite understand the party system. You are talking about three distinct parties who have no relationship with each other. The Progressive Conservatives and the Wildrose are both provincial parties. They only run candidates in provincial elections. If they win their candidates become Members of the Legislative Assembly. The Conservatives are a federal party. They run candidates in federal elections and if their candidates win they become Members of Parliament.

Not picking on you, but in the last provincial election it blew me away how many people didn't know the difference. I spoke to a ton of people who said they liked the Wildrose but really didn't want to vote against Stephen Harper.

You're insulting because you obviously know nothing about me. You don't have a clue what I understand. I've been following politics since Diefenbaker. Just look at one of our posters signature, Flames, Wild Rose and CPC. Crockette has Wild Rose roots as well from what I understand. Maybe you should take a remedial reading course.

[GP_Matt]

I had no intention to insult although it does read that way so I am sorry. I read two posts in a row from you responding to a comment about Elizabeth May and replying with provincial politics and a dig on the Wildrose.

I looked a bit for a Wildrose link to Joan Crockatt and all that I could find was that some of her campaigners worked for the Wildrose party as well. Using that logic though Nenshi has PC roots because Stephen Carter was heavily involved in his campaign and the PC's.