Alberta budget news

[crazy_eoj]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

I have to say you are one of the funniest posters one here, so thank you for making me laugh all day today. The guy who blasts others for not offerring actual evidence and facts (which Makarov did consistently, and not biased either, direct budget information released by the government), yet when asked to provide his own can only provide slanted, biased articles from sources who's goal is to see conservative, libertarian politicians elected.

As to closed minded, I'm pretty sure the guys hating gay people and being racists were in the Wildrose party. Regressive, and closed minded. Well done.

All the data the Fraser institute used was from the same source as Makarov, so not sure what your trying to say. Nice work though.

Now you resort to calling people racist and homophobic? Wow, you guys on the "left" have a real winner here. You should run for the NDP leadership.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by crazy_eoj

All the data the Fraser institute used was from the same source as Makarov, so not sure what your trying to say. Nice work though.

Now you resort to calling people racist and homophobic? Wow, you guys on the "left" have a real winner here. You should run for the NDP leadership.

Wait a sec, you're denying that Wildrose members made racist and homophobic remarks? The US Tea Party bubble appears to be making its way up north sadly. Let me guess, you're glued to SunTV 24/7?

As to the left, ironic as always. If we both ran budgets mine would be more fiscally responsible than yours, guaranteed. Yours might have lower taxes and less spending, but that doesn't mean ####. Less spending doesn't mean more efficient, it means less.

[GP_Matt]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Wait a sec, you're denying that Wildrose members made racist and homophobic remarks? The US Tea Party bubble appears to be making its way up north sadly. Let me guess, you're glued to SunTV 24/7?

As to the left, ironic as always. If we both ran budgets mine would be more fiscally responsible than yours, guaranteed. Yours might have lower taxes and less spending, but that doesn't mean ####. Less spending doesn't mean more efficient, it means less.

Really, two out of 87 candidates made inappropriate remarks. One was clearly wrong and proper vetting should have eliminated him but the system failed.
The other could have been taken out of context or was racist I am not really sure, but you can't vet that because it was a comment he made to answer a question posed after he was nominated. Is it really fair to paint the whole party with that brush?
I assume you have no idea how difficult it is to form a new party and properly identify candidates to run in all ridings in a short amount of time.

I am pretty confident that every major party has had a few crazies slip through the cracks, especially when the party is young. If you can name a major political party in this country I am sure a bit of time on Google I can come up with some members who make the party look horrible.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Obviously I wasn't painting all Wildrosers as racist and bigoted. But they were the only party last year who had candidates make such remarks, and thats unfortunate but its true. Much like not all Republicans are devoid of any intelligence just because Akin said women can't get pregnant during "legitimate rape". But when only one party, even a small fraction of its members, is saying such nonesense, its just the way it is. Its a dirty game politics.

And I can appreciate how difficult it is to vet candidates for any election, but using time as an excuse seems odds when you consider the CPC formed in 2003 and won an election by 2006 (for comparison, the current Wildrose formed in 2008). The Wildrose I think just thought voter disdain to the PCs was so high they could run mediocre candidates and still win. I'd also add it was Danielle's reaction to those comments more than the comments themselves that did the Wildrose in. You can't claim strength as a leader when you're passive towards such terrible comments. Had she come out and dropped the hammer they probably would have won.

[crazy_eoj]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Obviously I wasn't painting all Wildrosers as racist and bigoted. But they were the only party last year who had candidates make such remarks, and thats unfortunate but its true.

Actually not true at all. Both Manmeet Bhullar and Ted Morton made questionable comments, but the media, and certainly the PC's, preferred to focus on the Wildrose comments instead.

Unfortunately, that's the game but try to stay in the realm of truth.

[GP_Matt]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Obviously I wasn't painting all Wildrosers as racist and bigoted. But they were the only party last year who had candidates make such remarks, and thats unfortunate but its true. Much like not all Republicans are devoid of any intelligence just because Akin said women can't get pregnant during "legitimate rape". But when only one party, even a small fraction of its members, is saying such nonesense, its just the way it is. Its a dirty game politics.

And I can appreciate how difficult it is to vet candidates for any election, but using time as an excuse seems odds when you consider the CPC formed in 2003 and won an election by 2006 (for comparison, the current Wildrose formed in 2008). The Wildrose I think just thought voter disdain to the PCs was so high they could run mediocre candidates and still win. I'd also add it was Danielle's reaction to those comments more than the comments themselves that did the Wildrose in. You can't claim strength as a leader when you're passive towards such terrible comments. Had she come out and dropped the hammer they probably would have won.

The CPC did have a head start as they had a lot of talent in the Canadian Alliance and the Reform party.

As for time, I was in talks with one candidate whose boss is a big supporter of the PC party. It was implied that he could be fired if he ran for the nomination. So he was reluctant and the nomination was delayed as he considered the ramifications of putting his name forward. There were also a lot of good candidates who didn't want to risk their business relationships by putting forward with an upstart party. For the next election I expect the WRP will have much better vetting process and also will see more candidates put their names forward.

[Azure]

So now we're going to frame the debate around some stupid comments WRP members made and just completely ignore the original discussion?

[Rocky Raccoon]

http://www.lacombeglobe.com/2013/03/...ce-back-in-red

The Alberta government claims to have made preparing for the future a priority and to have added no new taxes or rate increases, but some municipal officials are skeptical.

You cannot say there will be no tax increases and then turn around and have communities throughout this province facing up to a 40% increase in their education requisition. That’s unconscionable and it’s not right.

When you look at Blackfalds situation, we were hit a huge education tax requisition increase and when you couple that with a lack of commitment from the province to build schools in our community. How can our residents tolerate that situation?

This is a link to a letter sent to Alison Redford by Melodie Stol, mayor of Blackfalds:
http://www.blackfalds.com/images/ima...NT_REQUEST.pdf

I live in Blackfalds and heard about this today. Obviously I am not pleased. I could be facing a property tax increase of up to $500 for provincial education fees.

We have one elementary school and one middle school; we have no high school despite active lobbying. Our elementary school is over-crowded and a huge increase in students is expected in the next 2 years. The provincial government has made promises to our municipality with respect to funding our schools or new schools which have not been kept and yet our municipality is being bullied into paying additional taxes to sustain education costs for other communities.

I understand that this will only affect a very small fraction of the CP community; however, I would appreciate hearing from Alison Redford supporters in defense of this issue.

[SebC]

She used four consecutive exclamations points!!!! It's well known that the more consecutive exclamation points you use, the stronger it makes your argument.

On a more serious note, Chestermere and many other communities are going through the same thing.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/al...135/story.html

The thing is, the reason taxes are going up is because certain communities have been getting a cushy ride, and now they are losing it. Rightfully so, in my opinion.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by SebC

She used four consecutive exclamations points!!!! It's well known that the more consecutive exclamation points you use, the stronger it makes your argument.

On a more serious note, Chestermere and many other communities are going through the same thing.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/al...135/story.html

The thing is, the reason taxes are going up is because certain communities have been getting a cushy ride, and now they are losing it. Rightfully so, in my opinion.

Having the increase all at once isn't fair to the homeowners who didn't budget for something like this. Faze it in over a few years to lessen the hardship.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Dion

Having the increase all at once isn't fair to the homeowners who didn't budget for something like this. Faze it in over a few years to lessen the hardship.

Leaving the subsidy in place would've been unfair to everyone else.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by SebC

Leaving the subsidy in place would've been unfair to everyone else.

I'm not suggesting they leave it in place. Surprising homeowners with an average of another $400 to thier property taxes is going to cause some families some hardship when it wasn't planned for in thier budgets.

[Rocky Raccoon]

I don't understand how Blackfalds is getting a "cushy ride" when we have 2 small sub-standard schools that do not meet the needs of the community, no high school, no Catholic school (our funding was given to Red Deer), and no plan by the provincial government for future assistance.

Where do you live SebC? Is the provincial government meeting the needs for your children's education?

[GP_Matt]

I would rather see the province approach an open and transparent needs based system rather than the current one of responding to outraged parents.
Many communities need new schools but it would be great if the province could publish a list with the ranking and reason behind which communities are at the top of the list.

[Azure]

Yep. Being more transparent and honest about everything would go a long way.

Of course that would also make you more accountable, which is obviously not something the PCs or many others think is important. Especially when it comes to accounting for where the money is being spent, how it is being spent....and if we really need to spend that much.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Rocky Raccoon

I don't understand how Blackfalds is getting a "cushy ride" when we have 2 small sub-standard schools that do not meet the needs of the community, no high school, no Catholic school (our funding was given to Red Deer), and no plan by the provincial government for future assistance.

Advocate for a new school then, but don't tell me your taxes shouldn't go up when all the province has done is to stop artificially lowering them for you.

[Rocky Raccoon]

There are plenty of advocates in Blackfalds for a new school an it is all falling on deaf ears.

I have no issue paying more in taxes if we were getting something for it, but we have nothing here that meets the needs of the community. I don't believe for a second that "artificially lowering" bunk. We aren't getting our money's worth right now.

Also, you never answered my questions SebC.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Rocky Raccoon

There are plenty of advocates in Blackfalds for a new school an it is all falling on deaf ears.

I have no issue paying more in taxes if we were getting something for it, but we have nothing here that meets the needs of the community. I don't believe for a second that "artificially lowering" bunk. We aren't getting our money's worth right now.

Also, you never answered my questions SebC.

You asked two questions. One is none of your business, and the other is not applicable. Hence, neither deserve to be answered.

Show me some unbiased evidence that you're not getting your money's worth, and perhaps you'd gain my support. Right now, all you've given me is your word and that of your mayor.

[Rocky Raccoon]

Originally Posted by SebC

You asked two questions. One is none of your business, and the other is not applicable. Hence, neither deserve to be answered.

Show me some unbiased evidence that you're not getting your money's worth, and perhaps you'd gain my support. Right now, all you've given me is your word and that of your mayor.

I agree it's none of my business. The purpose behind the questions was to determine if you are in a similar situation as my family is; and I doubt it based in your comments. Easy for you to take your position when you are being provided for properly with respect to the education of your children; which I also doubt you have because if you did, you would show at least a morsel of empathy.

As far as unbiased evidence, I see it everyday and live in it, I am here in the middle of it. Any energy I put into preparing a physical report will be provided to the party in power and the opposition. I have no interest in gaining your support as you have provided no evidence of being an individual of any significance or substance; merely a trolling devil's advocate.