Alberta Election Thread - Election Day April 16 2019

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

1) I have worked on a campaign actually. I wasn't insinuating that the UCP wasn't investigating NDP candidates online past, just that clearly there was one party that decided to make this their battleground and define what's acceptable on their own terms. They benefit greatly from this advantage.

2) I'm not going to defend white nationalism period.

1) Perhaps the UCP isn't making this a battleground because they are having trouble finding people who make racist, misogynistic, and homophobic comments in the other parties. Also, I don't the NDP are deciding what is or isn't appropriate, only pointing out objective facts. Specifically, that some candidates have made some pretty inflammatory comments/posts.
So far it's been a case of more than one candidate having some horrible statements/posts that they have made pointed out, and those people dropping out of a race. No attempt to show they have changed their views, simply dropping out. That doesn't exactly bode well for the "That's not what I meant, or currently feel". Especially when one of them has explicitly doubled down saying she isn't going to change her beliefs.


2) Good, I can think of a few people recently who should have followed that advice.
So then I would assume you agree that it is appropriate for any source to point out that a candidate in an election is the kind of person who would defend white nationalism.
So what exactly is your issue with people bringing up/pointing out these kinds of posts/statements that were made by candidates?

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by stampsx2

Is it not possible that women earn less than men because they aren’t going into post secondary fields that pay higher? How many women take engineering or programming? From what i’ve seen it’s a small portion.

Should men be offended that there aren’t enough male nurses? Why are women getting all the nursing jobs? Sexism for sure, right?

Women can do just as good a job or better than men. If there aren’t a lot of women in a certain proffession, chances are they chose not to - welding.

This attempts to answer the question, "Why do men make more than women?"

That's not what the question really is, the question is, "Why does Alberta have the largest wage gap between men and women, the lowest proportion of dual earners, and the highest proportion of families with a stay at home parent of all provinces."

The comparison is not men vs. women, it's Alberta vs. other provinces. So what you've suggested is possible, but doesn't at all address the disparity between provinces.

[Travis Munroe]

Catching up on the last few pages and I am shocked at just how far left some of the NDP supporters are.
All I see is go ahead and tax me more but pay for my university, my daycare, my healthcare, etc. This is one slipperly slope and would crush the provinces private sector.

I also see all sorts of flip flopping on why $25 day care makes sense. At first it was to get everyone back to work. I mentioned that there is no work for all of these people to go to unless they want to go back to school. Then it was that we don't have enough babies being born. Then it was so that you could take all those savings and pump them back into the economy. It is absolutely crazy to me to think that a household earning $100,000 is going to qualify for goverment assisted daycare on the backs of all tax payers.

Again... I stand by subsidized anything to someone who truly needs it. That single parent who is struggling to put food on the table. Subsidizing for a family who is choosing between the Bahamas or Cancun for a vacation just seems odd.

On a unrelated note and something I have mentioned a couple of times... what would be wrong with
1) A sugar tax similar to other European nations to support healthier eating and increase government revenue, not to mention decrease healthcare spending due to healthier diets.
2) A medical visit fee on a sliding scale based on household income ... as small as $5 for a low income earner to $20 for a $100k + household. Small enough to not hurt anyones wallet if they truly need assistance yet big enough to not just pop in for the hell of it. This would decrease medical wait times and increase revenue.

2 ideas that seem so obvious to me but clearly have more to it than what I am thinking.

[GGG]

I’m a big fan of a sugar tax. I think we are small enough that companies won’t alter recipes to get around the tax so any sugar not naturally found in the product could be taxed. A sodium tax could also be a good idea. In my opinion the purpose of this tax is for people to pay for the externalities of their decisions rather than to dissuade behaviour.

For the health care fee I think you would need to see how the distribution of doctor visits occurs to see if their is a real problem. Alcoholics and Drug addicts tying up emergency room space isn’t solved by this type of fee.

From my trips to minor emergency I haven’t really seen anything too egregious.

So before implementing a visit fee I would need to see what the problem is trying to solve. The risk is that you defer anyone’s yearly visit to their family doctor becuase if anyone delays being diagnosed with Cancer or diabetes the costs likely dwarf the savings.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

This attempts to answer the question, "Why do men make more than women?"

That's not what the question really is, the question is, "Why does Alberta have the largest wage gap between men and women, the lowest proportion of dual earners, and the highest proportion of families with a stay at home parent of all provinces."

The comparison is not men vs. women, it's Alberta vs. other provinces. So what you've suggested is possible, but doesn't at all address the disparity between provinces.

I’d suspect it’s becuase we have the highest incomes so the number of people who have a choice to make on whether to go back or not is higher here than other provinces.

[Ozy_Flame]

Maybe he should have just kept his mouth shut altogether.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1110670503793045504

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Travis Munroe

Again... I stand by subsidized anything to someone who truly needs it. That single parent who is struggling to put food on the table. Subsidizing for a family who is choosing between the Bahamas or Cancun for a vacation just seems odd.

I find it odd that you only see the two extremes, when there are plenty of people who can provide the necessities and absolutely nothing else, or very little else, and I wager they make up the largest portion.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Travis Munroe

Catching up on the last few pages and I am shocked at just how far left some of the NDP supporters are.
All I see is go ahead and tax me more but pay for my university, my daycare, my healthcare, etc. This is one slipperly slope and would crush the provinces private sector.

I also see all sorts of flip flopping on why $25 day care makes sense. At first it was to get everyone back to work. I mentioned that there is no work for all of these people to go to unless they want to go back to school. Then it was that we don't have enough babies being born. Then it was so that you could take all those savings and pump them back into the economy. It is absolutely crazy to me to think that a household earning $100,000 is going to qualify for goverment assisted daycare on the backs of all tax payers.

Again... I stand by subsidized anything to someone who truly needs it. That single parent who is struggling to put food on the table. Subsidizing for a family who is choosing between the Bahamas or Cancun for a vacation just seems odd.

On a unrelated note and something I have mentioned a couple of times... what would be wrong with
1) A sugar tax similar to other European nations to support healthier eating and increase government revenue, not to mention decrease healthcare spending due to healthier diets.
2) A medical visit fee on a sliding scale based on household income ... as small as $5 for a low income earner to $20 for a $100k + household. Small enough to not hurt anyones wallet if they truly need assistance yet big enough to not just pop in for the hell of it. This would decrease medical wait times and increase revenue.

2 ideas that seem so obvious to me but clearly have more to it than what I am thinking.

For number 2, you are creating a punitive system for people with chronic illnesses that may discourage them from seeking help when needed. I don't want to live in a society where, just because someone needs more help than the rest of us, they have to pay more. I'm sure you could come up with a convoluted system to work around these issues, but I'm not really sure it is worth it. I'm sure if someone looked at the numbers for unnecessary doctor's office visits, and the cost of it, it wouldn't even show up as a line item on the provincial budget it would be so small. Feel free to prove me wrong on that though, I haven't looked at numbers.



I can't imagine many people pop into a doctor's office just for the hell of it. If they do, you have the family doctor deal with it. Now, if you want to prevent ER visits I'd be all for something to reduce those, but that would have to include 24/7 clinics as alternatives, since doctor's aren't typically available. We do actually have these with the PCN, but it's fairly limited for who can use them, as far as I understand.

[V]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

We're getting there friend. Automation increases every year.

Well, what do we need all these kids for then? Either we need to replace the labour force or we don’t. You can’t play on both sides of that fence.

[Dion]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1110658422666518528

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Burn13

Nope never said that. I'm not sure why the review period passed in July, but that is beside the point.

Because the Liberals chose not to review it with the provinces and instead pushed it through in an omnibus bill at their own discretion since they have a majority.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

For number 2, you are creating a punitive system for people with chronic illnesses that may discourage them from seeking help when needed. I don't want to live in a society where, just because someone needs more help than the rest of us, they have to pay more. I'm sure you could come up with a convoluted system to work around these issues, but I'm not really sure it is worth it. I'm sure if someone looked at the numbers for unnecessary doctor's office visits, and the cost of it, it wouldn't even show up as a line item on the provincial budget it would be so small. Feel free to prove me wrong on that though, I haven't looked at numbers.



I can't imagine many people pop into a doctor's office just for the hell of it. If they do, you have the family doctor deal with it. Now, if you want to prevent ER visits I'd be all for something to reduce those, but that would have to include 24/7 clinics as alternatives, since doctor's aren't typically available. We do actually have these with the PCN, but it's fairly limited for who can use them, as far as I understand.

Most who subscribe to a small user fee or deductible for doctor's visits also say that for chronic illnesses, the user fee or deductible is only paid once.

[Amethyst]

My concern with a fee for doctor visits is that people would put off seeing a doctor until an issue was serious. It would save a bit in initial costs but would cost a lot more in the end.

[monkeyman]

One of the biggest mistakes the PC's made was eliminating the user portion of Alberta health care. If I'm not mistaken, Alberta is the only province not to have a basic user pay amount.
It was never punitive, it was a monthly base amount and you could apply for subsidies if you couldn't afford it.
Of course at the time, Alberta was debt free with a huge contingency fund. Even the left was applauding its elimination.

[Resolute 14]

It says a lot about the NDP's campaign that they know they can't run on their record. They are proving at least as strongly that they are as unfit to govern as any other party.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by monkeyman

One of the biggest mistakes the PC's made was eliminating the user portion of Alberta health care. If I'm not mistaken, Alberta is the only province not to have a basic user pay amount.
It was never punitive, it was a monthly base amount and you could apply for subsidies if you couldn't afford it.
Of course at the time, Alberta was debt free with a huge contingency fund. Even the left was applauding its elimination.

I dunno, it wasn't really that fair. So you could get it paid for if you are low income, student, or senior, and most large companies covered it for employees, so it left a lot of middle income people working in small companies stuck paying it. It was another program to administer, so cost money to run. So just take it out of normal taxes and save all of the above. I'm fine with not having it as some seperate "reminder" that we have health care.

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by V

Well, what do we need all these kids for then? Either we need to replace the labour force or we don’t. You can’t play on both sides of that fence.

Because you know and I know that Canada will never embrace a UBI, so it's a moot point.

Just look at the "#### you, got mine" attitude replayed over and over in this thread. It's like empathy is yet another tax that they're unwilling to pay.

"Born on third base, and thinks they hit a triple."

[Weitz]

Is being able to vote in advance in any riding so important that we have to wait 10 days for the official results?

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

Because you know and I know that Canada will never embrace a UBI, so it's a moot point.

Just look at the "#### you, got mine" attitude replayed over and over in this thread. It's like empathy is yet another tax that they're unwilling to pay.

"Born on third base, and thinks they hit a triple."

More accurately, the attitude would be "#### you, I earned mine". As opposed to the NDP attitude of "#### you, I'll take yours".

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

More accurately, the attitude would be "#### you, I earned mine". As opposed to the NDP attitude of "#### you, I'll take yours".

No no no no one earns anything it’s all given to them.