Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Macman

Of all the current UCP candidates, Toews is the only one I’ve noticed and seen ads on social media. Looks and sounds good to me, I actually hope and think he has a good chance of winning. Wasn’t there someone else finance minister before him. Kenney is going to be gone so there will be basically a new party. If Jean and Smith lose this time that will be the last you probably hear of them.

Ok, but the question was do you think his record as finance minister is better than Ceci’s? If so, how and why?

All I got out of your response was that you’d probably vote UCP no matter what.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by surferguy

Basically a new party? Open your eyes son. Clearly you are not paying attention

In fairness, he didn’t say they’d be a better party.

[Macman]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

Ok, but the question was do you think his record as finance minister is better than Ceci’s? If so, how and why?

All I got out of your response was that you’d probably vote UCP no matter what.

Not really but we’ll see come Election Day, I believe I did vote for the NDP last time they were in power along with most Albertans. The NDP did relocate the new cancer hospital which was a good idea rather than having it split into two locations as was proposed.

I think their problem still is the federal coalition with the Liberals and Trudeau who doesn’t like Alberta. That’s what they need to clarify and separate from.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Izzle

Conservative concentrators would rather talk about the Federal liberals in the other thread rather than come here.

They'll hem and haw about the UCP but they'll vote for the UCP for sure. Because Ceci is fiscally 'scary'. If not, they'll vote for something unserious, like the Alberta version of the rhino party because they're a 'fiscally conservative, socially liberal' political orphan.

Yeah, that much seems true. But the other side of the coin is that people opposed to the UCP only seem to have one option which isn’t great either. I’m not voting for the UCP, but I can’t get excited about the NDP either, and frankly I feel like there are a huge number of people in my sort of thinking.

[Izzle]

Originally Posted by Slava

Yeah, that much seems true. But the other side of the coin is that people opposed to the UCP only seem to have one option which isn’t great either. I’m not voting for the UCP, but I can’t get excited about the NDP either, and frankly I feel like there are a huge number of people in my sort of thinking.

Vote for a party that shows compassion. They've shown in their reign that they're willing to learn. Of course there will be missteps, how could a party that didn't have provincial ruling experience, not make any mistakes?

If not the UCP or NDP, then who? It seems like the other parties in Alberta are further right than the UCP, or basically defunct like the Alberta Liberals or the Alberta party.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Ferarri

Latest polls have UCP with a slight lead over NDP. Only in Alberta, folks. Embarrassing.

A lot of voters - maybe even most - only get angry enough to kick out incumbents when their personal finances are getting worse. The economy in Alberta is strong right now.

[Dion]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1568645298985271301

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Ferarri

Latest polls have UCP with a slight lead over NDP. Only in Alberta, folks. Embarrassing.

This really doesn’t mean much unless we know where the support is coming from. For the next election the only thing that matters is how Calgary votes.

[TheIronMaiden]

The Calgary suburbs are the strong hold of the UCP. We are bound for 39 more years of the UCP

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

The Calgary suburbs are the strong hold of the UCP. We are bound for 39 more years of the UCP

Rural Alberta is the stronghold. I can see ‘inner city’ Calgary going either way, but yeah, the outer burbs are generally pretty solid conservative ( or more accurately anti NDP).

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

The NDP will govern with some humanity, which will be a massive improvement. I suspect they would work with the Feds to get us deals, rather than spitting in their face like a velociraptor that just had their chew toy taken away.

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Considering the UCP did even worse financially than the NDP even when accounting for pandemic and oil-price-related issues, pretending they’re actually the scarier option financially is just mindless partisan bias coming into play. The UCP are just genuinely terrible but dumb suckers are going to vote for them anyway.

These

[Harry Lime]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Rural Alberta is the stronghold. I can see ‘inner city’ Calgary going either way, but yeah, the outer burbs are generally pretty solid conservative ( or more accurately anti NDP).

I've interacted with primarily 'rural' Albertans over the last few months, and there really isn't a UCP stronghold, there is a ingrained distaste for the letters NDP. If they were exactly the same in every way, but renamed Bob's Super Awesome Party That Also Likes Golf Sometimes, the UCP would be dead in the water.

[jayswin]

But the problem is you can't just rename the NDP. Even dimwits won't fall for that. They'd have to actually start a new party from the ground up and that would take years, probably decades to get to a point of being electable.

They need to stay the course and hope that the average Alebrtan sees how evil (especially if you have family with disabilities) the UCP is and that we can hopefully vote these dinosaurs out.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by jayswin

But the problem is you can't just rename the NDP. Even dimwits won't fall for that. They'd have to actually start a new party from the ground up and that would take years, probably decades to get to a point of being electable.

They need to stay the course and hope that the average Alebrtan sees how evil (especially if you have family with disabilities) the UCP is and that we can hopefully vote these dinosaurs out.

Disagree. If they renamed the NDP something else and Rachel Notley made a statement that "we're a made in Alberta party that cares about people and good governance, and we're in favour of pipelines" they'd win easily.

You're giving the dimwits WAY too much credit.

[Johnny Makarov]

If Rachel renames the NDP and tells the federal NDP to eff off, you don't think she would win some votes in Alberta?

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Rural Alberta is the stronghold. I can see ‘inner city’ Calgary going either way, but yeah, the outer burbs are generally pretty solid conservative ( or more accurately anti NDP).

FWIW I consider anywhere an hour drive from downtown Calgary or Edmonton a suburb of Calgary.

The majority demographic of these towns and acreages are white collar folks, or folks who work up north, who don't have a genealogical relationship to the places they live.

The people who are culturally rural, have allegiance to which ever government is best for agriculture, or rural living. The NDP are not that, and the UCP at least pretends to be that ( I argue that they are not, but their rhetoric at least suggests that they are). The NDP rhetoric at minimum passively makes the impression that farmers, or rural folks are regressive hicks. The NDP in turn come off as holier than thou city slickers.

Truth is a politician who could tell a gopher hole from a cow's ass hole is hard to come by, but at least the UCP pretends to like small town Alberta and farmers.

[Wastedyouth]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

FWIW I consider anywhere an hour drive from downtown Calgary or Edmonton a suburb of Calgary.

The majority demographic of these towns and acreages are white collar folks, or folks who work up north, who don't have a genealogical relationship to the places they live.

The people who are culturally rural, have allegiance to which ever government is best for agriculture, or rural living. The NDP are not that, and the UCP at least pretends to be that ( I argue that they are not, but their rhetoric at least suggests that they are). The NDP rhetoric at minimum passively makes the impression that farmers, or rural folks are regressive hicks. The NDP in turn come off as holier than thou city slickers.

Truth is a politician who could tell a gopher hole from a cow's ass hole is hard to come by, but at least the UCP pretends to like small town Alberta and farmers.

Spot on.

[bizaro86]

It would be interesting to me whether the NDP will be willing to come out against Trudeau's fertilizer restrictions. I have a few farming relatives who are pretty upset about that. Although those seats are probably UCP strongholds so maybe it doesn't matter. But if the NDL wants to have a chance at governing somewhat consistently starting to win rural seats would probably be necessary at some point.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

It would be interesting to me whether the NDP will be willing to come out against Trudeau's fertilizer restrictions. I have a few farming relatives who are pretty upset about that. Although those seats are probably UCP strongholds so maybe it doesn't matter. But if the NDL wants to have a chance at governing somewhat consistently starting to win rural seats would probably be necessary at some point.

It sucks how polarized everything is as it becomes difficult to find objective summary/analysis of what the proposal actually is.

My sense is that the idea is voluntary and actually intended to help farmers operate more efficiently and profitably (combatting unproductive old-school practices)? I'd be glad to read a legit link that explains otherwise.

[Harry Lime]

Members of British Columbia's Liberal Party have approved a process to potentially change the party's name by the end of the year.

Party members voted on the resolution at a convention in Penticton Saturday that welcomed new leader Kevin Falcon, and sought to define the party's strategy for the next election, which is scheduled for the fall of 2024.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...2022-1.6485914

They want to separate themselves from the federal Liberals. BC is red-tape heaven, and they will be named something new by the end of the year. It's not that hard, and it will probably mean a bigger swing in Alberta than it would in BC, where left-wing federal parties are more well loved.