Klein's old riding may go Liberal?!?

[Bobblehead]

Love says the Liberals could end up taking Klein's old riding of Calgary-Elbow if voters feel they need to send a message to the provincial government that Calgary is being ignored.

link

Is the reported resentment great enough for this to happen?

[CaptainCrunch]

For the past few years, the Conservatives have not done a great job of truly governing, and Ed as a premier in my mind has been terrible. And this is coming from somebody who's always voted conservative in the provincial elections.

Sadly there aren't any real alternatives, I think the Liberal's and NDP have been equally terrible in both thier platform planning and thier roles as the opposition, so that almost leaves me to vote conservative by default or not vote at all as a form of protest.

Maybe I'll vote for the Alberta Seperatists.

[MarchHare]

Some Swann guy used to run against him and do pretty well IIRC.

Would that be David Swann? He's currently the (Liberal) MLA for the Calgary Mountain View riding.

[Canada 02]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Would that be David Swann? He's currently the (Liberal) MLA for the Calgary Mountain View riding.

2 of the last 3 elections, Klein's main opponent was liberal, Harold Swanson.

Klein defeated him by 5000 and 3000 votes in 2001 and 1997, respectively. In 2004, Klein won by ~2000 votes over some other liberal

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by fotze

Wasn't that riding ususally pretty tight when Klein was there. Some Swann guy used to run against him and do pretty well IIRC.

In the last election the liberal candidate was Stephen Brown, who received 4934 votes, as compared to Klein's 6968. Without a high profile candidate like Klein running, I can see the liberals winning this by-election.

I'm in Shirley McClellan's consituency, and the by-elecion here should be interesting too. I'm not so sure the PCs will win, even though this is the heart of Tory country. I think the Alberta Alliance will do quite well in this by-election because that's where the majority of the fed up PC voters will turn. As goofy as it may sound, the Social Credit dinosaurs are going to steal some votes from the Tory's too. Personally, I'm going to vote for the best local candidate, and he happens to be a liberal. Voting for a liberal will be a virgin experience for me, but he's the best candidate and I can't find a a reason to vote for any of the other parties or candidates. Normally I vote Green when I want to register a protest vote, but the Green candidate here is the manager of a Wal-Mart store. How seriously can you take a Green candidate who is a manager for Wal-Mart? There's a fair amount of hate going around right now for Stelmach and the PCs, so this by-election might be closer than people think. If they lose this one to the Alliance, and Calgary-Elbow to the liberals, it sets the stage for the first meaningful provincial election in decades.

[Slava]

Ed deserves to get a message sent to him IMO. I know that based on my usual posts in political threads this comes as no surprise.

I hope that he gets this message in this byelection, but really hears it loud and clear in the next general election!

[Incinerator]

Here's your Tories alternative:

http://www.albertaalliance.ca/index.htm

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Incinerator

Here's your Tories alternative:

http://www.albertaalliance.ca/index.htm

Hard to argue with their policies:

A better way for families

A better way for communities

A better way for Alberta

I have to admit that it sounds like an alternative, but I was looking for something a little more concrete.

[Incinerator]

Originally Posted by Slava

Hard to argue with their policies:

A better way for families

A better way for communities

A better way for Alberta

I have to admit that it sounds like an alternative, but I was looking for something a little more concrete.

They're redoing their website, the party is still fairly young.

Besides, you don't need a policy to be elected in this province, as long as you're not on the portside.

[Bobblehead]

Out of curiosity, how many seats can Stelmach lose before he is ousted?

Ed seemed to be the compromise candidate in a divided PC party after Ralph stepped down. Do the polar ends of that division now defect?

The biggest issue I see with Stelmach is that he appears to be pandering to rural constituents at the expense of cities that are bursting at the seams trying to keep up with the boom, while at the same time those rural constituents are looking at the surpluses and wanting tax relief. It is almost a case of trying to please everyone and pleasing no-one.

Am I reading that right?

[Incinerator]

I think you've nailed it on the head Bobblehead.

[Slava]

I don't think that you are too far off on your analysis Bobblehead. Its a rural-urban division and the steps taken thus far have not done anything to alleviate things.

I think that the rural consitituents have to be far more pleased with things than we are in Calgary (OK, not all of us in Calgary, but definitely me!).

[Bertuzzied]

If Jim Dinning was smart he would run for the liberal party and he would be the next premier of Alberta. I can't believe we have a farmer as our leader. hehe

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by Slava

I don't think that you are too far off on your analysis Bobblehead. Its a rural-urban division and the steps taken thus far have not done anything to alleviate things.

I think that the rural consitituents have to be far more pleased with things than we are in Calgary (OK, not all of us in Calgary, but definitely me!).

I think you're right, but even at that there's a fair amount of hate building for Stelmach, at least in my particular rural area. A lot of hard core PC voters have told me they're voting Alliance. They view him as a weak leader who doesn't have a plan, and therefore apt to spend money foolishly. Foolishly meaning pretty much anything other than tax relief as far as rural voters are concerned, as Bobblehead has pointed out.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Kobatuzzied

If Jim Dinning was smart he would run for the liberal party and he would be the next premier of Alberta. I can't believe we have a farmer as our leader. hehe

Dinning is basically a Liberal anyway. He was the one in cabinet calling for a slower pace to the debt reduction. He could basically run as a Liberal without switching his priorities and without changing many of his core beliefs (at least in my opinion).

I hope that the Liberals take Elbow, and then Cenaiko is next!

[Resolute 14]

Hello vote splitting. I am in Calgary-Elbow, and have a tough choice. Do I vote AA, or do I vote PC in the hopes that it helps keep the Liberals out?

Decisions, decisions.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Snakeeye

Hello vote splitting. I am in Calgary-Elbow, and have a tough choice. Do I vote AA, or do I vote PC in the hopes that it helps keep the Liberals out?

Decisions, decisions.

Just be paralyzed by indecision and stay home

[4X4]

Call me naive, but I think politicians would be more accountable if the voters would hold them to their promises by punishing them at teh ballot box. Sounds too simple to be true, right?

It's pathetic that we have had the same party in power for 30+ years. And the way Ralph started abusing his power immediately into his second term is shameful. Shameful that we voted him back in a third time without him even tableing a platform.

Of course, after Nancy MacBeth (literally) cried about losing, it was all downhill from there. We do need viable opponents (as already mentioned).




But the worst part about our one party rule, is that we whined and complained about the federal Liberals getting re-elected time after time.

It's time for a change!

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Call me naive, but I think politicians would be more accountable if the voters would hold them to their promises by punishing them at teh ballot box. Sounds too simple to be true, right?

It's pathetic that we have had the same party in power for 30+ years. And the way Ralph started abusing his power immediately into his second term is shameful. Shameful that we voted him back in a third time without him even tableing a platform.

Of course, after Nancy MacBeth (literally) cried about losing, it was all downhill from there. We do need viable opponents (as already mentioned).




But the worst part about our one party rule, is that we whined and complained about the federal Liberals getting re-elected time after time.

It's time for a change!

True. That appears to be true at every level of politics. There seems to be too much voting for the party name instead of the platform.

Although you can't count on the parties following their platform. Additionally I don't want to vote for a platform you don't agree with, but how else do you punish the ruling party if they are the only ones you generally agree with? It isn't like we can say, "PCs take a time-out; Liberals can govern for the next 6 weeks until the government has learned their lesson"

Nomination meetings or leadership reviews can perhaps be used for this, but few people want to punish a winner and even then it is only a small fraction of the populace who is represented.

[4X4]

I wonder what it'd be like if there were two rounds of voting... We could have all the candidates in the first round, then just the top two in the second round. Maybe people wouldn't be so apprehensive about voting for who they really want to win?
I need to think about this more, but it's just an idea.