Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[Locke]

I dont know how I feel about the 'Name Change' argument.

But its not like its outside the realm of normality to re-brand a Political Party.

The real question I think would be to re-brand to what? You dont want to change everything Purple because Nenshi isn't going to last forever and you also dont want to turn the entire party into a 'Cult of Personality' like the Green Party.

It should be something enduring, that stands on it's own and thusly can shed some of it's prior baggage, however simultaneously it would be losing some it's Heritage?

Its a tough call, there are Pros and Cons obviously, but...I think re-branding the party at this juncture, both name, colour, etc, would likely be Political Suicide at this point.

Currently? I think you've got to ride the Horse that brought you.

[curves2000]

The NDP need real world policy, pro business and pro small business owner mindsets and really being able to connect with rural and smaller town voters to a much higher degree.

Would a name change help? Yes it would in a small way but to borrow a quote I heard years ago, "If your kid was struggling in school, would you change his or her name?"

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by curves2000

The NDP need real world policy, pro business and pro small business owner mindsets and really being able to connect with rural and smaller town voters to a much higher degree.

Would a name change help? Yes it would in a small way but to borrow a quote I heard years ago, "If your kid was struggling in school, would you change his or her name?"

Reminds me of a similar quote:
“If a tree falls in the forrest, would you change its name?”

Think about that for a second.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by curves2000

The NDP need real world policy, pro business and pro small business owner mindsets and really being able to connect with rural and smaller town voters to a much higher degree.

Would a name change help? Yes it would in a small way but to borrow a quote I heard years ago, "If your kid was struggling in school, would you change his or her name?"

It can't be that hard to be more pro business than a government that shuts down an entire segment of our economy for....reasons.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by curves2000

The NDP need real world policy, pro business and pro small business owner mindsets and really being able to connect with rural and smaller town voters to a much higher degree.

Pro small business? They were literally the only party offering small businesses a tax break in the last election. Do you not live in reality?

[Would a name change help? Yes it would in a small way but to borrow a quote I heard years ago, "If your kid was struggling in school, would you change his or her name?"

Perhaps you should ask Jason Kenney.

[Roughneck]

'If your kid was struggling in school, would you let them use a different pronoun?'

[belsarius]

Originally Posted by Roughneck

'If your kid was struggling in school, would you let them use a different pronoun?'

That's their choice and none of my business unless they want to tell me.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by curves2000

The NDP need real world policy, pro business and pro small business owner mindsets and really being able to connect with rural and smaller town voters to a much higher degree.

Would a name change help? Yes it would in a small way but to borrow a quote I heard years ago, "If your kid was struggling in school, would you change his or her name?"

I don’t believe that quote was ever spoken or written before now.

[curves2000]

I am not here to debate policy, to pump UCP tires or trash the NDP etc. Just conversation. Do I think a name change will help? Perhaps a bit, I think a lot of NDP voters think it may have an outsized expectation that it will flip a lot more seats than it will? Perhaps the UCP thinks a name change is a larger concern and that is why they are trying to tie Notley,Nenshi, Gondek and Trudeau all together in hopes of association. I dunno.

I have been on this thread before talking about how the NDP could really win, despite me being on an opposite end of the spectrum.

Flipping just a few seats in the Calgary area with some more progressive policies may potentially get another NDP minority government and maybe even a 4 year majority one time, but is that really the path forward for the NDP and it's voters for long term change? You need to expand and hold onto more seats in rural Alberta.

Politics is all about being nimble, moving around, neutralizing fires, being tactical and more. Looking internally at policies that may or may not be working is also paramount as well. This is how you get left leaning leadership candidates like Rakhi Pancholi from the AB NDP and Mark Carney from the federal Liberals saying things like scrap the carbon tax and that it filled it's pupose until now, we need to move onto something else. You can't sell it the other way to Albertan's and Canadian's the way it was before.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by curves2000

Politics is all about being nimble, moving around, neutralizing fires, being tactical and more. Looking internally at policies that may or may not be working is also paramount as well. This is how you get left leaning leadership candidates like Rakhi Pancholi from the AB NDP and Mark Carney from the federal Liberals saying things like scrap the carbon tax and that it filled it's pupose until now, we need to move onto something else. You can't sell it the other way to Albertan's and Canadian's the way it was before.

Is there anything you don't know something about?

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Is there anything you don't know something about?

Things he doesn't know things about? Like majority/minority...

[curves2000]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I don’t believe that quote was ever spoken or written before now.

Off topic but I got it from former CEO of Blackberry, John Chen on an earnings conference all. Previously Blackberry Ltd was known as RIM (Research in Motion) a much better name in my opinion.

The previous management team in the early 2010's changed the legal name to Blackberry which they thought was the smart move, but in reality they were renaming a tech company (RIM) into a failing product (Blackberry)

When the CEO (John Chen) was asked about changing the name back to RIM, he insisted on changing the products, the services and reforming the company as opposed to changing the name. He used that analogy about the kid's name.

[curves2000]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Is there anything you don't know something about?

How to ice a winning Flames team!

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Things he doesn't know things about? Like majority/minority...

Yeah. Alberta has only 2 parties winning seats. That makes a minority government impossible.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by curves2000

The NDP need real world policy, pro business and pro small business owner mindsets and really being able to connect with rural and smaller town voters to a much higher degree.

Would a name change help? Yes it would in a small way but to borrow a quote I heard years ago, "If your kid was struggling in school, would you change his or her name?"

Just don't share any of those policies. Lie/hide them because the adults in Alberta are just overgrown toddlers who can't do math.

If your kid's name is Azhagappan and their teacher is a racist idiot who can't fathom engaging with anyting Azhagappan says because wtf is he wearing on his head, then ya, maybe it's worth going by 'Adam' for a while. Probably not going to make a huge difference, but it at least removes one excuse.

[Bonded]

The biggest thing about changing the name would be breaking from the Federal NDP party and what they are doing. They really should have done it after losing to Smith. I don’t think it will be a cure all for them but it will allow them to step away from that comparison.

Curves for example has never bothered to look into NDP policies because of their name.

[Johnny Makarov]

You need more than just a name change. You need Nenshi to give Jagmeet the double finger salute and send his anti-oil ass into the sun.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Oh look, she's doing exactly what she said she would do.



#### absolutely every one of you mother####ers who voted for this. Idiots. Absolute ####ing morons.

This exactly. You are really stupid if you voted for this government and should feel shame, because everything that is happening was known before you voted. Now here's all the consequences of your idiotic vote because of "LIGHTBULBS NPD!!!!!.

[FacePaint]

A name change didn't work all that well in BC.

[Jacks]

Agree that just a name change alone isn't what's important, they need to completely divest themselves from the federal NDP and it's policies. Essentially that makes them an entirely different party and would alienate their core voting block but that's the only way that half of the population will even consider voting for them. Let's not forget that not that long ago the NDP had a few seats and were considered the left wing fringe in Alberta, it's only because the Liberals are a joke and the Alberta Party couldn't get it's act together that the non-CPC vote coalesced around Notley. If the Liberals had re-branded after Taft lost in 2008 they would have formed government by now and the NDP would still have it's usual 2-4 seats.

Change to the Alberta Democrats, run on policy a little left of the old PC party, go with a bit darker shade of orange maybe, denounce the federal party as hostile to Alberta's interests, run a centrist campaign. They'd probably win 60 seats.

For anyone who turns their nose up at that, the NDP doesn't need to win your vote, they need to win votes from people who right now won't even read their platform.