April 23 2012: Alberta Provincial Election

[Slava]

Originally Posted by troutman

Last night, a PC door-knocker told me Smith will be in tough to win her riding. She is running against the popular editor of The Western Wheel.

Well the last poll I asw down there said the PC is sitting at 57% and she is at 35%. If thats accurate, she is done at this point. Its pretty hard to see a swing that large before Monday. Who knows though, its one poll and I have no idea about the accuracy at all.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by darklord700

I also told my PC door-knocker that he will be tough to win my riding because he's running against a WR candidate backed by a popular CP poster, moi.

lol

[c.t.ner]

Originally Posted by troutman

Last night, a PC door-knocker told me Smith will be in tough to win her riding. She is running against the popular editor of The Western Wheel.

There's been lots of rumblings about this online. Barlow is apparently really popular in the area and did really well in both debates. That being said there's also rumours that Redford might not win Calgary Elbow. Could be an interesting monday.

[old-fart]

Originally Posted by troutman

Last night, a PC door-knocker told me Smith will be in tough to win her riding. She is running against the popular editor of The Western Wheel.

John Barlow is no longer the editor of the Western Wheel, but he is in fact popular. I have no doubt that if was running at a different time when the PCs weren't so obviously morally corrupt that he'd win easily.

It will be an interesting battle to be sure.

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by Slava

Well the last poll I asw down there said the PC is sitting at 57% and she is at 35%.

Where did you get the riding poll?

[You Need a Thneed]

How close to a lock are any of the party leaders?

[crazy_eoj]

Originally Posted by Makarov

Smith clearly has no clue how equalization payments work. Quebec's expenditures have absolutely nothing to do with how much it recieves in equalization transfers. It is entirely based on revenues.

So you are stating they do not count equalization payments as general revenues?

You might want to check that.

[Senator Clay Davis]

How hilarious would it be if BOTH Smith and Redford didn't make the legislature. Who becomes the leader for each party?

[Slava]

Originally Posted by darklord700

Where did you get the riding poll?

I'll try to find a link, but it was on twitter earlier this week. I didn't bother posting it here mostly because I didn't want to break too many hearts!

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

How hilarious would it be if BOTH Smith and Redford didn't make the legislature. Who becomes the leader for each party?

I wouldn't worry too much about Smith. But if Redford didn't win her riding, she'll be out of politics. I find it really hard to imagine Redford still being the PC leader win, lose or draw.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by Makarov

I However, I can take some comfort in knowing that Redford's human rights pedigree is among the strongest in the entire province (entire country perhaps.)

That may be, but really what she is proposing to do to the Alberta Human Rights Act isn't much different than the Wildrose position.

From her mandate letter shortly after becoming Premier.

Assess the appropriateness of amending or repealing Section 3 of the Alberta Human Rights Act.

From Wildrose member policy:

Wildrose members believe the Government of Alberta should:

amend the Human Rights Act to unequivocally protect the freedom of speech and freedom of the press and should disband the Alberta Human Rights Commission.

[kn]

QR77 is reporting that Gary Mar has been cleared of all charges, that the report clearing him of all charges was finalized in early April prior to the leaders debate in which Redford questioned Mar's ethics, and that a defamation suit has been written up.

[Senator Clay Davis]

If as Slava said Smith is facing a 22 point deficit, yeah, I'd be pretty damned worried.

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by kn

QR77 is reporting that Gary Mar has been cleared of all charges, that the report clearing him of all charges was finalized in early April prior to the leaders debate in which Redford questioned Mar's ethics, and that a defamation suit has been written up.

Wow, this is explosive stuff, I'm glad it came out just before election day.

[Makarov]

Originally Posted by crazy_eoj

So you are stating they do not count equalization payments as general revenues?

You might want to check that.

I'm not sure what you're saying here. I stated that Quebec's expenditures have nothing to do with the amount of equalization payments it recieves.

[kn]

Originally Posted by Slava

Its amusing (in a sad way) that you're wondering where the "outrage" was and the first word of the article about this is "outrage". I suppose that answers the question?

Not at all. The article implies that the outrage was limited to a victim's rights group in Toronto, not by our mayor or a broad spectrum of Calgarians or Albertans. Meanwhile the St. James Anglican church was a sponsor of the accused.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by Makarov

Haha. So it is an "honour killing", and motivated by "bigoted views", simply because the accused was a muslim. That's rich. For the record, I just read that article, and the Court of Queen's Bench decision, as well as the Alberta Court of Appeal decision which overturned the trial judge's decision and ordered a new trial, and there is absolutley no indication whatsoever that this particular crime was motivated by bigoted religious views.

In any event, there was clearly public outrage of the length of the sentence, and the decision has been overturned. All in all, this was not a good example of society's tolerance of intolerance.

Originally Posted by Slava

Its amusing (in a sad way) that you're wondering where the "outrage" was and the first word of the article about this is "outrage". I suppose that answers the question?

Just for clarity ~~ since you both quoted me....

I have not claimed it was an honor killing, nor have I denied there was outrage. I simply posted a link in response to someone asking what the other poster was referring to.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by First Lady

Just for clarity ~~ since you both quoted me....

I have not claimed it was an honor killing, nor have I denied there was outrage. I simply posted a link in response to someone asking what the other poster was referring to.

Ya and I certainly wasn't meaning to implicate you in that or anything. I basically just want to avoid the entire discussion to be honest. I just thought that the word "outrage" appearing after kn asked where it was, was a little amusing.

I am so bored and tired of arguing these religious/pseudo-religious things though.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by old-fart

John Barlow is no longer the editor of the Western Wheel, but he is in fact popular.

He stepped down when the writ was dropped. He really didn't put much into the run prior to campaign. He is very much campaigning on his roots.

Even though Danielle choose to move there over a year ago, Barlow insists on using the line it is just an "address" for her.

Still waiting on him to answer these questions...

[redforever]

Originally Posted by crazy_eoj

So you are stating they do not count equalization payments as general revenues?

You might want to check that.

They measure provincial fiscal capacity by using five tax bases: personal income tax, business income tax, consumption tax, property tax and natural resources. 50% of natural resource revenues are excluded in determining each province’s fiscal capacity.

That determines how much revenue per capita each province is able to raise. That number varies by province...some have higher fiscal capacities than others.

Those per capita revenue figures are then compared to the national standard which is now based on the average incomes of all 10 provinces. The Atlantic provinces fall under the Atlantic Accord.

Whether a province receives equalization, and how much it receives, is based on its comparison to the national standard. If you are below the national standard, you receive equalization payments. If you are above the national standard, you do not receive equalization payments.