By-election results

[Flame On]

Too early to tell but as some have suggested seems like the province might go town and country. I hope some more messages are sent.

[Bertuzzied]

Get rid of the farmer! hehe. You can't run our province just because you are a 'nice' guy.

I still can't believe the 3rd best candidate can become Premier because the 1st two candidates split the vote between themselves. The leadership voting needs to be changed.

[ken0042]

I know that even though I have always voted Conservative in provincial politics, I would have voted Liberal if there was a by-election in my riding. Hopefully the Conservatives see this as a wakeup call, and do something to review the "leadership."

(And I use the term leadership loosely.)

[llama64]

Originally Posted by Kobatuzzied

Get rid of the farmer! hehe. You can't run our province just because you are a 'nice' guy.

I still can't believe the 3rd best candidate can become Premier because the 1st two candidates split the vote between themselves. The leadership voting needs to be changed.

This is the exact way the Liberals ended up with Mr. Dion as their leader. Seems so very Canadian to me...

[JiriHrdina]

This whole scenario actually helps the conservatives, or at least should, and long-term will hurt the Liberals.

Calgarians were given a chance, outside of a full provincial election, to send the PCs a message - and they did. Now the PCs (if they have any brains) will realize they need to do some repairing in Calgary.

If this by election had not given such an opportunity, the Liberals would have gained much more in the next provincial election. Now the PCs are given a chance to regroup.

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

This whole scenario actually helps the conservatives, or at least should, and long-term will hurt the Liberals.

Calgarians were given a chance, outside of a full provincial election, to send the PCs a message - and they did. Now the PCs (if they have any brains) will realize they need to do some repairing in Calgary.

If this by election had not given such an opportunity, the Liberals would have gained much more in the next provincial election. Now the PCs are given a chance to regroup.

I really wonder if the PCs will get the message and make the most of this opportunity. They have to fix their internal problems before they can address the external problems. It seems to me that their external problems reflect their internal problems ... a three-way split of interests between Edmonton, Calgary and rural Alberta. Plus, they've been in power for so long without any kind of meaningful opposition they've developed a certain arrogance and air of entitlement which seems to make them feel invulnerable ... kind of like the federal Liberals before they took a tumble in the last election.

The confounding thing about this province is the lack of an alternative that can win voter support. The NDP will never hit double digit voter support in this province, and there's so much federal baggage attached to the Liberals that drags them back. The other parties ... the AA, Greens, So Creds, etc. ... are just splinter parties that I can't see gaining enough support to go anywhere. Really, the only hope of dislodging the PCs is for the provincial Liberals to take advantage of the current politcial ill-will towards both the provincial and federal Conservatives ... IMO that is. To do that, they're going to have to convince voters they are in fact and deed not the same as the federal Liberals. That's a tough job. I don't think Taft or Bronconnier are the guys for the job either. Outside of Calgary Bronconnier comes across as a typical whiney, money-spending Liberal. I don't think he'd sell well across the province at all. I can't see Taft being a strong enough leader to capture votes either though.

Whatever, now is the time for the Liberals in this province ... voter support in Alberta for the Conservative brand, both federally and provincially, is about as low as it's ever going to get, and the provincial PCs have a weak leader who seems to be splitting the party and the province into rural vs Edmonton vs Calgary. If the Liberals, or some other party, can't take advantage of the current political climate we might as well just sign the legislature over to the PCs in perpetuity.

[Bobblehead]

It was a loss in an urban riding and a strong win in a rural riding. Isn't that what people were worried about when Ed set his cabinet - that everything appeared to be focused on rural representation and urban centres would be neglected?

It appears like these by-elections have confirmed that, at least in the electorate's view.


Edit: Ford beat me to it, and did a much better job.

[Zarathustra]

I agree with what an earlier poster said:
As Calgary and Edmonton become bigger and develop the true 'big city' mentality, more liberal values will spread. This is occuring rapidly at the moment because of the 'hickish' and small town backwoods style of the current provincial leadership. An urban vs. rural battle is developing quickly, and this is terrible news for the conservative party with all of the new people (and voters) flooding into the two major cities of Alberta.

Watching the news last night I saw they were running a survey which said something like "Will the alberta tories lose power after the next provincial election?". In my opinion there is very little chance of this occuring, however, I wouldn't be surprised if the liberals push 30 seats come next provincial election.

[Rockin' Flames]

Originally Posted by Zarathustra

I agree with what an earlier poster said:
As Calgary and Edmonton become bigger and develop the true 'big city' mentality, more liberal values will spread. This is occuring rapidly at the moment because of the 'hickish' and small town backwoods style of the current provincial leadership. An urban vs. rural battle is developing quickly, and this is terrible news for the conservative party with all of the new people (and voters) flooding into the two major cities of Alberta.

Watching the news last night I saw they were running a survey which said something like "Will the alberta tories lose power after the next provincial election?". In my opinion there is very little chance of this occuring, however, I wouldn't be surprised if the liberals push 30 seats come next provincial election.

Based on this logic I'm glad that all the seats outside of Edmonton and Calgary currently sit at 42 of the 83 seats, because these areas will be a lot more difficult to sway to vote Liberal.

[Zarathustra]

Originally Posted by Rockin' Flames

Based on this logic I'm glad that all the seats outside of Edmonton and Calgary currently sit at 42 of the 83 seats, because these areas will be a lot more difficult to sway to vote Liberal.

Of course. And this in turn will fuel the urban vs. rural feud. Educated vs. "good old boys".

There is no doubt in my mind that the small towners will continue to vote exclusively conservative, especially with rural oriented leadership in power. I'm not sure exactly where in my post I claimed otherwise.

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by Zarathustra

Of course. And this in turn will fuel the urban vs. rural feud. Educated vs. "good old boys".

I'm not sure if it's what you meant, but that statement implies you think rural Albertans are uneducated. Is that what you meant?

[Resolute 14]

I love how Taft is behaving like his party had anything to do with this win.

[Zarathustra]

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

I'm not sure if it's what you meant, but that statement implies you think rural Albertans are uneducated. Is that what you meant?

Not exclusively. What I meant is as more and more educated people flock from other provinces to become involved in the boom, the education gap between rural and urban will only increase. It is a well accepted fact that skilled people come to the big city to get jobs and go to school. There of course are exceptions (such as Ft Mac), but generally this concept is true.

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by Zarathustra

Not exclusively. What I meant is as more and more educated people flock from other provinces to become involved in the boom, the education gap between rural and urban will only increase.

I see, so now you are saying that Albertans in general are uneducated ... that educated people come from other provinces. Nice.

Originally Posted by Zarathustra

It is a well accepted fact that skilled people come to the big city to get jobs and go to school. There of course are exceptions (such as Ft Mac), but generally this concept is true.

Well accepted by who? Please provide a link to a study that supports your statements, otherwise they're opinions, not facts and truths.

I'm curious about a couple things. You say that people go to the big city to get jobs and go to school. Who do you think populates the rural area? Illiterate, unemployed hillbillies? Have you ever actually been to rural Alberta? I find your assertions offensive and preposterous. Are they indicative of general Zorastrian thought, which your user name suggests you are an adherent of?

[4X4]

Photon, you listening? We NEED a smilie that indicates grabbing popcorn and sitting down to watch the show.

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Photon, you listening? We NEED a smilie that indicates grabbing popcorn and sitting down to watch the show.

Good one ... you almost made me spew coffee all over my monitor.

[photon]

THat one's not bad.. though it doesn't totally fit with the existing ones

[4X4]

I LIKE it!

[Zarathustra]

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

I see, so now you are saying that Albertans in general are uneducated ... that educated people come from other provinces. Nice.



Well accepted by who? Please provide a link to a study that supports your statements, otherwise they're opinions, not facts and truths.

I'm curious about a couple things. You say that people go to the big city to get jobs and go to school. Who do you think populates the rural area? Illiterate, unemployed hillbillies? Have you ever actually been to rural Alberta? I find your assertions offensive and preposterous. Are they indicative of general Zorastrian thought, which your user name suggests you are an adherent of?

This is hilarious. You are simply grasping at straws and looking for conflict. Please do yourself and me a favour, and relax. This is a message board, you really don't need to get so defensive. I'm not even going to address your emotional driven points for it will only get you more upset. I however, will leave you with a few simple truths that any logical rational person would agree upon.

People move to bigger towns and cities to become educated. Unlike America, there are very few "college towns", and in most cases the respected universities are found in the big city. Educated people find better paying jobs in the city. Educated and intelligent are not exclusively synonymous, but any reasonable person would agree that it takes a certain level of intelligence to get a university degree.

There is a reason small towns get smaller and big cities bigger. Please, think more and use less emotion when debating, it will help you a lot. I can see that you are relatively intelligent yourself, but allowing emotion and personal bias to seep into your logic flaws it slightly.

[Bobblehead]