Wildrose Alliance leadership race triggered

[mykalberta]

Who are the likely suspects to throw their hat in the ring?

I am not familiar with the WA at all. Thanks.

This province could very easily be pushed to a minority government with the right leader for the WA. With the embarrasingly disproportionate rural/urban votes in this province it wouldnt take much. Especially with such a corrupt regime at the helm now.

I cannot bring myself to vote Liberal but if there was an alternative I could easily be moved to vote for them. So long as the WA dont go to crazy with the right wing stuff - abortion, gay marriage etc they should have a good shot at getting some seats.

[Azure]

I would vote Liberal if they presented a decent platform. And if the candidate in my riding wasn't such a blowhard.

As of right now, there is no way I will even think about voting conservative, so the WA are my best choice.

Strangely enough, they resemble my own ideals the most anyways.

[Kjesse]

To me the Stelmach government looks like an NDP-Liberal hybrid. Just last night it was announced the province bought a stake in Precision Drilling for crying out loud.

Combine that with massive over-spending, and Stelmach is ripe for an overthrow.

Whether this other right wing party can put together anything effective to counter remains to be seen, however. In the last election they were pretty invisible, though Hinman did a pretty good job in the televised debate.

[Yeah_Baby]

Alberta is a democracy?

[Ducay]

I'm allergic to rose pollen. I'd much rather see a larger liberal portion of MLAs. Not because I support them, but for democracy's sake.

[kevman]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

"Three Lefts still make a Right!"

That's Gold!

It's funny because three lefts DO make a right!

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Delgar

To me the Stelmach government looks like an NDP-Liberal hybrid. Just last night it was announced the province bought a stake in Precision Drilling for crying out loud.

Combine that with massive over-spending, and Stelmach is ripe for an overthrow.

Whether this other right wing party can put together anything effective to counter remains to be seen, however. In the last election they were pretty invisible, though Hinman did a pretty good job in the televised debate.

Well the PD stake was not a direct government investment; its through the Alberta Investment Management Co. which is not the government directly, but a separate arm.

[killer_carlson]

THe Provincial Liberals have to make themselves relevant again. Rather than try and compete with the NDP for the 5% of idiots in the province, they should try a platform that is fiscally conservative, socially centrist.

Laurence Decore tried it when he ran and almost won. He essentially tried to outflank the Conservatives from the right. You may recall a big part of his campaign was a computer laptop or some sort of device that calculated how large our debt was growing by the minute, with the emphasis on reducing government spending.

That's a party that would be relevant and capable of making a charge at the conservatives. Currently we have two oppositions parties taking turns at throwing tantrums and hoping someone pays attention to them.

[Azure]

Yeah, have to agree.

A fiscally responsible, socially centrist OR even liberal party would be a big win in Alberta.

I would vote for them. Really don't care much about the social views, provided they're not extreme right-wing, hardline James Dobson views, but the fiscal platform would certainly win me over.

[Kjesse]

Originally Posted by Slava

Well the PD stake was not a direct government investment; its through the Alberta Investment Management Co. which is not the government directly, but a separate arm.

This is a distinction without any real difference. This is public money, in a province supposedly led by Adam Smith-inspired fiscal conservatives, used to invest in a (formerly) private company, a big established player in oil and gas services.

What's next? "Air Alberta"? "Petro-Wild Rose"? "Alberta Broadcasting Corporation"?

Stelmach can't hide behind "I didn't know". That's not leadership, that's chickensh|t.

These aren't Conservatives. They just have the name.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by Delgar

To me the Stelmach government looks like an NDP-Liberal hybrid. Just last night it was announced the province bought a stake in Precision Drilling for crying out loud.

I dunno, they got an amazing price for the stake of PD they bought. This could turn out to be a boon for the province down the road. A smart investment.

Governments definitely shouldn't run businesses, but I don't see smart investing as a bad thing. I mean, our heritage fund was supposed to be an investment.

I will admit that I don't know a TON about the issue, but looking at how much they got under the closing price, and the fact the company is still viable, makes it seem like this may not be such a bad thing for us.

That said, I'm not big on the current government either. I just didn't think this particular issue was a huge problem.

[cal_guy]

Originally Posted by Delgar

To me the Stelmach government looks like an NDP-Liberal hybrid. Just last night it was announced the province bought a stake in Precision Drilling for crying out loud.

Combine that with massive over-spending, and Stelmach is ripe for an overthrow.

Whether this other right wing party can put together anything effective to counter remains to be seen, however. In the last election they were pretty invisible, though Hinman did a pretty good job in the televised debate.

Alberta Investment Management Corporation(AIMCo) invested in Precision not Alberta. AIMCo managed the Heritage Savings Trust Fund as well as Alberta public sector pensions.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Delgar

This is a distinction without any real difference. This is public money, in a province supposedly led by Adam Smith-inspired fiscal conservatives, used to invest in a (formerly) private company, a big established player in oil and gas services.

What's next? "Air Alberta"? "Petro-Wild Rose"? "Alberta Broadcasting Corporation"?

Stelmach can't hide behind "I didn't know". That's not leadership, that's chickensh|t.

These aren't Conservatives. They just have the name.

So all of that pension money and public money has to sit in a bank account then? You couldn't even really take interest off the money either because someone might complain that you lent the cash to entity A and not entity B.

I see the point that you're driving at here, I just think that you have to put the money to work somewhere. As long as there is no impropriety with the stake in PD (or any of the investments that they are making) I don't see an issue. This is far from a bailout. Its an investment management firm buying a stake in the country's largest corporation of its kind...and they are holding a mere 15% of that corporation.

[Julio]

Apparently Danielle Smith 'has been approached' to lead the WRA...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...BAlbertaWatch/

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Julio

Apparently Danielle Smith 'has been approached' to lead the WRA...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...BAlbertaWatch/

I loathe the CFIB and even more the Canadian Tax Payers Federation. The "solutions" they propose are always the same: Times are tough so we should cut taxes. Times are great so we should cut taxes.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by fredr123

Jolinar should throw his hat in the ring.

Do you really want a special task force created to investigate extension cord thefts? Because that will be the first thing I do.