Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Fair comment. They haven't seemed like a reasonable party or an interesting one since Greg Clark was around.

The whole transition to Mandel and the circus involved with that (and missed deadlines) showed just how dysfunctional and not on the same page the party was. It's a party that attracted some decent individual candidates, but its all just a facade. As a two-time AP voter (I'm in Calgary-Elbow, so it was Clark both times) the only real option they'd have at becoming relevant is just letting the NDP take them over for the name and colour scheme.

[Dion]

Pollster tells Danielle Smith, Rachel Notley what's what

For Coletto, it seems these reluctant UCPers are responding to Smith week to week, based on what they hear from the premier “and whether they think Smith is a safe, consistent and stable choice to lead the province going forward.”

“For this group, stability is very important.”

Right now, some in this group have not settled on what they will do on the May 29 voting day.

In December, they weren’t really comfortable with Smith, the first impression wasn’t great.

In February, they were feeling more comfortable, thinking “maybe the crazy had been turned down a bit.”

Now, In March, some of them have put themselves back on the fence.

Number-crunching Coletto says these are individuals who support oil and gas, who are deeply concerned with the economy, who want Alberta to succeed.

“Their instinct is not to trust Rachel Notley. These are naturally conservative voters.”

When all is said and done, some of these UCP voters could well stay home on May 29, which would not be as bad for Smith as going out and voting NDP.

Why is that?

“In part because I don’t think Rachel Notley has given them enough of a reason to support her and the NDP, to overcome their hesitation. These are people who’ve never voted NDP,” says Coletto.

“In order to win the election she has to convince people who have never voted NDP to vote NDP.”

For that to happen, says the noted nose-counter, Smith has to appear “even less appealing.”

“People need to fear Danielle Smith getting re-elected. And they have to feel Rachel Notley won’t drive the province into the ditch.”

The latest poll is no bowl of cherries for Smith and the UCP.

But Coletto figures it’s worse news for the NDP. Their support is not growing and they need a few more points for the big win.

“They’re not moving. They’ve hit a ceiling and they don’t know how to break through that ceiling.”

https://calgarysun.com/opinion/colum...-rachel-notley

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by Roughneck

As a two-time AP voter (I'm in Calgary-Elbow, so it was Clark both times) the only real option they'd have at becoming relevant is just letting the NDP take them over for the name and colour scheme.

The ANDP put a streak of blue in their new party logo, definitely wasn't by accident or not thought through.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by D as in David

This is the first I've heard of this. Maybe the NDP should do some advertising around the depth and background of their candidates. I already know I'm voting for them but it's possible the general populace has a belief that the party is made up solely of union leaders and far left socialists.

waste of time. the vast majority of people the NDP need to convince don't give a rats behind about the quality of the candidates.

They shouldn't have to, but I agree with those who say the NDP need to change their name and colors.

[Muta]

I'm telling you, they should switch the name to the Alberta Progressive Party. Ditches the NDP label, borrows from the old Progressive Conservative namesake (which is still true to their brand of politics), and ditches the 'conservative' term, which is a tired term that is tied to old school, outdated stereotypes. The acronym is APP, which is a a very decent acronym to present to young people given its tech connotations.

[sketchyt]

I just picture the mouth-breathers that want to scare kids at library drag reading events, the ones who drive their trucks to block borders for funsies, the people who yell at others that still wear masks, etc...

I just think... who would those people vote for if they did?

Then I don't vote for that person/party.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Muta

I'm telling you, they should switch the name to the Alberta Progressive Party. Ditches the NDP label, borrows from the old Progressive Conservative namesake (which is still true to their brand of politics), and ditches the 'conservative' term, which is a tired term that is tied to old school, outdated stereotypes. The acronym is APP, which is a a very decent acronym to present to young people given its tech connotations.

They can call themselves the MILFDP party for all I care. Just take away that NDP name and the orange.

[Monahammer]

IMO renaming leaves them open to an attack from the left. Seems asymmetrical, but if they abandon their current left roots, even though they don't really have a slate of left policies anymore, someone could take some of their stable voters away. They're trying to attract the big middle without abandoning their base, much like the UCP are.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

They can call themselves the MILFDP party for all I care. Just take away that NDP name and the orange.

Don’t think it will matter. Do you think anybody will go for that?

“what? tell me more about this this new party that I have totally never heard of before and surely didn’t just change their name to garner votes from unknowing plebs”.

UCP probably has some dumb ad tagline in the works, “new name, old new democratic party” or something equally inane.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Don’t think it will matter. Do you think anybody will go for that?

I mean, who doesn't love a good MILF DP?

Seriously, though, this whole branding thing is depressing because it really does highlight that people are too stupid not to treat politics like sports teams. If you can change the name and logo and that immediately wins people over more than actual policy and substance, that says a whole lot of sad things about the electorate.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

I mean, who doesn't love a good MILF DP?

Seriously, though, this whole branding thing is depressing because it really does highlight that people are too stupid not to treat politics like sports teams. If you can change the name and logo and that immediately wins people over more than actual policy and substance, that says a whole lot of sad things about the electorate.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Don’t think it will matter. Do you think anybody will go for that?

“what? tell me more about this this new party that I have totally never heard of before and surely didn’t just change their name to garner votes from unknowing plebs”.

UCP probably has some dumb ad tagline in the works, “new name, old new democratic party” or something equally inane.

There are some pretty stupid lemming voters in Calgary.(especially those seniors in Edgemont...lol) so YES!

Like I said, i could prob be the president of the Jason Kenny Hate Club and I still felt a little bit unwell voting for the NDP last election.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

There are some pretty stupid lemming voters in Calgary.(especially those seniors in Edgemont...lol) so YES!

Like I said, i could prob be the president of the Jason Kenny Hate Club and I still felt a little bit unwell voting for the NDP last election.

In that case, the NDP should change their name to the UnConservative Party. They’ll still get their regular voters (because they’re not that dumb) and also get a bunch of the strugglers who vote based only on acronyms they like.

[Torture]

I know this forum is mostly a bunch of dudes, but this plan, following in the footsteps of BC, is good.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1633556321034457091

This is not so good.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1633572576801984512

https://twitter.com/user/status/1633573065090277376

[PepsiFree]

Smart of the UCP to find a female leader that maintains their hate for women. Wouldn’t want to rock the boat too much.

[Muta]

The UCP's removal of insurance caps was basically another form of 'subsidy' to insurance companies that hurt a lot of Albertans, so Smith has some real nerve saying that about universal contraception.

[Ozy_Flame]

Actually, in 2020 the UCP passed legislation that saved insurance companies $200 million between 2020 and 2022 (and made insurance more expensive for Albertans).

But this, this is a useless subsidy.

Now if you want to talk about the rights and subsidies of petro-sexuals, Danielle will entertain you all day.

[Monahammer]

It is a totally ideological difference. To Danielle, uncapping the market is just reducing regulatory red tape and allowing the free market pressure to reign. Even though that means that insurance companies will wantonly prey on the population that is forced to contract their services by law. Whereas providing a free product means a direct cash infusion bypassing the system. Really, its an affront to capitalism that's the issue here.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

I mean, who doesn't love a good MILF DP?

Seriously, though, this whole branding thing is depressing because it really does highlight that people are too stupid not to treat politics like sports teams. If you can change the name and logo and that immediately wins people over more than actual policy and substance, that says a whole lot of sad things about the electorate.

It's also the fact their name is tied to the federal NDP party. Same colour, same logo, same everything. So some people naturally assume their ideologies are also going to be the same, and that ultimately, the provincial party is just an extension of the federal one.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

It's also the fact their name is tied to the federal NDP party. Same colour, same logo, same everything. So some people naturally assume their ideologies are also going to be the same, and that ultimately, the provincial party is just an extension of the federal one.

If you can change the name and logo and that immediately wins people over more than actual policy and substance, that says a whole lot of sad things about the electorate.

Kind of my point. People are too dumb to look past the name and logo to understand who they're voting for and what their policies actually are. Notley standing up to Singh to support the Alberta energy sector was a big deal and she doesn't get nearly enough credit for it, because the uninformed think the provincial party is beholden to the federal one for all things including policy -- and it just isn't.