April 23 2012: Alberta Provincial Election

[SebC]

There's obviously a hidden agenda with the Wildrose, but it's fiscal. Otherwise, their budget doesn't add up. More money for municipalities (while somehow keeping infrastructure below the Canadian average), no cuts to health or education, but they're going to balance the budget and grow the Heritage fund? How?

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by Slava

I could be wrong (wouldn't be the first time) but I'm not sure about this brutal beat down either. I drive around the city for work a fair amount, and while there are some ridings where the Wildrose is dominant, its not all of them and not by a lot. I was shocked at how many PC signs are up in my neighborhood today. Its got to be at least 2-1 over the Wildrose.

Driving around my neighbourhood (in Calgary West) I haven't actually seen a single Wildrose sign on private property - it's been pretty much all PC, along with a single Liberal sign. That doesn't necessarily reflect popular vote though, but represents people who feel strongly enough to actually put up a sign; there aren't really that many signs in total on private property. Signs on public property are pretty meaningless in terms of reflecting party popularity (if anything I see more Liberal signs than anyone else, and I don't think for a minute they're leading here).

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Ashartus

Driving around my neighbourhood (in Calgary West) I haven't actually seen a single Wildrose sign on private property - it's been pretty much all PC, along with a single Liberal sign. That doesn't necessarily reflect popular vote though, but represents people who feel strongly enough to actually put up a sign; there aren't really that many signs in total on private property. Signs on public property are pretty meaningless in terms of reflecting party popularity (if anything I see more Liberal signs than anyone else, and I don't think for a minute they're leading here).

Oh ya, no question about that. I was only talking about signs on private property. The signs on public property are meaningless to me. On the main road in my neighborhood I noticed at least a dozen new PC signs on lawns today. That is impressive, and makes me wonder about the polls showing a supposed runaway. I wouldn't say its over (it could be a blip in the riding), but it doesn't seem to be the blowout its portrayed as.

I also drove through Jonathan Denis riding today and again the signs on public property were clearly in his favour (at least in the part I was in). My office is in Swanns riding and its basically his to lose based on what I see, same with Kent Hehr in Buffalo.

Obviously this is purely anecdotal and could be entirely wrong. I just look as I'm in these areas, so its not incredibly accurate. I just wouldn't be planning the parade just yet.

[kn]

Calgary Varsity is dominated by PC signs as well.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I think this is the point where the election is going to shift from everyone hammering the PCs, which basically culminated in the debate, to people starting to look deeper at the Wildrose platform. At this point they are the unquestioned frontrunners, and now the undecides have to look deeper at the Wildrose because they essentially know what they have in the PCs, but realistically most people have only been exposed to the Wildrose platform for a month or so.

[octothorp]

Yeah, I've yet to see a Wildrose sign on private property in Sunnyside. Naturally you'd expect Swann to dominate his home-turf, but it's probably between 50 to 100 Liberal signs, 2 NDP, 1 PC, and 0 Wildrose. But even in other parts of the riding from Hillhurst to Crescent Heights to Bridgeland to Renfrew, there are more PC signs, but still very few Wildrose.

And then I look at ThreeHundredEight's riding projections, and they have the riding going to the Wildrose by a margin of about 40% to 24% for both the PCs and Libs. Sorry, those numbers just don't look even remotely close to me. Not saying that the Wildrose can't win the riding, but the idea of Swann dropping from over 50% last time to less than 25% this time (despite the fact that he's well liked and seems to have even more lawn signs than last time), is sort of insane; it should be enough to make any rational prognosticator to seriously question their methodology.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by Slava

Oh ya, no question about that. I was only talking about signs on private property. The signs on public property are meaningless to me. On the main road in my neighborhood I noticed at least a dozen new PC signs on lawns today. That is impressive, and makes me wonder about the polls showing a supposed runaway. I wouldn't say its over (it could be a blip in the riding), but it doesn't seem to be the blowout its portrayed as.

I also drove through Jonathan Denis riding today and again the signs on public property were clearly in his favour (at least in the part I was in). My office is in Swanns riding and its basically his to lose based on what I see, same with Kent Hehr in Buffalo.

Obviously this is purely anecdotal and could be entirely wrong. I just look as I'm in these areas, so its not incredibly accurate. I just wouldn't be planning the parade just yet.

Another thing to take into account is that I imagine that the latest round of PC Gerrymandering probably makes their vote the most efficient. Some ridings in Calgary look like some American Style congressional districts . Examples: Calgary-Greenway, Calgary Mackay-NoseHill (Which almost completely surrounds Calgary Northern-Hills)

[getbak]

Is there anywhere to find out about the people who are running in the Senate vote?

[Flickered Flame]

Originally Posted by getbak

Is there anywhere to find out about the people who are running in the Senate vote?

PC candidates (at bottom of page):
http://www.votepc.ca/admin/contentx/...m?h=4&PageId=4

Wildrose candidates (at top of page):
http://www.wildrose.ca/candidates/

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by Flickered Flame

PC candidates (at bottom of page):
http://www.votepc.ca/admin/contentx/...m?h=4&PageId=4

Wildrose candidates (at top of page):
http://www.wildrose.ca/candidates/

This site works a bit better for the Wildrose ones (less click thru)

http://www.wildrosesenators.ca/

[Slava]

Oh good. Now the Wildrose wants to opt out of CPP, ala Quebec. Good old firewall talk should rescue us from the Wildrose government though!
http://www.canada.com/business/Wildr...medium=twitter

[Makarov]

This in particular sounds awesome:

Today, Wildrose has also pledged to "aggressively address" the issue of transfers with Ottawa and the other provinces.

Smith said Alberta must never accept a repeat of the current equalization formula, which her party says is unfairly generous to provinces such as Quebec at Alberta's expense.

The Wildrose leader said the fiscal imbalance, at its peak, has seen Albertans pay $20 billion more in taxes to Ottawa than it received back. Among the options laid out in the Wildrose policy book is a constitutional challenge on the equalization issue.

Whereas this just sounds hopelessly naive:

And Smith, whose party shares many ties with Harper's conservatives, said she expects the Wildrose would find a "partner" in the federal government.

"We finally have a majority government with a prime minister from this province who understands our needs and understands provincial rights and is willing to work with us to make some of those changes to rebalance some of these issues in our federation," she said in an interview with the Herald this week.

[SOURCE: http://www.canada.com/business/Wildr...edium=twitter]

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by Slava

Oh good. Now the Wildrose wants to opt out of CPP, ala Quebec. Good old firewall talk should rescue us from the Wildrose government though!
http://www.canada.com/business/Wildr...medium=twitter

LOL so now they are pulling out policies that we have had for nearly 10 years!! Hardly new or scary.

Many provinces are looking at options when it comes to pensions. You of all people should be well versed in this; far more so than I at any rate.

Right next door for example: http://www.thestar.com/training/arti...st-kept-secret

Funny how some people on one hand say they want to "discuss ideas" yet when the ideas come up it's ... "oh, no we can't discuss that".

[Slava]

Originally Posted by First Lady

LOL so now they are pulling out policies that we have had for nearly 10 years!! Hardly new or scary.

Many provinces are looking at options when it comes to pensions. You of all people should be well versed in this; far more so than I at any rate.

Right next door for example: http://www.thestar.com/training/arti...st-kept-secret

Funny how some people on one hand say they want to "discuss ideas" yet when the ideas come up it's ... "oh, no we can't discuss that".

Oh, so these ideas from 10 years ago are OK, but the wealth of social positions from your leader and candidates are off-limits? I see how that works.

This is a party that can't provide answers on how they would balance a budget. Their own numbers don't even get them there, before they have to do it "for real" and now they want more fiscal responsibility for the province? The green book ought to have been written in green text...they can't be serious.

[c.t.ner]

Another take, from the Hearald this morning. http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Here+comes+attack+firewall+Philistines/6459345/story.html#ixzz1s2D4atqx

"It would only serve to lead to costly and timeconsuming debates with Ottawa," he said in an email. "The money that an Alberta Pension Plan is able to repatriate to the province from the national CPP fund would be offset by a decline in national monies for the province in some other capacity . . . If Albertans withdraw from the CPP, one would then expect the result to be higher CPP contributions for other provinces.


Some provinces are net con-tributors to federal coffers. Some are net recipients. I think the cost of provinces trying to keep what's perceived as 'theirs' could be very detrimental to Canada if it became a trend."


But what of Quebec, which has its own pension plan? "Why would you want to emulate Quebec on anything?" Milke asks. "It has been an example of bad policy decisions for decades."

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by first lady

lol so now they are pulling out policies that we have had for nearly 10 years!! Hardly new or scary.

Many provinces are looking at options when it comes to pensions. You of all people should be well versed in this; far more so than i at any rate.

Right next door for example: http://www.thestar.com/training/arti...st-kept-secret

funny how some people on one hand say they want to "discuss ideas" yet when the ideas come up it's ... "oh, no we can't discuss that".

Oh no Sask beat us at building the firewall.

[Makarov]

Originally Posted by First Lady

LOL so now they are pulling out policies that we have had for nearly 10 years!! Hardly new or scary.

How have we had any of these policies for nearly 10 years? A group of right wing ideologues writing a letter to the Premier who subsequently ignores it and implements none of its suggestions does not equal "policies that we have had for nearly 10 years!".

Also, the Saskatchewan Pension Plan discussed in that article that you linked to has nothing to do with withdrawing from the Canada Pension Plan. Here is a description from the article:

The SPP is a pension plan introduced by the Saskatchewan government in 1986,originally designed to provide a nest egg for homemakers and self-employed people who had little or no access to other pension plans. It is a voluntary program operated at arms length from the government by an independent Board of Governors appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by First Lady

LOL so now they are pulling out policies that we have had for nearly 10 years!! Hardly new or scary.

Many provinces are looking at options when it comes to pensions. You of all people should be well versed in this; far more so than I at any rate.

Right next door for example: http://www.thestar.com/training/arti...st-kept-secret

Funny how some people on one hand say they want to "discuss ideas" yet when the ideas come up it's ... "oh, no we can't discuss that".

Also, did Saskatchewan opt out of the CPP?

[kn]

Originally Posted by Slava

Oh good. Now the Wildrose wants to opt out of CPP, ala Quebec. Good old firewall talk should rescue us from the Wildrose government though!
http://www.canada.com/business/Wildr...medium=twitter

Oh wow! That just makes her more attractive in my eyes. I've been waiting for a Premier with the guts to take on these issues and push Alberta's power within the limits of provincial jurisdiction. I never thought I'd live long enough to see a Premier go in this direction.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by Slava

Oh, so these ideas from 10 years ago are OK, but the wealth of social positions from your leader and candidates are off-limits? I see how that works.

I'm saying they have been in our party's policy book that long (some good, bad and ugly). What I find funny is that now all of a sudden they are being focused on... yes, just like everything else.