Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[GGG]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

The UCP are a bunch of idiots but the person you are advocating for raised corporate and income taxes, ordered a royalty review during a crisis, and put a tax on out of province beer knowing full well it would get challenged and rejected in court.

Kenney sucks. The UCP sucks.

But Notley is so overrated, it’s comical.

If you notice the current UCP government didn’t restore the flat tax. That must mean that Notleys policy was correct at the time.

Raising Corporate taxes to levels of similar jurisdictions is the correct policy as well.

Was the beer tax done to spite the claim that they could regulate Alberta oil and gas? I thought it was all part of that trade war BC started. I can’t remember if it was separate or not.

Notley also froze union wages negotiating 4 years of 0.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by GGG

If you notice the current UCP government didn’t restore the flat tax. That must mean that Notleys policy was correct at the time.

Raising Corporate taxes to levels of similar jurisdictions is the correct policy as well.

Was the beer tax done to spite the claim that they could regulate Alberta oil and gas? I thought it was all part of that trade war BC started. I can’t remember if it was separate or not.

Notley also froze union wages negotiating 4 years of 0.

Notley used American style politics in the last election and was decimated at the polls. She might still be Premier had she focused on defending what she did right and told Albertans what she was going to do for them in the future.

[Fuzz]

Independent MLA Todd Loewen, Former Wildrose leaders Danielle Smith and Brian Jean officially join the race

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...474715?cmp=rss


I wonder if any centre Conservatives even exist anymore. Todd was booted from the party with Barnes for criticizing the Covid response. So we've got 3 former WR's and Toews so far. Gross.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

The UCP are a bunch of idiots but the person you are advocating for raised corporate and income taxes, ordered a royalty review during a crisis, and put a tax on out of province beer knowing full well it would get challenged and rejected in court.

Kenney sucks. The UCP sucks.

But Notley is so overrated, it’s comical.

The beer comment is a bit dumb. Despite eventually being rejected, Notley’s policies made it highly advantageous to be an Alberta-based brewer, which led to a huge increase in those businesses, many of which made it through that first, toughest part of starting a business thanks to the Alberta advantage.

And whether you believe increasing or decreasing taxes is a good thing is fairly subjective, so that’s not really a criticism that is going to land with anyone that doesn’t already agree with you, especially when you’re a rich person who constantly whines about paying taxes. It sort of makes you out of touch with regular people.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...474715?cmp=rss


I wonder if any centre Conservatives even exist anymore. Todd was booted from the party with Barnes for criticizing the Covid response. So we've got 3 former WR's and Toews so far. Gross.

Are they entering for the purpose of making somebody else look really, really good in comparison? They’re like the Larry Heathers of candidates.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

The UCP are a bunch of idiots but the person you are advocating for raised corporate and income taxes, ordered a royalty review during a crisis, and put a tax on out of province beer knowing full well it would get challenged and rejected in court.

Kenney sucks. The UCP sucks.

But Notley is so overrated, it’s comical.

I'll concede the 2 points if you concede that
1) the royalty review actually resulted in a better royalty structure that for a ton of reasons, is beneficial to companies when prices are low, and greatly beneficial to both the province and companies when prices are high, put simply, it's a better system overall
2) Notley created the structure under which small breweries could actual exist, and thrive which selfishly, means there is more good, local beer for me to drink, but more pragmatically, was a great move for creating a ton of small businesses

I'll elaborate, that the royalty review is such a red herring.
I've heard so many people complain that it was such a terrible idea, and the only reasoning is the timing.
Forget that the results were an objectively better system for both companies and the province.
The truth is there will never be a good time for a royalty review.

You do it when prices are low and people will complain that "You can't create uncertainty when companies are just scraping by, they'll go elsewhere"
Do it when prices are high and people will complain "You can't create this kind of uncertainty when prices are so high, with things so good companies will go elsewhere"
Ignore the timing, and focus on the fact that it is an objectively better system.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Suburban Calgary is just as socially conservatives as small towns, until proven otherwise.

In what ways? Church attendance? Beliefs about sexuality and gender roles? Attitudes around immigration?

You don’t honestly believe that, do you? 90 per cent of Calgarians live in the suburbs.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

In what ways? Church attendance? Beliefs about sexuality and gender roles? Attitudes around immigration?

You don’t honestly believe that, do you? 90 per cent of Calgarians live in the suburbs.

And they are all religious zealots, abortion hating, homosexual oppressing, socially backwards racists.

Unless they vote NDP or Liberals

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

In what ways? Church attendance? Beliefs about sexuality and gender roles? Attitudes around immigration?

You don’t honestly believe that, do you? 90 per cent of Calgarians live in the suburbs.

Is the bolded meant to be a hyperbole?

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

But Notley is so overrated, it’s comical.

This I can agree with. I think she was better than Kenny but that bar is extremely low as she was a poor premier. Good premiers don't get canned after a single term. It's laughable that some seem to view her as some sort of saviour. She's no good and never has been.

[Harry Lime]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

This I can agree with. I think she was better than Kenny but that bar is extremely low as she was a poor premier. Good premiers don't get canned after a single term. It's laughable that some seem to view her as some sort of saviour. She's no good and never has been.

That doesn't leave you with a lot of options. Is the Rhinosaurus Party still a thing? Are you their leader!?!?!?!?

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by GGG

I’d say only the food shortage was a real crisis the other two peak oil and global cooling didn’t really exist.

Global cooling was a bad name, but there absolutely was dropping temperatures in developed areas that were reversed once air pollution measures were put in place and particulate emissions were greatly reduced.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

Is the bolded meant to be a hyperbole?

Between them, the downtown and beltline have less than 50k people.

[aaronck]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

This I can agree with. I think she was better than Kenny but that bar is extremely low as she was a poor premier. Good premiers don't get canned after a single term. It's laughable that some seem to view her as some sort of saviour. She's no good and never has been.

So you're saying she served her whole 4 year term...Who's the last Alberta premier that can say that?

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Between them, the downtown and beltline have less than 50k people.

Wow, I had no idea my 30 minute walk to work qualified me as living in the suburbs.

[Fuzz]

https://tntteam.ca/calgary-inner-city-real-estate/


This is a typical "inner city" map, I don't consider anything here a suburb. Even further north, is Thorncliff a suburb? I don't really think so. It's a tough distinction to make in Calgary.

[Dentoman]

Two Mennonites running for the leadership now?!?! The Mennonite plan of taking over the government because we don't trust it is coming together! Brad Wall is likely the leader of the Mennonite Illuminati

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

https://tntteam.ca/calgary-inner-city-real-estate/


This is a typical "inner city" map, I don't consider anything here a suburb. Even further north, is Thorncliff a suburb? I don't really think so. It's a tough distinction to make in Calgary.

It's hard to argue that North Glenmore, Currie Barracks, and Garrison Green aren't "inner city" if friggin' Burns Industrial is.

[dustyanddaflames]

Originally Posted by OptimalTates

Just curious. Have you noticed any change in political leanings or beliefs?

I can't talk to members of my extended family who are farmers and ranchers about political issues anymore (and often times they are super religious). My grandfather would have disowned anyone not blindly voting right. When we did have discussions around climate change ("global warming" at the time), those who would concede that it existed and maybe humans were part of the issue, would argue that global warming may even be beneficial for them as it would reduce the duration of winter.* They didn't seem to care about research that shows that extreme weather, like the "100-year" droughts and floods would become much more frequent.

Seemed like the previous generation was very much about global warming being a hoax or part of nature ("the ice-age happened without human involvement! What about the 1930s?") to the next generation being "well sure climate change exists but nothing we can do about it." But now they're the Canadians being hit by it the hardest. It's like the slowest form of "leopards ate my face" but there's not going to be schadenfreude when I'm eating my $250 box of Froot Loops my wife got me for a special anniversary gift.

I know they are some of the most resourceful people and the mindset of "we have survived, we will survive" is probably truer than most, but how do we bridge that gap when anyone campaigning on some form of climate change policy gets dropped to the bottom of their list?

*Even if current research indicates that areas of land in Canada that were not considered quality agricultural areas are now believed to become suitable, that wasn't what they meant.

I don't want to really get into political beliefs of others - but I would say for me, I had blindly voted PC for most of my life as that is what my parents did and the rest of the community would do. As I age, I pay a little more attention to politics (still not as much as I should), and have become more concerned about the direction of the UCP. Personally, I am just at a point where I can't invest my time into it - the fighting, mud slinging, overspending, you do this while I do that - it's just so off putting and doesn't align with me at all. It feels like a weekday soap anymore.

This last election cycle, we had the Liberal or NDP candidate (can't remember which) no show - so how do you even take another party seriously?

We live in one of the greatest (yet smallest communities) in all of Alberta - where a neighbour is diagnosed with cancer in the middle of harvest, and 30 combines are at his door the next day to help them finish. Our little local grocery store has 30-40 volunteers come in and do inventory on their own time from 7 pm to 2 am, or every Thursday at lunch drop in to help unload produce. Neighbours drive by and see your cow out, and put it in for you without thinking twice.

Find me, and others, a party that represents those values - and I think you'd have a lot of people interested in hearing what they have to say. I really don't think we have that option at this moment, so the majority just do what they've always done.

I do sense there is a growing concern in rural AB with the UCP and how Kenney has mangled his reign and the pandemic. I would guess that a lot are feeling similar to me that his leadership/party isn't really aligned with the voter's values. I think the bigger concern though is, what do you do?

Vote NDP - who many felt under attack with labour bills and anti-Oil? Whether that was factual or not, that was a sentiment that the NDP needed to address and put at ease, and failed in doing so. Many in Ag are also tied into oil to help support the farm.

Vote Liberal/Green? Would really require a zeroed in effort from either group to grow a presence out here, one that I have never felt (I'd say NDP would be in this category as well to a lesser extent).

But to answer your question, hollering climate change from the mountain tops, signaling out Ag/oil as a main contributor when all we are trying to do is stay afloat - is not helpful. Show us meaningful change - help us break the packers/retail so we can increase our bottom line to lessen our footprint. Adding more tax, while taking away from our already limited profitability doesn't solve anything IMO - it makes people like me disappear, while bigger Corps. come in and take over this industry.

DISCLAIMER - I am not pretending to be a political or climate expert here either, just some random thoughts

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

Global cooling was a bad name, but there absolutely was dropping temperatures in developed areas that were reversed once air pollution measures were put in place and particulate emissions were greatly reduced.

Fair, there was never a threat of another ice age though.