ALBERTA: Provincial Elections!

[PRC]

I took the quotes from the home pages  / leader pages of the parties websites. 

Option 7 is the Progressive Conservatives.

[Drakken]

I took the quotes from the home pages  / leader pages of the parties websites. 

Option 7 is the Progressive Conservatives.

So the Progressive Conservatives are Alberta's party of separatists? 

[Neil]

I call rigged polling : the Progressive Conservative Party is not available. 

  He's right!

Fixed.

[PRC]

Thanks... this is the Alberta Elections site where you can learn more about the parties and their candidates: http://www.elections.ab.ca/Public%20Website/603.cfm

[Barrister]

If anyone's curious there's a CBC "Voting compass" where you answer a series of questions, then it compares your answers to the 4 parties.

It placed me somewhere between Wildrose and the PCs, being somewhat closer to the PCs.  Which probably sounds about right.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/albertavotes2012/features/votecompass.html

[PRC]

Wildrose seems to be polling pretty good in Calgary and they've got all the "water cooler" talk in the offices around me.

[Syt]

If anyone's curious there's a CBC "Voting compass" where you answer a series of questions, then it compares your answers to the 4 parties.

It placed me somewhere between Wildrose and the PCs, being somewhat closer to the PCs.  Which probably sounds about right.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/albertavotes2012/features/votecompass.html

According to that I have a 76% match with the Liberals.

[Barrister]

If anyone's curious there's a CBC "Voting compass" where you answer a series of questions, then it compares your answers to the 4 parties.

It placed me somewhere between Wildrose and the PCs, being somewhat closer to the PCs.  Which probably sounds about right.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/albertavotes2012/features/votecompass.html

According to that I have a 76% match with the Liberals.

You suck.

[Syt]

 

[Habbaku]

68% match with the Wildrose Hottie.  Voted for her.

[Barrister]

We had our first minor scandal during the campaign.  Launched from Twitter.

A tweet was sent out questioning why, if Smith is so pro-family, she doesn't have any kids.  WRP's response is that her and her husband have tried, including seeing a fertility specialist, but haven't been able to conceive.  Tweeter turns out to work for the PCs and has been let go from his position.

[Habbaku]

How much of a real difference is there between the PC and the WRP?

[crazy canuck]

How much of a real difference is there between the PC and the WRP?

The buses.  That and the WRP apparently wants to bribe the people.

[Maximus]

How much of a real difference is there between the PC and the WRP?

My semi-outsider's impression is that Wild Rose is the PC's base showing dissatisfaction with the PC leadership's complacency.

[Neil]

So, here's the straight dope on all the parties:

The Liberals - They've decided to go all-in on health care.  Their leader is an MD and former Conservative MLA who was booted out of the party for criticizing the government's health policy, and they do have a bit of traction there, because health care is always a problem in every society.  Still, they're crippled by the 'Liberal' brand, and by their long-standing ties with the Alberta Teachers Association, the most hated union in the province.  The ATA is currently in a quiet period, but the last decade and change has been all about labour unrest for them, and their aggressive policies turned most of the province against them.  Unfortunately for the Liberals, they were with the ATA every step of the way.  They're in trouble, because a lot of the ridings that they relied upon for votes are in Edmonton, where NDP-voting has been gaining popularity.  Because I don't care about health care, I pretty much ignore these guys.

The NDP - They're the NDP.  Popular with college kids and the mentally ill, they're good advocates for some issues.  They're pushing the Liberals out of their traditional lefty strongholds in Alberta, but they're no threat to anyone.  They'd destroy the province if they got into government, just like they destroy every province they govern.  These guys are going to be what they always are.  2-5 seat tops.

The Alberta Party - Totally irrelevant.  Split off from the Liberals in an effort to ditch a toxic brand, something that had been done successfully in Saskatchewan and BC.  However, nobody went with them, and the best leadership candidate they could find was the mayor of Hinton, a small town near the Rockies.  They haven't had any interesting ideas, and as far as I can tell, the only thing they stand for is being elected.  They won't win a seat.

The Social Credit - Totally irrelevant.  The only people who even know who these guys are are the oldsters, and in a province full of young people here to work, they don't have a chance.

The Communists - They also have a woman leader (who is not even a little hot), and they do about as well as you would expect a communist party to do in North America.

The Evergreens - The rump of the old Green Party that fell apart due to lack of interest.  Becaue they're Greens, and as such are devoted to the destruction of Alberta's economy, their main constituency consists of a few weird hippies in the cities and ultra-right wing farmers who hate the oil industry.

The Separation Party - Totally irrelevant.  The election of the Conservatives to a majority government at the federal level has pretty much shut these guys up.  Also, the Wildrose is gobbling up the right-wing kooks that would normally fill their ranks.  If these guys manage more than a thousand votes province-wide, I'd be shocked.

The Wildrose - They'll probably win.  They have a young, well-spoken and charismatic leader whose party reflects the viewpoints of large swathes of Albertans.  However, these guys are free-marketeers, and deregulation has been a disaster in Alberta.  They also want to cut everybody a $300 cheque, which tells me that they're fiscally irresponsible.  I don't trust them with government.  They talk about property rights and choice in education, which is usually the sign of nutbars.

The PCs - The dynasty is crumbling, part of which is Redford's fault and part of which isn't.  They've been dead in the water in terms of direction and policy since the late Klein years, but Redford won the PC leadership contest with the help of the hated teachers union.  Some high-profile issues with MLAs getting their hand caught in the public purse, health care woes coupled with the governments attempts to coerce MDs into not speaking up about them and the government's plans to raise electricity rates that they already tripled via deregulation have hurt her, but all that might be survivable if it wasn't for the impression that she's just a Liberal who joined the Tories because she wanted to be in government.