ALBERTA: Provincial Elections!

[Admiral Yi]

I think the occasional creation and extinction of political parties is a good thing; competition in the marketplace of ideas and politics is generally healthy. Not sure why you're comparing it to Africa specifically; that seems both strangely specific and strangely broad at the same time.

I was looking for a place that had parties appear and disappear frequently.  My first thought was Latin America, but I think they tend to stick with "Conservative" and "Liberal." 

[Barrister]

I think the occasional creation and extinction of political parties is a good thing; competition in the marketplace of ideas and politics is generally healthy. Not sure why you're comparing it to Africa specifically; that seems both strangely specific and strangely broad at the same time.

I was looking for a place that had parties appear and disappear frequently.  My first thought was Latin America, but I think they tend to stick with "Conservative" and "Liberal."

I don't think there's any place in the world with a more-or-less democratic system of government that has seen a pattern like Alberta, where the governing party tends to be replaced by a new party that is broadly pretty similar, with the old party to then wither away and die.

I think Yi knows this, but since Alberta was created in 1905 our governing parties have been:

Liberal Party: 1905-1921
United Farmers of Alberta: 1921-1935
Social Credit: 1935-1971
Progressive Conservative: 1971-present

For what its worth the Liberals and Social Credit haven't disappeared completely.  Liberals have almost always been the official opposition  (though not really ever competitive enough to win), and the SoCreds continue to exist as a fringe party.  Heck even the UFA still exists, but not as a political party.

[Jacob]

I was looking for a place that had parties appear and disappear frequently.  My first thought was Latin America, but I think they tend to stick with "Conservative" and "Liberal."

Once every few decades doesn't strike me as particularly frequent. Denmark and Israel have that sort of thing going as well.

[Malthus]

Do you guys think that resembling Africa in the creation and extintion of political parties is a good thing or a bad thing?

Generally a good thing. Avoids the "I voted for Kodos!" quality of the US style system, with two seemingly eternal parties. 

[crazy canuck]

The Wild Rose leader has Hans writing her script on climate change. Her party is full of bigots and homophobes.  When she wins the migration from Alberta to this province will further support housing prices here.  Thank you BB and thank you Preston Manning.

Yeah, wish they'd tale a better stance on climate change than the "science is not yet settled" line.

Totally disagree about the 'bigots and homophobes' line.

Ok, perhaps it is only a candidate who has won a nomination that is a bigot and a homophobe.  But one wonders who voted for him in the nomination meeting.

And then there is the would be Premier's actions in defending these kinds of comments as an issue of separation between Church and State?!?!  One wonders why she tolerates this sort of thing.

EDMONTON - Allan Hunsperger, 64, is the Wildrose candidate in the new riding of Edmonton Southwest. According to his party website, he's a broadcaster, businessman, sports fan, and a leader in Alberta's Christian private school movement.

The website fails to mention he's also pastor at an evangelical church in Tofield, The House.

It also neglects to say that Hunsperger is an unabashed old-school homophobe who makes Rick Santorum look like a drag queen at a Pride Parade.

Last June, a few months before Hunsperger secured a Wildrose nomination, he published a pastoral letter on his church website, attacking the Edmonton public school board as "godless" and "wicked" and "profane," condemning the district's recent measures to protect gay and lesbian students and staff from discrimination. Hunsperger sees homosexuality as Satan's trap. Homosexuals who don't change, he writes, "will suffer the rest of eternity in the lake of fire, hell, a place of eternal suffering."

"Warning people not to live the way they were born is not judgment or condemnation — it is love!" Hunsperger writes. "Accepting people the way they are is cruel and not loving."

Ironically, Hunsperger's party leader seems quite content to accept the pastor just the way he is.

"If Mr. Hunsperger were making those comments at a political forum, sure, I'd have something to say about it," Danielle Smith told the Edmonton Journal editorial board Monday. "But he's not. He's a pastor, and it's not my role as a politician to go dictating to pastors or religious leaders the language they use when talking to their parishioners and followers. I believe in the separation of church and state."

What sophistry. Hunsperger is entitled to his personal religious beliefs. The state cannot, should not tell pastors what to preach. Within his church, Hunsperger has a constitutional right to gay-bash as much as he pleases.

But Hunsperger isn't just a pastor. He chose to stand for office. Smith's Wildrose Party chose to elect and accept him as its nominated candidate. His public comments on gay rights and school board policy are entirely relevant to voters evaluating his fitness, and the fitness of his party.

Speaking briefly with reporters Monday, Hunsperger insisted his letter only expressed his private views, not party policy.

"I love people and everybody," he said. "I have no intolerance about anybody. But I do have a personal religious view and that's what I stated in the blog."

Private views, however, are generally private. Hunsperger's post was a public attack on the moral integrity of the Edmonton public school board, specifically designed to inflame a public audience.

On Monday, Smith repeated her rote assurance that her party would not legislate on "contentious social issues."

Smith likely wouldn't be clumsy enough to try to legislate directly on issues such as abortion delisting or gay rights. But her potential cabinet would deal with all sorts of issues — from school curriculum to private school funding, from the Alberta Human Rights Act to conscience rights for public servants — where the personal views of her caucus could come into play. Before people cast ballots for Wildrose candidates, they deserve to know who and what they're getting.

On Monday, Smith declined to critique Hunsperger's writings, saying she'll work to protect Albertans with strong religious views from state persecution.

"I'm not going to be the sort of politician who engages in discrimination against religious candidates," she said.

It's amazing rhetorical sleight-of-hand, as Smith strives to depict Hunsperger as the victim of liberal intolerance. Let's be clear. The issue isn't Hunsperger's constitutional right to his sacred beliefs. The issue is his public position that Edmonton schoolkids shouldn't be protected from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and that public schools are wicked for trying to create safe, equal classrooms. He's not the victim here. The victims are our community's children, who deserve to go to school without fear, without being told by their aspiring MLA that they're damned to eternal torment because of who they are.

Danielle Smith is asking Albertans for our trust. This was an opportunity for her to show moral leadership, to stand up for children's' rights and against homophobic bullying. Sadly, she forfeited that chance.

"Leadership is not a position as much as it is a responsibility. Leadership is not pushing, controlling, or manipulating. It is leading with others choosing to follow or not. Leaders will be judged more strictly than those who follow."

Those aren't my words. They're the words of Pastor Allan Hunsperger, from another of his online sermons. Words, perhaps, Danielle Smith might want to take to heart.

[Neil]

Faggot nonsense.

[Barrister]

A lot of people have moral and religious objections to homosexuality.  I'm not particularily troubled by the comments.

And in fact I live in that dude's riding.  So I guess that's who I'll vote for.

You did cause me to look at the individual riding candidates though.  Hunsperger is clearly a career bible-thumper, involved in private Christian schools and religious radio stations.  Not a huge fan of that background.

But the PC candidate looks to be a wanna-be career politician.  Since graduating from university 8 years ago he has worked in various PC minister's offices.  Also not a huge fan.

I'll stick with Wildrose.

[Maximus]

I think the regular destruction of political parties is probably essential, certainly beneficial to healthy democracy.

I wouldn't go that far.  After all on the Federal scene the Liberals trace themselves right back to Confederation, as do the Conservatives (albeit with a couple of mergers and name changes along the way), and even the NDP has a heritage going back 80 years.

All of which doesn't contradict my statement.

Heck even the UFA still exists, but not as a political party.

The only former political party to survive as a farm supply store?

[Barrister]

The only former political party to survive as a farm supply store?

You have to love this province. 

[Malthus]

The only former political party to survive as a farm supply store?

Sneed's Feed and Seed (formerly Chuck's)?

[crazy canuck]

So I guess that's who I'll vote for.

You are dead to me.

[Barrister]

The only former political party to survive as a farm supply store?

Sneed's Feed and Seed (formerly Chuck's)?

Uh, no.  They are cleverly named as the United Farmers of Alberta (or just UFA).

It's just that most gas stations / farm supply stores don't have a history of being a political party to boot.

[Admiral Yi]

Is it still owned by the political party?

[Barrister]

Is it still owned by the political party?

It's the same organization.  The UFA formed as a farmer's lobby group, formed a political wing in the 20s, won government, lost government, dissolved the political wing, then morphed into a farmer's co-operative.  But it's always been the same organization.

[Barrister]

So I guess that's who I'll vote for.

You are dead to me.

Who would you have me vote for, and why?