[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[Barrister]

Any comments on Alberta's new Premier, Alison Redford?

She was never expected to win the thing, ran a very centrist / red Tory platform, and I gather is not on the best of terms with fellow Calgarian Steven Harper.

For whatever reason, my political involvement is 95% federal so I'm not all that up on the latest news from the Alberta PCs, but my initial reaction is that I'm not terribly impressed.  After 40+ years the PCs need a shake-up, and Redpath is certainly that, but I'm not sure that she is the right kind of shake up.

Should make for an interesting election, and certainly fights against a few Alberta stereotypes.  The leading candidates for Premier will be two women (Redpath and Smith for the Wildrose Party), and Indian born Raj Sherman for the Liberals.

[crazy canuck]

I know nothing about Alberta politics.

[Grey Fox]

I'm impress that no white guy can win a party nomination in Alberta. How terribly post-feminism of you.

[Barrister]

I'm impress that no white guy can win a party nomination in Alberta. How terribly post-feminism of you.

The NDP is the only party to have a white male as leader.

But then again, the Alberta NDP Party in general is

[Neil]

Any comments on Alberta's new Premier, Alison Redford?

She was never expected to win the thing, ran a very centrist / red Tory platform, and I gather is not on the best of terms with fellow Calgarian Steven Harper.

For whatever reason, my political involvement is 95% federal so I'm not all that up on the latest news from the Alberta PCs, but my initial reaction is that I'm not terribly impressed.  After 40+ years the PCs need a shake-up, and Redpath is certainly that, but I'm not sure that she is the right kind of shake up.

Should make for an interesting election, and certainly fights against a few Alberta stereotypes.  The leading candidates for Premier will be two women (Redpath and Smith for the Wildrose Party), and Indian born Raj Sherman for the Liberals.

No-hope candidates have a tendency to win these days.  Stelmach did it before, and even Klein was considered to be less likely to lead the PCs.  That's part of the reason that Nancy MacBeth went totally insane when Klein won.

At any rate, I'm not very hopeful.  When the first thing she does is give money to teachers, that's a bad sign.  She also got the endorsement of Friends of Medicare, which means she's committed to unchecked spending and the same old failed health care model.  Pretty much the only thing that Gary Mar said that wasn't empty was a comment about exploring two-tier health care, and he was forced to backtrack on it.  She was elected by women and Red Tories, which doesn't fill me with confidence.  Still, maybe she'll do some good and cut off the Keystone XL pipeline.  We'll see.  She's been a non-entity in the party and the legislature, so she might have difficulty doing anything overly radical.

[Neil]

I'm impress that no white guy can win a party nomination in Alberta. How terribly post-feminism of you.

The NDP is the only party to have a white male as leader.

But then again, the Alberta NDP Party in general is

They're the only real opposition party we have, so they deserve some small amount of respect.

[Barrister]

Any comments on Alberta's new Premier, Alison Redford?

She was never expected to win the thing, ran a very centrist / red Tory platform, and I gather is not on the best of terms with fellow Calgarian Steven Harper.

For whatever reason, my political involvement is 95% federal so I'm not all that up on the latest news from the Alberta PCs, but my initial reaction is that I'm not terribly impressed.  After 40+ years the PCs need a shake-up, and Redpath is certainly that, but I'm not sure that she is the right kind of shake up.

Should make for an interesting election, and certainly fights against a few Alberta stereotypes.  The leading candidates for Premier will be two women (Redpath and Smith for the Wildrose Party), and Indian born Raj Sherman for the Liberals.

No-hope candidates have a tendency to win these days.  Stelmach did it before, and even Klein was considered to be less likely to lead the PCs.  That's part of the reason that Nancy MacBeth went totally insane when Klein won.

At any rate, I'm not very hopeful.  When the first thing she does is give money to teachers, that's a bad sign.  She also got the endorsement of Friends of Medicare, which means she's committed to unchecked spending and the same old failed health care model.  Pretty much the only thing that Gary Mar said that wasn't empty was a comment about exploring two-tier health care, and he was forced to backtrack on it.  She was elected by women and Red Tories, which doesn't fill me with confidence.  Still, maybe she'll do some good and cut off the Keystone XL pipeline.  We'll see.  She's been a non-entity in the party and the legislature, so she might have difficulty doing anything overly radical.

Why do you want to cut off Keystone XL?

So what do you think of Wildrose?  I'm intrigued, but haven't made up my mind if they're the usual Alberta whackos that can only pretend to be sane for so long before the entire project blows up...

[Malthus]

Should make for an interesting election, and certainly fights against a few Alberta stereotypes.  The leading candidates for Premier will be two women

If Alaska can have a female governor, Alberta can have a female premier. 

[Neil]

Why do you want to cut off Keystone XL?

I'm in favour of more refining being done here, rather than exporting those jobs.  I'm concerned that existing upgraders and refineries will be in danger of closing their doors and they'll simply ship the oil and bitumen to the enormous refineries in the US.

So what do you think of Wildrose?  I'm intrigued, but haven't made up my mind if they're the usual Alberta whackos that can only pretend to be sane for so long before the entire project blows up...

I'm seriously doubtful as to their legitimacy.  Most of the Wildrose types I talk to are free market warriors, which means that I really don't want them running the province.

[viper37]

Break the law, get your own HQ
Wonderful

http://afewtastefulsnaps.net/?p=1284

    Commissioner Nadon was aware of the violation of provincial laws and municipal by-laws as a result of physical surveillance activities, including speeding, the use of fabricated identification documents and the use of false licence plates. Yet Mr. Nadon took no steps to stop those practices, which he knew to be illegal. He was also aware of the practices of registering in hotels under false names and entering garages in order to determine the presence of target vehicles, although he was uncertain as to the legality of those practices. We accept that he had no knowledge that documents or licence plates were being manufactured by the R .C.M.P. themselves. With respect to such practices he ought to have made the necessary inquiries to determine whether they were legal . Mr. Nadon's failure to stop practices which he knew to be illegal and his failure to determine the legality of those practices as to which he was uncertain as to their legality were unacceptable. (bold type = mine).

And who was the target for this? Dangerous criminals? Italian mafia? KGB spies? No.   Parti Québécois members.

[HVC]

And who was the target for this? ... Italian mafia? ... Parti Québécois members.

Seems like one in the same

[Grey Fox]

And who was the target for this? ... Italian mafia? ... Parti Québécois members.

Seems like one in the same

Nah, the Mafia members are Liberal Party partisans.

[viper37]

Besides, Italians are federalists.  They can't vote for a seperatist party

[HVC]

My mistake. i thought all quebec politicians were criminals

[HVC]

to be fair ontario has its fair share to. The mayor of Mississauga (for the last 30 odd years) just went through some sort of inquiry becasue she was basically strong arming peple into selling land to her son so he could develope it and make a killing. She'll still win by a land slide. LAst time she didn't even bother to compaign and won.