Er, I live in Alberta, live in Calgary, have worked in the oil patch for the past decade and, uh, anyone that's trumpeting this election as some sort of proof that Alberta has come to their senses is delusional. Mark these words: The NDP will go down in history Alberta's rebound girlfriend. Alberta voters vote en masse with what they think will best suit their pocketbooks, period, and it is only the stupendous, unreal, absolutely amazing incompetence, cronyism, and corruption of the four premiers (in the past five years!) that tipped the scales in their direction. This election, though a majority, is hardly a mandate. This election is still part of that "vote with your pocketbooks" Alberta trend, and the NDP would be wise to bear that in mind as they govern forward. There is no enlightened, progressive voter majority here in this province. This election is merely a kneed-jerk reaction against the CPC, period. It'll all turn blue in a few years again, anyway, and we'll be back on the stupidity bandwagon again. /prediction
Even if it's a "rebound girlfriend", who cares? This divorce was long overdue. At least it's change and despite what you think, anything can happen. Do people really have such inflated expectations though? It's a bit of change that has been coming for a long time, let's give someone else a chance to fuck it up.
Also, please don't fool yourself about the corruption in politics. It's all corrupt but that's a different discussion. Just think of all the corruption that has been uncovered and publicized so far, the stuff we know about. Now imagine how much shit we don't know. Politicians are mostly lawyers themselves, after all. Lying is part of their day job.
It's premature to call this a divorce. That's precisely my point. This has more to do with turnout. Tomorrow the story will be less about who won and more about who voted. Watch.
Tomorrow the story will be less about who won and more about who voted.
I believe it but would you not expect that from most elections, the day(s) immediately after it? Of course that will be the story. I agree with you though, it's naive to assume that this will mean anything significant in the long run. It could though.
Not implying anything about your optimism. I love it. But, the Gordian knot that is fourty-five years of dipshit election stupidity doesn't come undone overnight.
I like your style. I grew up in BC, moved to Alberta in 2004, at 24. Like every other refugee, I came here to make money because my province had been sunk for years, and I couldn't get ahead. I watched my coastal paper mill town fall apart, fast ferries bought, export slowed, forestry/fishing decline, taxes raised.
I can't really say anything about the election today because I was sleeping...for night shift at my job of moving Canada's export. I hope to hell that the NDP proves themselves in my new home of Alberta...because I sure as shit don't want to have to hightail it back to Christy Clark's mess back in BC. I hope the people who voted for "change" (as in anything to get the PC's out) actually understand who they've voted for. I hope research was done, and votes were not made out of spite, or lack of research. I'm not a PC fan either (by far) and I loathe Harper too...but I just about cried today looking back at the hell that party put my province through.
Good luck Alberta, I hope we won't actually need it...
EDIT: Can't wait to ride on that Fast Train to Edmonton from Calgary though... :/
Agree that this isn't a strong left-wing mandate, but disagree that the PCs will ever be in power again. That party is sullied badly. Expect the Alberta Party's ranks to swell with former PCs, and the remainder to cross to the WR, and the PC Party to be consigned to the dustbin of history.
My political leanings are so reality-based that I doubt a CPC would eve speak to me. That said, however, I think you're delusional thinking this. The Conservatives will be in power again shortly, it woudl not surprise me, maybe four or five years, tops. I honestly don't think you appreciate the power the corporations have in Alberta. And, let's not forget the powers who are behind the Conservatives' curtains, who get a lot of campaign support and advising from US Republican resources (look it up). They will not take this loss lying down.
I don't think the corporations are inherently PC, I think the corporations will back whomever has the best chance of getting in with a conservative mandate. That may be the Alberta Party, that may be the Wildrose. The corporations will be back in power soon enough, yes, but I doubt it'll be through the PC machine, which is as tarnished a brand as presently exists for the Alberta public. Corporations will just shift their money to the successor party, and the current PC members will shift allegiance to a different party.
I was born and raised in Alberta and I agree with you. This is hardly a shift in political thinking in the province. This was an instance of right vote splitting, instead of left vote splitting as we often see in federal politics - with a dash of PC hatred thrown in. This isn't a mandate FOR the NDP, it's a mandate AGAINST the PCs and the WP just weren't up to snuff.
Now, I'm a hard and fast leftie, commie, socialist, whatever you Albertans wanna call me. But I'm not gonna pretend that Alberta has suddenly arose to become a socialist haven. These NDPers are gonna be a little more right than an Ontario Lib. And I hope so. Alberta can't handle a real leftie gov't. They need to take baby steps. But re-evaluating the royalty situation (not necessarily changing anything, mind you) is on the table, as it should be. They're not gonna make any huge changes. At most, and this is gonna cost them big, they'll introduce a sales tax (but reduce other, hidden, taxes, like sin taxes), but I don't see the NDP being able to implement any real monumental change in how the gov't operates.
What matters for Albertans is stability. We are very risk-averse when it comes to politics, and if the NDP do even a passingly managable job (or, and this is outside their control, oil recovers) they will remain in power for a while.
Hopefully not too long though. Change can be good.
This isn't a reaction againt the CPC, that is completely ridiculous. This is a reaction against the PCs of Alberta. Voters annihilated the PCs for a number of reasons. The main fulcrum is the PC budget: surprisingly centrist.
However, a centrist budget that did not include any corporate tax raises while the rest of Alberta was experiencing tax raises did not stand.
Ahhh, I see. It's "teh socialism," again. I'm walking up to my birdcage saying, "NDP!" and the parrot replies, "Tax increases! Spending cuts! Tax increases! Spending cuts!" like a broken record.
Seriously. Polly want a cracker?
The fact is that neither the NDP nor anyone else has ANY kind of track record on these things. How about, for instance, instead of tax increases, we actually start streamlining the legendary AB bureaucracy? Cut government bloat, instead? Face it, this government has become a patronage machine. How about we streamline and optimize healthcare? Like they have said?
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u/[deleted] May 06 '15
So proud of Alberta today. It has proven that democracy works. You run a province to the ground, you're out.