Alberta Election 2012: Summary

Alison Redford, Alberta's first elected female Premier!

Danielle Smith, Alberta's new opposition leader!

       On Monday Albertans made their final decisions on who to vote for, and the Progressive Conservatives came out on top, winning the party's 12th majority government in a row! In case you haven't already heard the results, the PCs won 61 seats, the Wildrose 17, the Liberals 5, and the NDP 4.

       Wildrose supporters are naturally disappointed that their party did not get elected into government, and many are angry at the results. I saw some fairly undignified comments on facebook last night (the funniest and most ridiculous one being "ugh redford isn't fit to run a hotdog stand"). Thankfully, Wildrose leader Danielle Smith remained very positive in her post-election speech. As a Wildrose supporter, I too am taking a positive view of this election – it is too bad that the PCs were not ousted from government, but I consider this election a victory for the Wildrose nonetheless. The party will get a chance to gain some experience and the trust of Albertans before (hopefully) coming into office in the next election (in 2016).

       I am no fan of the Progressive Conservative party; however, Premier Redford is an experienced and relatively competent leader. Because of this, I am proud to have her as my province's first elected female premier (by the way, the CBC has a good profiles on all the party leaders in their Alberta Votes 2012 feature). Many of the PC's votes were probably from Liberal and NDP supporters who decided to vote for the PC party in order to keep the Wildrose party out of power. Despite this "strategic voting", four former cabinet ministers lost their seats in the election, showing that although the party was elected, there are a large number of Albertans who are discontent with the PCs.

       The Alberta Liberal Party declined in popularity this election, winning five seats (down from 8 before the election). The party's leader, Raj Sherman, was elected as a Progressive Conservative in 2008 but was soon kicked out of caucus for publicly criticizing the PC's health care policy. Fortunately for Mr. Sherman, many of his constituents decided to vote for him again, and he was re-elected (although only by 118 votes).

       The Alberta New Democratic Party (NDP) ran a successful campaign and were rewarded with four seats (up from a mere two seats before the election). Their leader Brian Mason was among those elected. From his performance at the leaders debate, Mr. Mason seems like a strong leader and I believe he will be a good voice to have in the Legislature.

       The new Alberta Party (yes, they don't have the most original name) failed to get a seat in the Legislature, but their leader Glenn Taylor is trying to stay positive, telling the press, "I feel we accomplished what we set out to. Our goal was to introduce ourselves to Albertans, and from that perspective, it was a smashing success."

       Voter turnout was a marginally successful 57%, up from the measly 41% of voters who bothered to cast a ballot in the last election.

       I was happy to hear that some of my favourite MLAs were re-elected, specifically Rob Anderson (a Wildrose MLA who gained my support after standing up for diversity in education choices in a recent Education Act debate) and Doug Griffiths (my favourite candidate in the PC leadership election last year).

       This election is a step in the right direction, but not as big a step as many Albertans had hoped for. I will conclude with a quote from Danielle Smith, regarding the election results: “Am I surprised? Yeah. Am I disappointed? Yeah. Am I discouraged? Not a chance.”

Alberta Election 2012

Alberta is going to the polls on Monday, April 23, and there are five major parties contending for seats in the Legislature:

The Progressive Conservatives have been in power since 1971, winning majority governments in the last 11 provincial elections! The leader of the PC Party (and our current Premier) is Alison Redford, who was elected by the party in October of last year.

The Liberal Party is the official opposition, holding 8 seats going into this election. Albertans in general are famous for their vehement anti-Liberal sentiments, and the Alberta Liberals have not been in power since 1921! The leader of this unfortunate party is Raj Sherman.

The Wildrose Party hasn't been around for long (its origins go back to 2007), but it has already gained lots of support from Albertans fed up with the PC Party's long reign. According to a recent poll the Wildrose is likely to win a majority government in the upcoming election! Their leader is Danielle Smith.

The New Democratic Party (NDP) has 2 seats in the Legislature and is hoping to gain more this election. On their website they say, "We believe that it’s time that Alberta’s prosperity, drawn from our shared natural resource wealth, worked for all Albertans, not just a select few." Their leader is Brian Mason.

The Alberta Party describes themselves on their website as "a new political movement dedicated to transforming government through citizen engagement." According to polls, they are unlikely to get a seat in the upcoming election. Their leader is Glenn Taylor.

***

Note: When I wrote this post, I decided to endorse the Wildrose Party for the reasons listed below. However, I have since resolved to no longer endorse any political party on this blog.

1. They've pledged to take numerous steps to increase democracy and accountability in provincial politics.

2. They acknowledge that there are good alternatives to public schools (e.g. Catholic schools, private schools, and homeschooling) and have decided "to foster a culture of educational choice, innovation and competition."

3. The party has decided to support "private health care for certain procedures as a way to alleviate long waiting times" (as reported by the Globe and Mail). They also say they will remain dedicated to "fixing" the the public health care system.

4. They want to balance the budget. I quote from their website: "Albertans work hard, pay their taxes, and live within their means – and they expect their government to do the same." I just hope they don't make too many cuts (and I'm not convinced that their idea to send cheques back to Albertans in surplus years is a good idea).

5. They support "conscious rights", which allows "public servants to opt-out of providing services they consider morally objectionable. This could allow a marriage counsellor to refuse to wed same-sex couples or a doctor to refuse to prescribe birth-control" (as reported by the National Post).

6. The Wildrose Party is the only party with enough support to dethrone the PC Party, which has dominated provincial politics for over 40 years.

Slave Lake (and Manitoba)

     

   374 houses destroyed and 52 damaged, was the official word today on the out of control wildfire that devastated Slave Lake on Sunday. Officials released a map (above) showing which homes were destroyed, which ones were damaged, and which ones were ok. Luckily there wasn't as much damage as some people were predicting, and no one was killed or injured! But over 400 homes is still a lot. Keep Slave Lake in your prayers, people.

   But as new disasters come, people seem to forget the last ones. There was Indonesia (well, that was a while ago), Haiti, New Zealand, then Japan soon after, and many other disasters in between which I'm sure I've forgotten about, which in a way proves my point. Anyways, we mustn't forget Manitoba. Thousands of people were evacuated, and it is still flooding. The good news there though is that the controlled dike break (Q: Do the ends justify the means?) which was expected to impact hundreds of homes actually didn't do that much damage and apparently none of the homes in the dike break area were flooded! :D
I couldn't help thinking that we could use some of that extra Manitoba water in Slave Lake...

Ed

Congratulations to Ed Stelmach, the honourable Premier of Alberta, for his 25 years of service to our province!

Edmonton Journal Story

Vegreville: The Land of Opportunity

My town is very exciting :P

Warning: Cookies can be hazardous to your job

If you don't know the story, click here for the Globe and Mail article

   The CEO of the Alberta healthcare system, Stephen Duckett, has gotten fired for eating a cookie?! Are you serious? This is officially the first time in history someone has gotten fired for eating a cookie. But I want to know where he got that cookie - it must've been really good!! Apparently it was an oatmeal and raisin. Well, I'm still not sure why he got fired... Premier Stelmach said his behaviour was quite offensive. This is probably also the first time someone has called the words "I'm eating my cookie" offensive. No one has to talk to the media every time they are approached - I think that Mr. Duckett just found a creative way of saying "no comment". The media should have just backed off when it was clear he didn't want to talk, instead of following him around for two blocks, harassing him.
   He even issued an apology for the "incident", saying, "We had made a decision earlier that Dr. Eagle would provide comments to the media after the session... regrettably, I did not convey what I deeply feel, which is the greatest respect for the difficult challenges our health care providers face every day". But it was to no avail, he still got sacked.

   Boy, am I glad I don't work for the Alberta government! On the bright side, Mr. Duckett's now in a warmer, more forgiving climate - Australia.

   Well, happy Thanksgiving to all you Americans, and Merry November 25th, everybody! Click "follow" or "subscribe" on da left, and feed the fish!

   Some links on "Cookiegate" below:

   Mr. Duckett's Blog

   The infamous cookie video
   Bob Layton's funny song about cookiegate

A Blog

I'm a sk8er boy from the giant metropolis of Vegreville, Alberta, Canada! This is our famous easter egg! ☟

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   What will I talk about in my blog? Well, I'm a pundit, so some politics is in order- Albertan, Canadian, and international politics! Am I left or right wing? Label me what you want! I'm a Christian ✟ so some stuff about that. Oh, of course I'll have to talk about sk8ing. As you can see, I've already posted a little bit on World War II. And I'll have to tell you all about how crazy it is to live in a tiny town famous only for it's perogies and giant pysanka (easter egg), especially since I'm not Ukrainian! Luckily, I'm a bit crazy ;)


Hang on for the ride, this is going 2B interesting! While you're waiting for my next post, feed the fish☟listen to some gr8 music ☞ or read a little about the biggest war in history ☝