Alberta Election (23 Apr 12)

[a_majoor]

Interestig perspective on the Wildrose Alliance platform. As commenters on the blog note, this is about as libertarian as you are going to get WRT voter preference. Now if the Wildrose Alliance is successful in forming a government and the Albertan economy continues to be successful, other provincial parties may start looking for inspiration in this platform as well:

http://freedomnation.blogspot.ca/2012/04/how-libertarian-is-wildroses-platform.html

How libertarian is the Wildrose's platform?

Much has been made of Danielle Smith in libertarian circles. She is a professed libertarian, which has led to some libertarians looking towards her with exaggerated hope and others dismissing her as a sellout (the usual libertarian pattern). She may be a libertarian but she is also a politician and she faced the kind of incentives that all politicians face, she wants to be elected. So I won’t condemn her as a sellout nor will I place all my hopes and dreams in her hands. Instead I’ve decided to take a good hard look at her party’s platform to answer the question: how libertarian is the Wildrose’s platform?

Of course my first problem is in defining a libertarian policy. The label libertarian in the political sphere contains surprisingly large differences in policy positions. Also there are a number of policy positions that I approve of that can’t really be called libertarian per se. So a precise definition is needed.

After some thought I decided on this as a definition for a libertarian policy: A policy that increases the individual’s ability to make decisions and take responsibility without interference from the state.

This is not a perfect definition but I think it is a fair working definition. If anyone has any suggestions for a better definition I’m all ears.

Bellow I’m going to list the policies that fit my definition of a libertarian policy. I will also list the policies that are anti-libertarian, that is a policy that decreases the individual’s ability to make decisions and take responsibility without interference from the state.

Libertarian policies

Enact effective property rights legislation to provide more certainty to farmers and ranchers about their access to and use of land, water, and other private property.

Leave the development of agricultural marketing in the hands of industry. This will ensure that marketing initiatives are based on market forces.

Work with the federal government to change the emphasis of their current trade policies to ensure access to world markets for Canadian farm products.

Legislate a cap on year-over-year increases in overall government spending to the rate of inflation plus population growth.

Institute ‘pay-as-you-go’ legislation which means that any in-year nonbudgeted expenditures approved during that same budget year (excepting emergencies) must be offset by a corresponding decrease in the budget elsewhere.

Reduce government waste by requiring all government departments to implement a zero-based budgeting program mandating that every Ministry justify the effectiveness and efficiencies of their expenditures and programs each and every year.

Actively review and reduce the unnecessary regulatory burdens faced by most Alberta industries that harm their competitiveness with other North American jurisdictions.

Commit to proactively restoring and maintaining the most competitive tax rates in Canada for individuals and businesses; continue inflation-proofing the basic personal and spousal income tax exemption in order to maintain low taxes for all Albertans – particularly those with modest incomes.

Implement broad based tax incentives (i.e. accelerated capital cost allowance, flow through shares, etc) to stimulate research, investment and economic activity across all sectors.

End the current provincial government’s failed strategy of handing out grants to corporations of its choosing.

Review federal and provincial tax law to identify ways in which the law unfairly penalized families with children, and work to implement tax reforms that will lessen their financial burdens

Strengthen Alberta’s human rights legislation to unequivocally protect the freedom of speech of all Albertans. This will include the repeal of section 3 in Alberta’s current human rights legislation. The Legislation will maintain the criminal code standard of banning speech that advocates for acts of violence or genocide against any individual or identifiable group.

Pass an Alberta Property Rights Preservation Act that will entrench property rights protection in law. Existing legislation provides for compensation only when title is formally taken by expropriation, but not for property partially taken or devalued through government regulation. This Act will address this omission and ensure that all landowners have recourse to the courts to protect their rights.

Repeal Bills 19, 24, and 36. Replace the current “Land Use Framework” with one that better protects the rights of landowners and respects the role of locally elected and accountable municipal councils.

Enshrine basic property rights in the current Alberta Bill of Rights and spearhead a national initiative to add property rights protection to Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The proposed Charter amendment would enshrine the principle that everyone has the right to life, liberty, security of the person, and enjoyment of property, and that no private property shall be taken for public use, without full, fair and timely compensation.

Ensure that all Albertans are entitled to the right of appeal for firearms confiscation orders as well as the right to fair and timely compensation when legally owned firearms are confiscated from law-abiding gun owners.

Anti-libertarian policies

Albertans already pay among the highest tuition rates in the country. We’ll ensure that tuition does not increase beyond inflation
We’ll work with the Federal Government to expand tuition and other education-related tax credits and also use tax credits to promote donations to scholarship, research, and university endowment funds.

For trades and professions Alberta has a shortage of, we will use loan forgiveness strategies to keep graduates working in the province

Bring Alberta’s film industry back to life by implementing a generous tax credit regime comparable to other successful North American jurisdictions. [note that this contradicts one of the libertarian policies]

Increase the charitable tax credit for donations to non-profit groups (including organizations that fund arts and culture) to be at least as or more generous than the tax credit given for political contributions. [This is arguably libertarian but given my definition I have marked it as anti-libertarian]

Promote stay-in-Alberta tourism through an industry sponsored rewards program such as the, Stamp-Around-Alberta initiative, for visiting multiple attractions across the province.

Provide tax incentives to promote research and investment in the development of competitive technologies that will enhance recovery of conventional crude oil and natural gas, value-added sectors, and environmental protection

Encourage the transition from coal burning to natural gas for electricity generation

Work aggressively with the federal government to allow for income splitting between parents

Introduce a volunteer tax credit for non-profits to attract and reward volunteers.

Would I say this was a libertarian platform? No, I wouldn’t, but I would say that there are some definite libertarian elements. As someone who has spent a lot of time reading a lot of party platforms this is one of the more libertarian platforms that I have seen.

How libertarian is it really? Well it is difficult to quantify but from my perspective the anti-libertarian policies are pretty mild. At the same time some of the libertarian policies are pretty important stuff. Overall, therefore, I would be willing to give the Wildrose Alliance a B+ for the libertarian content in its platform.

 

[ModlrMike]

She is a professed libertarian, which has led to some libertarians looking towards her with exaggerated hope and others dismissing her as a sellout (the usual libertarian pattern).

Substitute any other political persuasion for libertarian and the shoe still fits.


All in all a pretty good assessment. I think the author proceeds from the mistaken belief that Canadian political notions can be defined by definitions coined elsewhere. Libertarian, conservative, liberal, socialist all have their own uniquely Canadian flavour that differs from the classic concept.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Part 1 of 2

Here, in two parts, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the Globe and Mail is a lengthy profile of Danielle Smith:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/alberta-election/danielle-smith-is-she-albertas-sarah-palin-or-the-future-of-canada/article2402264/singlepage/#articlecontent

Danielle Smith: Is she Alberta's Sarah Palin, or the future of Canada?

SYDNEY SHARPE

Calgary— From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Posted on Saturday, April 14, 2012

When she has a rare moment of leisure, Danielle Smith reads another chunk of a book called Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End.

“You can probably see why I’m interested in it,” the Leader of the Wildrose Party says with a laugh.

An entire province gets the point. Ms. Smith is widely thought to be on the verge of unseating the Progressive Conservative regime that first took office only five months after she was born on April 1, 1971. Several polls have shown Wildrose, a party formed just four years ago, to be leading Premier Alison Redford’s PCs by wide margins in southern Alberta and Calgary, and competing with it in Edmonton and the north.

The irony in Ms. Smith’s other literary interest is so obvious that she laughs again when she says: “I’m halfway through a book called Eragon. I like fantasy.”

The prospect of a Wildrose victory does seem fantastical to Albertans who have lived more than a generation with the PCs, an utterly dominant party that has always held large majorities. Only four years ago, on March 3, 2008, former premier Ed Stelmach captured 72 of 83 seats.

For her fantasy to come true a week from Monday, one faction of the old PC party must overwhelm the other. It’s a cliché, but completely true, that this is a bitter family feud. Not long ago, Ms. Smith herself was a PC; so were thousands of those who now back Wildrose enthusiastically.

The genius of the party that Peter Lougheed built in the 1960s was to contain within its walls the entire Alberta conservative movement, even when Reform and the federal Conservatives did battle until the latter’s crushing defeat in the wake of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1993.

The uneasy provincial union of right and far right endured for nearly another two decades, but started to crumble in 2009 when Mr. Stelmach moved the PCs sharply to the side of progressivism and bigger government.

Ms. Smith quit the party that year and won the Wildrose leadership in the fall. If the PCs could wish or pray just one defector back into the fold, it would be her. Less than three years after Smith made her move, the changes on the ground are so unprecedented they almost defy belief. A few days ago, I took my dog for an evening walk and as soon as I stepped out the door, I spotted a line of cars – big expensive ones and little expensive ones – lining both sides of the street for two blocks.

The attraction, it turned out, was a fundraiser being held in a big house for a Wildrose candidate named James Cole. Hundreds of people attended. Party noise gusted out every time the door opened. I stood there with our little pooch, probably gaping as I watched Alberta’s political ground shift.

Mr. Cole is running against Alison Redford in Calgary-Elbow. Until very recently, nearly all those people with chequebooks in hand would have been going to an event for the Premier.

The leaders’ debate that was held on Thursday was broadcast nationally, bringing Ms. Smith into the public eye along with Ms. Redford, the New Democrats’ Brian Mason and Raj Sherman of the Liberals. Opinions vary, of course, but for many undecided voters giving her a serious look for the first time, she appeared confident, accessible and forthright in her views as she was being hammered by the others.

Of course, she’d trained heavily and was well scripted. In one way or another, Ms. Smith has been preparing for this moment her entire life.

PIONEER ROOTS

Her critics like to characterize her as Alberta’s version of Sarah Palin, but Danielle Smith is no backwoods Barbie. Nor can she see Russia from her house, which is 107 years old and located in High River, a bedroom community southeast of Calgary, where she is running against a respected PC named John Barlow, publisher of the local paper. However, she has a Russian connection in that her great-grandfather came to Canada from Ukraine in 1915. To make his job easier, the immigration officer transformed Philipus Kolodnicki into Philip Smith.

An overachiever known for working hard, Ms. Smith says she is following in the footsteps of some strong women who came before her, such as her maternal great-grandmother. Ethel Parken was a rural teacher and not above doing whatever had to be done, including shovelling coal to heat the schoolhouse.

Relatives say the Wildrose leader has many pioneer-like qualities, such as resilience and persistence, along with the belief that change comes only from hard work, and hurdles are there to be overcome.

She also inherited much of her drive from her parents. Mother Sharon raised five children while studying first for a management certificate and later a commerce degree. She worked evenings at the post office while her husband, Doug, worked at Firestone until he, too, had a commerce degree. They both turned to jobs in the oil patch. Their tenacity wasn’t lost on their daughter.

“The family doesn’t take anything for granted,” says Elaine Smith, Sharon’s cousin. “They know the hard work of a rural life as well as a city one.”

Danielle’s first job was babysitting her younger siblings, Amber, Troy and Shane, sometimes with her older brother, Doug Jr., looking on. Then she moved to looking after neighbourhood kids. At 15 she graduated to better pay and work at the local bingo hall.

Her first interest in politics came at an early age, but from a surprising source. Inspired by her Grade 8 social science teacher, she came home extolling the virtues of communism.

Her father reminded his kids that Stalin was responsible for the deaths of millions of Ukrainians and that their great-grandfather was lucky to escape before his reign of terror began. Mr. Smith later had a few spirited words with the teacher, and then decided that everything should be open for discussion at the dinner table, especially politics. This was where his daughter learned the importance of free speech, and that facts were needed to win arguments.

A recent Wildrose campaign video features her reminiscing about those lively discussions: “The more kids there are, the more kids there are to fight with.” Today, she has persuaded every sibling save one to support Wildrose.

“I’ve got one brother I have to convince,” she says. “He has an EverGreen candidate in his riding. It’s a tough battle to get him to vote for me. The other three are very supportive.”

She enrolled at the University of Calgary to study English and political science, and was elected president of the campus Progressive Conservatives. It was like the Smith dinner table all over again, except this time her political siblings were future federal MPs Jason Kenney and Rob Anders, Sun TV pundit Ezra Levant, and Naheed Nenshi, now Calgary’s mayor.

University was also where she met her first husband, Sean McKinsley, a businessman who once worked as executive assistant to Mr. Kenney. The marriage ended in divorce, but the two remain cordial – Mr. McKinsley recently donated $5,000 to Wildrose.

The U of C also offered up two high-profile political mentors: Economist Frank Atkins and political scientist Tom Flanagan would jump-start her imagination, prompting her to look beyond preconceived political notions as she explored her free-market conservative values.

After Ms. Smith graduated, Mr. Flanagan urged her to take an internship with the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute, the high-profile conservative think tank. While at a Fraser event, she met one of her heroes, Margaret Thatcher. The former British prime minister was giving a lecture while on a sales tour for her memoir, Path to Power. Ms. Smith recalls being captivated by the woman who inspired French president François Mitterrand to comment that she had “the eyes of Stalin, the voice of Marilyn Monroe.”

Mrs. Thatcher also knew that the best way to get attention in a room full of politicians, usually male, was to lower her voice – a trick that Ms. Smith has used to avoid appearing too strident.

In 1998, at 27, the future politician returned to Calgary, ready to put her conservative views into action. She became a trustee on the Calgary Board of Education, hoping to make the board more responsive to the public, especially to parents, and far less bureaucratic.

But her conservatism clashed with the Liberal majority and hostilities ran so deep that, in August, 1999, provincial Learning Minister Lyle Oberg fired the entire board, whose own chair had described as “completely dysfunctional.”

Today, Ms. Smith acknowledges her role in the board’s public breakdown, saying she was “more strident” and “not as open-minded.” The experience, she says, provided valuable lessons in what not to do as a politician – teaching her to listen to views she doesn’t share and to be more collegial.

CAREER IN THE MEDIA

Next, Ms. Smith caught the eye of then-Calgary Herald editor Peter Menzies, who hired her as an editorial writer. She joined an editorial board made up of men and women with strong views.

The reigning personality was the formidable Catherine Ford, who strode into the boardroom in her impressive attire and even more impressive left-liberal intellect. I, too, was a member of the board, and Ms. Ford and I sometimes sat together as we often had similar views. Across sat the 29-year old Ms. Smith, who by then had learned to lower her voice, along with her hemline (it was the age of Ally McBeal), as she honed her debating skill as well as her fashion sense.

Ms. Smith was quick with her arguments and fervent in her beliefs. There were times when she and I were so far apart on issues that we might as well have been on different planets. Some of these opinions have come back to bite her. On the first day of the campaign, Ms. Redford blasted Ms. Smith’s support for legalized prostitution in a nine-year-old column.

“We’ve been prepared for that,” Ms. Smith assured me. “When your career has been in the public eye, you’re going to write some columns that are ultimately going to be raised and questioned. I fully expected that.”

She has always been libertarian on moral issues; her impulse is toward personal freedom, not legislated morality. She has expressed support in the past for de-listing abortion from medicare, but now says that as long as she’s party leader, there will never be legislation on such issues. Her government wouldn’t accept referendum questions that go against settled constitutional law, she insists, but acknowledges that some of her candidates are social conservatives who feel differently. The deal within the party, she insists, is that they all agree not to legislate on those points of contention.

“Contentious moral issues are issues that people deal with in their personal time not in their political party,” Ms. Smith said this week, under pressure from PCs trying to paint her party as extreme. “I am pro-choice and pro gay marriage, and my members of my party knew that when they elected me.”

After six years at the Herald, Ms. Smith ventured into television, as host of the national current-affairs program, Global Sunday. In 2006, she married the show’s Calgary-based producer, David Moretta.

When his wife became Wildrose leader, Mr. Moretta felt he had to leave Global Calgary, taking a national job with Sun TV. “We’ll have to talk about what he’ll do once the election is over,” says Ms. Smith. “It depends on the outcome. If I’m the opposition leader, that makes the choices easier for him.

“If I’m premier, and I hope Albertans make that choice – we’ll have to make another choice about what his next steps will be because he won’t be able to be in the media at that point.”

After her show was cancelled, she became a lobbyist, first with Alberta Property Rights Initiative and then with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). But she was really biding her time, looking for the right opportunity to finally run for political office at the provincial level.

Instead of moving further to the right with the Reform Party, she remained a committed PC supporter, secure in her belief that her views would be represented best by the legendary, decades-old government party. She finally made up her mind to run in 2008, but the riding she eyed in Calgary-North Hill didn’t materialize. Instead, it was Alison Redford who finally won her first provincial election as the MLA in Calgary-Currie, after which she became justice minister under Premier Ed Stelmach.

Now she’s finally going to have her name on a provincial ballot – but as leader of a party that was created only weeks before Mr. Stelmach won a routine majority on March 3, 2008.

In an early warning sign that the public was finally ready to consider an alternative on the right, Wildrose captured seven per cent of the vote. That didn’t translate into a seat, but the party’s founders were encouraged – and they had their eye on Ms. Smith.

Link Byfield, scion of the conservative Alberta Report publisher, Ted Byfield, was an enthusiastic Wildroser and tried to convince her to leave the PCs and run for the party leadership. She declined.

“I thought the PCs could be changed from within. I’d try to change it from inside like the Klein era deep-six did,” she explains, referring to a group of fiscally conservative MLAs who nudged then-premier Ralph Klein toward balanced budgets in the early 1990s.

That group included Mr. Stelmach who, once he replaced Mr. Klein, broke decisively with that tradition. After the economy fell off the rails in 2009, he presided over a return to deficits, the first the province had seen in 15 years. That, combined with his drive for higher oil and gas royalties – a policy that came into effect just as prices plunged – lead Ms. Smith to reconsider her loyalty.

She was also concerned about her party’s attitude toward property rights, reflected in government bills that seemed to take little account of strong feeling about ownership in rural Alberta.

“I was at the CFIB at the time, and a colleague and I were sending excerpts of (NDP leader) Brian Mason’s speeches about how important property rights were,” she says. “What a topsy-turvy time when the NDP are defending landowner rights.”

Ms. Smith’s “breaking point” with the party was its 2008 budget of double-digit spending increases along with a big dip into provincial savings to keep deficits low – artificially so, in her view.

She says she decided to leave after a meeting with PC MLA Rob Anderson in which he related how 55 members of Mr. Stelmach’s caucus had supported a particular policy position. Their unified voice was cut down when the premier overrode their decision.

“One more voice in that environment isn’t going to make a difference,” says Ms. Smith. “There’s a problem in governance.”

Then she lists her grievances: “Lack of respect for property rights; out of control spending; lack of respect for individually elected members to actually stand up and represent their constituents.

“That’s when I realized that I hadn’t left the PCs. They’d left me.”

She hadn’t turned 40 when she took the Wildrose helm in September, 2009. The party had only one member, Paul Hinman, the man who had stepped down as leader. She didn’t have a seat in the legislature, but she persuaded three PCs to cross the floor: first Mr. Anderson and former solicitor-general Heather Forsyth, then ex-municipal minister Guy Boutilier.

The floor-crossings were a sensation; nothing like it had happened since the PCs were first elected in 1971. The legislature, dominated by a giant majority, only saw the occasional trickle of movement in the government’s direction.

End of Part 1

 

[Edward Campbell]

Part 2 of 2

WILDROSE’S DREAM TEAM

Today the story is much different – the Leader is battle-ready. When Ms. Redford criticized her lack of experience during the debate Thursday night, she shot back: “I don’t have experience running deficits, I don’t have experience bullying doctors and I don’t have experience voting myself a 30-per-cent pay raise.”

She was referring to hot-button issues of the campaign: the PCs’ having booked a deficit for the fifth straight year; evidence in a report that doctors were bullied when they tried to advocate for patients; and members of the legislature being paid $1,000 a month for being on a committee that hadn’t met for three years.

The Premier’s clumsy handing of the pay issue – first saying she would wait for a report, then ordering the members to return some of the money, finally commanding them to give it all back – probably contributed more than anything else to the PC plunge in the polls. Like many smaller issues involving money, it became a poisonous symbol of many other grievances.

Wildrose members of the committee sided with the angels and gave back their money, as did the Liberals’ Mr. Sherman, who quickly wrote a cheque for $43,000. But the PC contingent has yet to say whether it has complied with its leader’s order. Because pay is controlled by the legislature as a whole, she has no formal power to compel them.

The Wildrose campaign team is led by conservative icons: The manager is her U of C mentor, Tom Flanagan, who filled the same role for another former student, Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Alongside him is businessman Cliff Fryers, Preston Manning’s former chief of staff and campaign chief for more than a decade.

For more than a year, Wildrose has shown signs of becoming a serious threat. The party raised $2.7-million in 2011, well behind the PCs’ $4.3-million, but enough to run a campaign-long advertising blitz.

Months ago, long before the election call came, the campaign team took Ms. Smith on a mini-election blitz, having compiled all kinds of expected, unexpected and what-ifs for her initiation. Crossing the province for three gruelling weeks and visiting two dozen communities, she was kept far from the comfort of home to ensure that she could withstand the constant pressure and exhaustion that comes with the real thing.

To observers who saw what was going on, it was a clear sign that Wildrose would be well organized and tough when the time came. Her performance in the polls and the debate shows a contender who doesn’t fluster and makes her points with cool authority.

Her platform distinguishes her sharply from Ms. Redford and the PCs: She calls for balancing the budget quickly, paying all Albertans an annual $300 energy dividend (instantly dubbed “Dani Bucks”) after surpluses return; allowing citizen-driven referendums and recall of politicians, creating a “Family Pack” of direct benefit to young families, and much else.

That sounds like the Reform Party to many Albertans – and it should. Ms. Smith makes no secret of her affection for Preston Manning’s movement and its modern heir, the Harper government.

And the remaining PCs, some of whom are more conservative than they’re allowed to admit, privately nod their heads.

This could account for why the spurned PCs are making every effort to build Ms. Smith’s stereotype as a “Little Alberta” politician – someone who would take the province back to earlier times, when a woman’s only door to the government party was through the Queen Bee section of the Social Credit newsletter. It consisted entirely of recipes.

“Danielle has no legislative experience, no administrative experience and no background in governing experience,” contends Ron Ghitter, the former PC senator and Lougheed-era MLA. “To run Alberta over to that level of inexperience with totally unknown people is a high-risk situation. I think it would be a backward step for Alberta.”

The brawl between the progressive form of conservatism and the reform brand has not gone unnoticed by others in the Alberta legislature.

“Wildrose people are Conservatives in a hurry,” says New Democrat member Rachel Notley, adding yet again that “this is a family fight between the PCs and the Wildrose.”

During the second week of the campaign, things got ugly when Amanda Wilkie, a young staffer in Ms. Redford’s Calgary office put up a tweet saying: “If @ElectDanielle likes young and growing families so much, why doesn’t she have children of her own? #wrp family pack = insincere.”

In the most foolish way possible, she was questioning Ms. Smith’s dedication to her proposed tax breaks for families, and the public explosion was immediate and very damaging to her own leader.

Ms. Smith responded with a cool, brief statement. She and her husband had wanted to have children but couldn’t even after consulting a fertility clinic. The fallout immediately resulted in Ms. Wilkie’s resignation, as well as a public apology and a personal phone call to Ms. Smith from Ms. Redford. Later polls suggested a quick swing of votes to Wildrose.

While some questioned whether Ms. Smith had used the incident for political advantage, I know that’s not true. After we’d both left the Herald, we met by chance one day and she told me, with tears in her eyes, that she and her husband were hoping for a baby.

In past generations, the fact that women not only bore the children but also raised them, contributed strongly to the lack of female representation in provincial and federal politics. Now, in a most bizarre turnabout, a party leader was being politically maligned precisely because she did not have children.

“I was hoping gender would be a non-factor,” Ms. Smith told me. “It’s actually turned out to be more of a factor than I expected. You have two fairly well-matched leaders. I hoped that would bring a more neutralizing factor.”

“Some stories that get written about women in leadership positions wouldn’t get written about men,” she continued. “There’s a little bit of learning going on here on how to cover the race where two women lead the two top parties.”

Ms. Notley wishes there was more discussion on issues of concern to women rather than the fact that Ms. Smith and Ms. Redford are women. “I want to reach a place where the gender of the politician is less relevant than the policies,” she says.

THE ‘BOOB BUS’

With Mr. Flanagan and Mr. Fryers calling the shots in the Wildrose planning room, everything is so tightly controlled that barely a hiccup is allowed to pass the lips of the campaigners.

But sometimes, campaigns need luck as well as planning. For all the preparation, none of Ms. Smith’s senior advisers noticed that on the big campaign bus, the photo of their leader’s head and torso was placed directly over the wheels. The visual impact was immediate – and hilarious. When Jay Leno showed the photo on his weekly headlines spot, identifying Smith only as a Canadian politician running for office, it got the biggest laugh of the night from the audience.

Ms. Smith was said to be personally embarrassed, but in public she just laughed off the episode, sticking as always to her script. The bus went in for a makeover, and the campaign began with such high profile that some people thought the bus blunder was a stunt.

To people outside Alberta, Smith is eager to say she’s not about to hunker down and fight with the rest of Canada, despite the PCs’ implication that she’ll replay the energy wars of earlier days.

“Part of what’s happened over the last couple of decades is that there’s a perception Alberta is not as interested in reaching out to our provincial neighbours,” she says, citing the time when Mr. Klein “cut out of the first ministers meeting and went to gamble. Everyone had a hoot about it. Yet the relationship with our provincial counterparts was not on a good level and did not improve with Mr. Stelmach.”

“Both the PC leader and I share the view that Alberta is going to be an important player in Confederation,” she continues. “We already are an energy superpower. We have to start acting like it.”

Ms. Smith says the premier will have a vital role in communicating how much good work the province is doing in developing resources in an environmentally sustainable way.

“I think that is a role for the provincial premier as the spokesperson for Alberta, and Albertans as the owner of that resource, to make that case in Alberta to Albertans and across the country to our Canadian neighbours and internationally,” she continues. “That is one of the top priorities for the provincial premier. I don’t think [she and Ms. Redford] are that different in that regard.”

Ms. Smith also says that the province has “a huge opportunity now that we’ve got an Albertan in the Prime Minister’s Office and in a majority position.”

A new partnership between Ottawa and the province has already begun, especially in such areas as streamlining regulatory approvals “This is an historic opportunity for Ottawa and Alberta to be in alignment in a way that they probably haven’t been in decades,” Ms. Smith adds.

Yet while she sees the federal bond between Ottawa and Alberta as much more collegial, she can’t say the same for two other provinces.

“The relationship that is more problematic is that with Quebec and Ontario,” she says. “The fact is that we have two premiers [Dalton McGuinty and Jean Charest] that have expressed open hostility with the development of our oil sands, even though both provinces benefit greatly from its development through transfer payments and directly through jobs.”

Ms. Smith knows her numbers and is quick to cite the thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue that Quebeckers enjoy thanks to the oil sands. She wants that knowledge communicated across the country and will make and take the opportunities to do it herself.

That’s because she sees Alberta entering into a new leadership role within Canada.

“I think that is part of what Albertans are thirsting for,” she continues. “We’re leaders in the business community and we’re leaders in the non-profit sector. Our government is frankly failing us by being pretty mediocre.”

If she is premier, Ms. Smith insists, the province will once again lead the country on the fiscal front. She would endorse projects that would stimulate both the provincial and national economies. Too often, she suggests, the province has taken a more isolationist role to protect its interests.

“Maybe it goes back to the National Energy Program,” she posits, bringing up the Pierre Elliott Trudeau bogey man that still prevents old-school Albertans from ever seriously considering the provincial Liberals as an option. “It’s almost like Albertans decided to keep their heads down and not draw any attention from eastern Canada out of fear that someone might want to impose another NEP on us. It’s 30 years later and we’re in a completely different position now.”

“Albertans are ready to take on that leadership role knowing that Canada is an energy superpower,” she adds. “And a lot of the reason for that is Alberta and the oil sands.”

Mr. Ghitter, for one, doesn’t think Ms. Smith is ready for that role. “In a general sense, I take the view that to turn Alberta over to a totally inexperienced, right-wing, ideological government would be a regressive step,” he says. “Alberta is the envy of Canada and likely North America. This prehistoric approach would be a negative factor for Alberta.

Mr. Sherman, the Edmonton emergency-room doctor kicked out of the PC caucus by Mr. Stelmach for criticizing the government’s health-care policies, sat as an independent before becoming the Liberal leader. He likes Ms. Smith and believes he could work with her if Wildrose manages to form a minority government. That’s because only the Liberals, he says, “will keep alive the values that will, without question, suffer so badly under the Wildrose Party.”

“With respect to Danielle as a leader, she’s a nice person,” he says and then adds firmly, “Danielle and I both agree on this point: the corrupt and incompetent Redford PCs have to go.”

Mr. Sherman feels he could work with Smith “on issues of common interest,” yet also asserts that: “Danielle would take us further right. She’s honest about being right wing. She would move us back to the 1950s and 1960s.”

Whatever happens April 23, the split in Alberta’s conservative movement is likely to last for years before it somehow reunites under the same party umbrella. But conservatives in Alberta enjoy the luxury of slugging out their family quarrel, because no Jean Chrétien lurks with an opposition party strong enough to pounce.

Sydney Sharpe is the Calgary-based author of seven books, including Storming Babylon: Preston Manning and the Rise of the Reform Party (co-authored); and The Gilded Ghetto: Women and Political Power in Canada.

I became attracted to Ms. Smith's ideas about a year ago.

I disagree with former PC senator and Lougheed-era MLA Ron Ghitter that she would run "a totally inexperienced, right-wing, ideological government". I expect that the social-conservative activists will be very disappointed; Smith strikes me as being a bit of a libertarian and someone whose philosophical base is quite firm and a firm libertarian cannot intrude into people's private lives in order to promote a social agenda. It is acceptable to believe in e.g. 'marriage is only between a man and a woman' and 'abortion = murder,' it is even acceptable to preach those views, but it is not acceptable, to a person with a firm liberal political philosophy, to impose one's views on others.

 

[Brad Sallows]

This notion of people being "unqualified" to be premier, prime minister, governor, president, etc, annoys me.  The senior civil servants are perfectly capable of executing their responsibilities and keeping the political entity running smoothly day-to-day.  For all the jokes made about "Der Decider", that is exactly one of the qualities an executive leader needs: to appoint wisely, to consult, to delegate, to decide, and to occasionally wield a stiff broom.  Being a policy wonk is a quality for a chief of staff or a senior bureaucrat, and is a hindrance to an executive.

 

[Jed]

This notion of people being "unqualified" to be premier, prime minister, governor, president, etc, annoys me.  The senior civil servants are perfectly capable of executing their responsibilities and keeping the political entity running smoothly day-to-day.  For all the jokes made about "Der Decider", that is exactly one of the qualities an executive leader needs: to appoint wisely, to consult, to delegate, to decide, and to occasionally wield a stiff broom.  Being a policy wonk is a quality for a chief of staff or a senior bureaucrat, and is a hindrance to an executive.

:goodpost:

 

[Haletown]

It is always amusing when a journalist still uses the drive by line about Sarah Palin being able to see Russia from her house.

Does tend to reduce their credibility.  If they can't differentiate between reality and a SNL sketch, they should probably consider a career change.

 

[Edward Campbell]

New polling data points to a Wildrose majority according to this article which is reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the Globe and Mail:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/wildrose-on-track-for-majority-with-a-week-to-go-in-alberta/article2403442/

Wildrose on track for majority with a week to go in Alberta

ÉRIC GRENIER

Globe and Mail Update
Published Monday, Apr. 16, 2012

The Wildrose Party has increased its lead over Alberta’s Progressive Conservatives over the last two weeks, putting them squarely in majority territory with only one week to go before the Apr. 23 vote.

ThreeHundredEight.com’s vote-projection model, which aggregates, weighs, and adjusts all publicly released opinion polls, pegs support for Danielle Smith’s upstart party at 41.9 per cent support, a gain of 4.6 points since Apr. 2. Alison Redford’s Tories have slipped 0.5 points since then to only 33.2 per cent, placing them at serious risk of losing their 41-year grip on power.

With these levels of support, Wildrose is projected to win a comfortable majority of the Alberta Legislature’s 87 seats. They have gained 12 seats since the Apr. 2 projection, and are now on track to win 56. The PCs are down nine seats to only 27, a serious decrease from the 66 seats the party held when the election was called.

The Liberals, who took 26.4 per cent of the vote in the 2008 provincial election, have slipped another 3.1 points since Apr. 2 and projected to capture only 11 per cent support if an election were held today. This would shut them out of the Legislature. They had been projected to win three seats earlier in the campaign.

The New Democrats, meanwhile, are holding steady with 10.8 per cent support and four seats. While this had previously put them in a position to be kingmaker in a minority government, the likelihood that Ms. Smith will not be able to command a majority of seats is now very low.

However, as all of the surveys included in the aggregation were taken before Thursday’s leadership debate there is the potential for some significant shifts over the coming days. But most commentators agree the performances of Ms. Redford and Ms. Smith are unlikely to have done anything but solidify current levels of support.

For the Progressive Conservatives, that means their representation could be reduced almost entirely to the city of Edmonton. Only there have their fortunes improved since the beginning of the campaign. The Tories are up 4.2 points in the provincial capital since Apr. 2, and lead with 38.7 per cent support. Wildrose stands in second with 27.3 per cent, followed by the New Democrats (16.4 per cent) and the Liberals (13.9 per cent, a drop of 4.3 points). The consequence of this PC gain is that the Tories are on track to win 20 seats in the city, up three since Apr. 2, all at the expense of the Liberals. Wildrose and the NDP are unchanged at five and four seats each, respectively.

Wildrose is dominating in the rest of the province, however. The party is up 4.8 points in Calgary and now lead with 47.8 per cent, while it has also jumped 7.5 points outside of the two main cities to a crushing 50.2 per cent. The Tories trail in second with 30.5 per cent in Calgary and 30.7 per cent in the rest of Alberta, a drop of 3.5 points over the last two weeks. The result is that the Tories are down five seats in Calgary and seven in the rest of the province since Apr. 2 – they are now projected to win only six seats outside of the two cities and only one in Calgary. The remaining 51 seats (enough alone to secure a majority government) fall to Wildrose.

The polls are generally in more agreement than they were shortly before and after the election call. Nevertheless, one survey has suggested a much closer race while most continue to show the wide gap between Wildrose and the Tories. There is also enough discrepancy in the regional results from one poll to another to inject a bit of uncertainty into the projection. Many ridings look to be very close PC-Wildrose contests, further increasing the plausible range of outcomes. Though it is very unlikely that either party would hit their respective extremes, Wildrose could potentially win as many 74 seats or as few as 30, while the PC range stands between eight and 55 seats. But compared to the likely ranges of Apr. 2, Ms. Redford’s odds of pulling off a victory of any kind have slimmed while the likelihood of a Wildrose government has increased considerably.

There is still a lot to play out for all four leaders. At the bottom of the table, Brian Mason needs either Wildrose or the PCs to form a minority government for his NDP to have influence and Raj Sherman needs to ensure his Liberals will still exist in the Legislature after next Monday’s vote. For Ms. Redford, the Tory legacy is at stake while Ms. Smith can start a new political era of her own in Alberta.

It looks like she will do it, but nothing can be taken for granted. While it is difficult to imagine that a nine-point edge could whither away over the next seven days, a swing of this magnitude appears to have taken place in the two weeks that straddled the start of the campaign. But Wildrose captured the lead early and, despite the strenuous efforts of the Progressive Conservatives, has held on it, indicating that they have enough staying power to survive this last phase of the campaign and come out on top.

ThreeHundredEight.com’s projection model aggregates all publicly released polls, weighing them by sample size, date, and the polling firm’s accuracy record and adjusting them according to past discrepancies. The seat projection model makes individual projections for all 87 ridings in the province, based on the provincial and regional shifts in support since the 2008 election and including the application of factors unique to each riding, such as the effects of incumbency. Projections are subject to the margins of error of the opinion polls included in the model, as well as the unpredictable nature of politics at the riding level.

But never forget Harold Wilson ... a week is a long time in politics.

 

[RangerRay]

I notice that unlike BC, a split in the "conservative" vote does not allow the Liberals or NDP to squeeze up the middle.

One thing I'm curious about though, is how much of the PC's current support is from Liberals and/or Dippers who are voting for the party most likely to defeat Wildrose, and how much is from those on the centre/centre-right that haven't gone to Wildrose?

 

[foresterab]

Honestly I'd say it's more like a 50% conservative vote, 25% apathetic/swing vote, and 25% other views here in Alberta.  But that's just a personal guess rather than anything scientific poll like.  Where the Wildrose has made gains is a) splitting off a large portion of the conservative vote and b) gaining some of those non-voting voters to their side.

It is interesting in the last provincial election I saw PC signs...and PC signs...and PC signs....only at the ballot did I even find out there was other canditates running. 

This time around it's a completely different story...drove through about 6 constituencies this weekend.
#1 - wildrose has the lead on signage, then PC, then Alberta Party
#2 - Wildrose, then PC (for big signs) but the liberal canidate had tons of tiny signs out.  NDP had more small signs out than the PC's did.
#3 - PC/Wildrose
#4 - PC then NDP then Wildrose.  Heaviest signage was for the Senate Election canidate.
#5 - PC then Wildrose then Liberal
#6 - PC/Wildrose

If nothing else there are more signs and more evidence of competition than the last election so people are paying alot more attention to it than years past.  I've really noticed the smaller parties have stepped up their game drastically in terms of exposure (I won't vote for a party that won't even try to have a profile locally) and the campaign teams have been really switched on.  12 hours after the election notice was given the Wildrose Canidate had multiple towns covered by signage in multiple locations, PC's took about 4 days to get any signs up and a week to match Wildrose signage and the Alberta Party canidate was about 4 days in.

My  :2c: worth of observations so far

 

[q_1966]

More letters on Allan Hunsperger’s anti-gay blog

Smith must take charge

Re: “Smith stands by candidate’s anti-gay blog; Wildrose leader says her party won’t legislate on moral issues,” the Journal, April 16.

Danielle Smith says that if anyone thinks one of her candidates has committed a hate crime, then they should call the police. What’s wrong with holding candidates like Allan Hunsperger to a higher standard? Can they really say anything that falls short of a crime?

I can see why she wants to get rid of the human rights commission!

Neil Robblee, Edmonton

The beauty of democracy

Re: “Smith’s silence is deafening,” by Lauren Hawes, Letters, April 17.

I do not agree with Allan Hunsperger’s comments but I will vehemently defend his right to express them.

The fundamental freedoms promised to us by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms include religion, thought, belief, expression and association.

While some may believe that Hunsperger has the right to his opinion but should be “condemned” by his political party for expressing it, this is the opposite of what a democratic nation stands for.

Another freedom that everyone over the age of 18 is entitled to is the right to vote. If you don’t like what Hunsperger or the Wildrose party stand for, don’t vote for them. That’s the beauty of democracy.

Kerri Kiryluk, Stony Plain

Bright light attracts bugs

Listening to the hurtful (some might say, hateful) comments of certain Wildrose candidates on the nature and rights of gays and lesbians, I’m reminded of an old saying of Preston Manning’s from the early days of the Reform party: “A bright light attracts some bugs.”

Manning, though, had the good sense to distance himself from those “bugs” as quickly and firmly as possible.

In contrast, Danielle Smith says it’s all about diversity of opinion and isn’t that a healthy thing in politics? Yes, it is, but we’re not talking here about a difference of opinion over, say, whether deficit reduction or social spending should be the bigger priority.

If the Wildrose candidates, some of whom are pastors, want to voice these views within their own closeted churches, that’s one thing.

But if you’re not prepared to respect the God-given dignity of all citizens, then why run for public office?

I’m happy to let someone else make the final judgment of whose actions exactly will cause him or her to “suffer the rest of eternity in a lake of fire.”

But perhaps the Wildrose pastors should recall what a very wise man once said: “Judge not lest ye be judged.”

Brian Bergman, Calgary

Smith takes courageous stand

Re: “Smith fails crucial test of leadership; Wildrose leader turns anti-gay candidate into persecuted victim,” by Paula Simons, April 17.

It always amazes me that, according to people like Paula Simons, only liberal leaning media types are allowed freedom of speech. People are only allowed to express their beliefs if they mirror those of the media and the politically correct fanatics who rush about telling everyone what they must say and think.

Simons jumps on her soapbox to rail against Allen Hunsperger’s blog. She paints him as a demon and someone who is victimizing schoolchildren because he stated his religious beliefs in public and then had the audacity not only to admit to it, but also to run for public office. Simons says it would be intolerable if Hunsperger brought those views to public life.

I bet if Simons were to run for office she would gladly bring her beliefs and opinions to the job, but of course that would be different wouldn’t it?

Hunsperger has to win the election. If he does, it doesn’t mean that he won only on his religious beliefs, it might just be that he’s the right man for the job in his riding and the majority of people of Edmonton Southwest want him in office to represent them.

Believe it or not, running for public office, freedom of speech and freedom of religion are not just for Liberals and the media. We all have those rights.

Simons also states that Danielle Smith has proven she is not a leader because she did not chastise Hunsperger or stop him from expressing his beliefs.

I wasn’t sure about voting Wildrose, but after reading Simons’ column and realizing how refreshing and courageous Smith is to stand up and say she will allow divergent and different views within the Wildrose party, I know where my vote is going.

R. McLeod, Edmonton

Know your candidate

Paula Simons skewers Wildrose candidate Alan Hunsperger over his blog attacking the position of the Edmonton public school board.

Simons calls Hunsperger an “unabashed old homophobe” and goes on to describe the dangers of having an elected representative with such views as he or she may influence government decisions on matters such as school curriculum, private school funding, the Alberta Human Rights Act and conscience rights for public servants.

How do we prevent such a travesty from occurring? We could just ban all religious leaders from holding elected office, but that may be unfair because some might actually have acceptable views.

I would propose a universal pre-screening process for all potential election candidates.

As nearly all religions hold similar views to those expressed by Hunsperger, we could establish a super human rights commission to vet all candidates for religious affiliations and beliefs. Atheists would be excluded.

The commission could publish the names of those candidates who hold homophobic and other wrong-headed views ensuring that, as Simons states, “before people cast ballots … they deserve to know who and what they’re getting.”

George Witt, Edmonton

Honesty in politics

Contrary to what Paula Simons says in her Tuesday column about Danielle Smith “failing a crucial test of leadership” regarding remarks made by Allan Hunsperger, I believe Smith showed leadership in not caving in to the current political correctness mania, and actually saying what she believes.

Hunsperger, a Wildrose candidate, spoke against homosexuality in his other role as a pastor, and Smith believes he has a right to speak his mind in that capacity. I agree.

What Simons is appalled at is allowing a candidate to be honest in his belief, allowing a candidate to say something outside of what is “politically acceptable” in today’s world.

People of faith (particularly Christians) are ever more ridiculed for their beliefs and lambasted for speaking them in a public forum, and I think this muzzling of a large section of society is very frightening. While I don’t necessarily agree with what Hunsperger said, I support his right to say it. And I support Daniel Smith’s courage in letting him say it.

Public discourse is becoming a thing of the past as more and more people are afraid to say what they really feel because of ridicule from the public, and especially the press. Freedom of speech and conscience are the hallmarks of a democratic and free society, but are becoming less and less so in this country. And most political candidates are strictly muzzled to toe the party line or else.

I applaud Smith for her courageous leadership in this instance and would encourage Simons to adjust her thinking about what a leader really is.

Claire Helmers, Spruce Grove

Teach our children tolerance

I’ve never heard so much about God, the devil, abortion, homosexuality and people hating public education during a provincial election.

I’m hoping that if there is a God, he believes in treating people equally, educating them, sparing them from discrimination and helping them make difficult decisions.

I’m praying the Wildrose doesn’t get a majority. I’m voting for a party that keeps the human rIghts commission and respects knowledge through public education. Let’s teach our children to treat all people fairly.

Byron Johnson, Ashmont

Unfit to hold public office

The personal views of Wildrose candidate Allan Hunsperger are just that — his personal views. Like any other Canadian, he is free to hold these views, regardless of how outrageous others may believe them to be.

As a supporter of equality for all people, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or religion, I don’t hold the same views. I know I will never convince him that acceptance is right and he will never convince me that acceptance is wrong.

When asked, Danielle Smith barely touched the issue and simply said those were his personal views made in his capacity as pastor. She framed the issue incorrectly as did Conservative Leader Alison Redford when she called Hunsperger’s views shocking.

This isn’t about whether he is entitled to his personal views or whether they are shocking; it is about the fact that he was advocating for discrimination of individuals in our public education system.

Advocating against public acceptance of individuals in our school systems is discrimination any way you slice it. When Hunsperger wrote that blog and put it out to the world, he effectively placed his capacity to represent constituents in question.

He cannot claim to be able to equally represent all Albertans he openly advocates discrimination against some Albertans.

Hunsperger is not fit to run this election. I don’t want an elected official who publicly wears two hats — his pastor hat and his politician hat.

To maintain the legitimacy of her party in 2012, Smith needs to remove Hunsperger and simply state that candidates are entitled to their personal beliefs, but as public representatives cannot openly advocate for discrimination.

Britt Burton, Edmonton

Old-fashioned butt-kicking

Alberta citizens may wish to kick the Conservatives in the butt for their past performance and I get that.

But as the Wildrose party shows its ugly side, this becomes a reckless reaction. Flip this coin and you have the Wildrose’s $1,000 gag bond on its candidates and leader Danielle Smith standing by candidate Allan Hunsperger’s homophobic blog. I read this blog and found Pastor Hunsperger’s comments chilling.

I know which party I need to send a message with my vote.

Laurie Williams, Edmonton

God, not man, will judge

There has been talk in this campaign about abortion and gay lifestyles. What’s sad is that it is acceptable to condone such behaviour. God is who states what is right and wrong, not people.

Amos Dadensky, Two Hills

Wildrose agenda gets personal

Are Albertans really going to give the Wildrose power to control our school boards, Human Rights Act and social policies?

A lot of children are going to be hurt if the Wildrose party forms a government on April 23.

As a gay man and lifelong Albertan, I have had to endure homophobia my whole life. I was hoping that by 2012, the next generation would be spared the likes of those who use power to advance their own personal and religious views.

Allan Hunsperger has the right to hold his views, but he is now running for public office and his personal views are very relevant if voters are to trust him with the reins of power.

Ken Erickson, Airdrie

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/More+letters+Allan+Hunsperger+anti+blog/6474295/story.html

Wildrose party has lost my vote, unless they remove Allan Hunsperger or he at least apologizes.

 

[Edward Campbell]

It appears that Wildrose has its greatest strength in the smaller centres and that the others are strongest in and around Edmonton, thus Calgary might be the place that decides the outcome, and, according to this article which is reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the Globe and Mail, Wildrose is growing in strength there:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/calgary-becomes-ground-zero-in-albertas-seismic-political-shift/article2405855/

Calgary becomes ground zero in Alberta’s seismic political shift

JOSH WINGROVE AND CARRIE TAIT

CALGARY— Globe and Mail Update
Last updated Wednesday, Apr. 18, 2012

Cindy Chiasson had voted Progressive Conservative all her life, but six years ago, things started to change.

The Calgarian and mother of three balked when central Alberta farmer Ed Stelmach took over the party and began tinkering with energy-sector royalties, which she saw as a move away from conservative values. But she voted for the PCs for lack of an option.

Then, Wildrose hit the scene and the centrist Alison Redford took over the PCs last fall. Ms. Chiasson made up her mind: she and her family are voting Wildrose, lured by its small-c conservative values and straightforward message of balanced budgets. The PCs, they say, are only masquerading as conservative.

“We don't want to get into the state some of these other provinces are in,” Ms. Chiasson said. “We're a conservative province, and we want to stay that way.”

Ms. Chiasson, 40, a certified general accountant born and raised in Calgary, is as much the face of Wildrose as the small-town, rural base from which it grew. The key to the party's transition from fringe upstart to mainstream front-runner has come as it breaks through in Calgary, a long-time PC bastion. Ms. Redford, meanwhile, is overhauling her brand on the fly, calling the Conservatives “not your father's PC party.”

Wildrose supporters here say the PCs have abandoned them, becoming a centrist party that's grown stale and forgotten its roots. The disaffected slid right, to Wildrose. “For me, they seem definitely more conservative, which is the viewpoint that I am looking for,” Ms. Chiasson said.

There are scores of such former Tories. The PCs received 500,000 votes in Alberta's 2008 provincial vote. Federally that same year, Stephen Harper's Conservatives drew 820,000 votes in the province. In the difference, Wildrose backers say, lies their party's support – so-called true conservatives who have abandoned the PCs but had no alternative.

But the PCs are betting that Calgary – a fast-growing city – is changing . And so too is their party. Ms. Redford has repeatedly championed her “progressive” vision and is chasing supporters of all types. Polls show as many as one-fifth of voters undecided.

As much of her traditional base joins Wildrose, Ms. Redford is trying to gain on the left flank as Calgary's political sands shift.

Take Cecilia Low, for example. In the past, Ms. Low had voted for then Liberal leader David Swann, whose centrist Calgary-Mountain View riding includes Kensington Road, Calgary's trendy stretch of cafes, specialty shops and restaurants.

Now, Ms. Low is running for the PCs against Dr. Swann as the party fights back against Wildrose, in part, by targeting Liberal ridings.

“This is the first time I’ve ever had a PC membership,” Ms. Low said at a bike shop in downtown Calgary before Ms. Redford dropped in for a poorly attended campaign stop. “It is not a big jump to go to the PCs under Alison Redford.”

Ms. Low, with an engineering and legal background, said she is comfortable with Ms. Redford’s “incarnation of the PC party” and admires her approach to issues, such as justice. The rookie candidate says she believes Calgary-Mountain View is the type of centrist enclave Ms. Redford needs.

“I think there are so many undecided voters out there that if they go to the polls, they are going to vote for the leadership policies they knew, rather than the unknown,” Ms. Low said.

As Calgary's politics shift, swing ridings and tight races are popping up across the city – as most (but not all) polls show Wildrose ahead in Calgary and threatening once-safe PC seats, and the PCs fighting back while turning to Liberal seats.

The Redford campaign thinks it will sweep the four downtown Calgary ridings won by the Liberals in 2008's election. Wildrose, too, calls them all “winnable”.

Polls this week are split on where Calgary's sentiments lie. One showed Liberal support collapsing and heading to the PCs, another showed the numbers steady.

Dr. Swann says he's confident he can retain the riding. “People here are not comfortable with Wildrose,” he says, adding Liberal support may indeed slide over to the Redford PCs, but mostly in ridings without a Liberal incumbent. “It's certainly a risk in some ridings, but I don't think it's a risk here.”

Just south of his riding lies Calgary-Elbow – Ms. Redford's riding. She is facing a challenge from James Cole, a chartered financial analyst and early Wildrose supporter. It's another riding in flux, where the Liberals are running a weak campaign and Mr. Cole hopes to snap up their support. “[Liberal voters] wanted a change in government and they were the only option. Now, we're that option,” Mr. Cole said.

Wildrose leader Danielle Smith said she’ll visit several close ridings in the province, including Calgary, over the rest of the week. The battlegrounds, she said, are becoming clear. “You'll be able to get a sense of that over the next few days,” Ms. Smith said at an event Tuesday in a Calgary riding that went to the Liberals four years ago.

 

[exabedtech]

Wildrose party has lost my vote, unless they remove Allan Hunsperger or he at least apologizes.

Yes, same here.  Love that other wildrose guy who went on about his having a 'white advantage'.  Wasn't a huge PC fan before, but I like what Redford did with her budget and I see some direction with her that was absent under Stelmach.

 

[q_1966]

I don't believe in selling our sovereignty in the form of the Keystone XL Pipeline, when we have or should develop the capability to produce the finished product in Canada, or building a pipeline to Kitimat and having an Exon Valdez disaster off the coast of Vancouver Island...maybe I will vote Green Party Evergreen Party

EverGreen party president Nick Burman said in an interview.“We felt obligated to at least give [voters] the opportunity to vote for the principles.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/alberta-election/meet-the-evergreens---albertas-other-other-other-other-party/article2403356/

Seeing as I now dislike pretty much all the options

 

[exabedtech]

I don't believe in selling our sovereignty in the form of the Keystone XL Pipeline, when we have or should develop the capability to produce the finished product in Canada, or building a pipeline to Kitimat and having an Exon Valdez disaster off the coast of Vancouver Island...maybe I will vote Green Party Evergreen Party

Seeing as I now dislike pretty much all the options

I don't see how we are selling 'sovereignty'.  We are selling a product which in this case is an upgraded raw material.  If there were a shortage of refining capacity out here, believe me, we'd build refineries.  The fact of the matter is that the refining capacity already exists, what we lack is the means to get our product to these existing refineries.  Even if we did want to build a new one here in Alberta, where???  People aren't exactly lining up to have one built next door and the regulatory process is such that we'll be flying F35s long before one could be built even if it were proposed today.  That's a hell of a lot of product getting backed up in Oklahoma at a discount when it could be earning full price on the open market.
If we accept that its ok for Canada to sell oil, then we have to accept that it ok to build pipelines since the alternatives are rail and road which are clearly neither more economical nor safer.
Having more pipeline capacity to our largest customer makes sense.  Having the means to also sell to offshore customers also makes good sense.
I hate oil as much as the next guy, but I don't hate it enough to turn off the heat in my house or park my trucks and shut down my business, so until we invent something new, lets get OUR oil to market rather than buy it from our good friends in the middle east or south america. 

 

[SeaKingTacco]

  :goodpost:

 

[ModlrMike]

Wildrose party has lost my vote, unless they remove Allan Hunsperger or he at least apologizes.

If we move to silence those with whom we disagree, how long before someone moves to silence us?

A cornerstone of free speech is that we must take the bad with the good.

 

[larry Strong]

I hate oil as much as the next guy, but I don't hate it enough to turn off the heat in my house or park my trucks and shut down my business,

Wow, talk about being a hypocrite Oil has fed my family, bought my house and vehicles and most everything I have for better than 30 years, and continues to do so. I am not ashamed to say it either. I am proud to have worked Drilling Rigs for the better part of my life. It takes a special breed of person to work outside from 30 above to -50 and spend 2/3 of your time away from home, year in and year out. And no range control shutting things down because it is to hot or cold.

If we move to silence those with whom we disagree, how long before someone moves to silence us?

A cornerstone of free speech is that we must take the bad with the good.

I don't agree with what was said, however I do agree with the post quoted above

 

[ModlrMike]

I don't agree with what was said either, lest anyone think by my prior post that I did. I'm reminded of a quote by Voltaire that sums up the situation nicely:

"One always speaks badly when we have nothing to say."

Let the man continue to have nothing to say so that others may know and learn from it.

 

[Maxadia]

The problem with oil is not limited to only wages from the immediate oil patch, heating your house, or running your vehicle.

I have yet to find a single person on the planet who would gladly give up their reliance on plastics and polymers in order to reduce our reliance on oil, or come up with a viable solution to replace those.