Why isn’t unabashed self interest paying of for meeeeee?
The politics in Alberta usually annoy the hell out of me. How can the people of this province continue to elect a party that is puts the interests of Big Oil first in every fiscal decision. For the latest example please see the latest Alberta budget, after we all have been looking in the mirror, where everyone except corporations got a tax hike. Because jobs. Keep voting PC Alberta blue zombies, keep voting blue. Alberta voter idiocy aside; we’re actually here to look at the slow motion career seppuku going on for the Wild Rose defectors.
“Danielle Smith has lost her bid for the Progressive Conservative nomination in her riding of Highwood, losing out to Okotoks Coun. Carrie Fischer. “
What? The former leader of the Wild Rose Party just failed to get her ass nominated. How is that even possible after betraying your hard right conservative base? Hard right-wingers are known for their forgiveness and short memories when it comes to what they see as treasonous behaviour. I have to say I am quite shocked at this outcome.
Smith was quite gracious in her failure:
“This is, of course, a mixed-emotions day for me. I did want to get a mandate to be the PC candidate for Highwood, but residents felt otherwise,” she said. “I look forward to supporting Carrie in her efforts to win this riding for the Progressive Conservatives.”
She said her decision to leave the Wildrose for the PC party, which may have contributed to her loss, was “absolutely not” a mistake.
Oh lordy, call in the LOL-copters Danielle Smith. In fact, call in the LOL-legionairs. We’ll need all the guffaws as your garrulous words are fooling exactly no one. You just got burned for your brash political opportunism.
I’ve never been a fan of the Wild Rose party, but they were the official opposition in Alberta and they did their best to slow down the PC corporate gravy train. The exodus of Smith and the others devastated the party and the WRP is still rebuilding thanks to these floor crossers.
Make no mistake – I shed no tears for the WRP – but my animus lies with the resulting political vacuum created because the damn Opposition just joined the damn Government. Who is left to keep our Big-Oil loving PC government in check?
Friends, Albertans – you’ll just have to look in the mirror.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
9 comments
April 4, 2015 at 2:03 pm
bleatmop
What I find interesting is that the WRA is still polling at a draw with the PC’s. It makes me sad that the other parties haven’t managed to capitalize at all on the chaos and discontent in the Alberta political scene.
At the very least Rachel Notley has increased the NDP’s fortune in Edmonton but they are still non-existent outside of Edmonton. The Liberals continue to be a joke. That video rebuttal to Prentence’s government paid commercial is now being used clinically to put insomniacs to sleep and is it the case that David Swan is going to be their leader again? Who knows? Nobody does because that video message was the first thing I’ve heard from them in what seems like decades and it put me to sleep before he finished.
So I guess the choices for government in Alberta continue to be Ultra-Conservative and Uber-conservative. Yay!
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April 4, 2015 at 2:31 pm
The Arbourist
@bleatmop
Well, we as the electorate have to take some responsibility for our actions. I heard that Calgary-Elbow just elected a mouldy sausage casing filled with angry-bees because it ran Tory Blue and had a small hanging sign that said “Look in the Mirror”.
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April 5, 2015 at 1:41 pm
bleatmop
Yup. You are right, it is us that keeps electing them. However I think the Liberals and NDP have to take responsibility as well. They need to actually try out here in the rural areas. It’s not enough to simply run parachute candidates out here and expect people to vote for you. The Rural areas make up about 1/3 of the seats in the legislature and have been the backbone of PC super-majorities in every election I’ve been able to vote in. To simply not even try out here it to concede the election before it begins.
Last election I contacted the NDP candidate who seemed to be a good guy, but he was from Edmonton. Never stepped foot in my riding before or during the campaign. Never asked a single person for their vote. No baby kissing, no hand shaking ect ect. Yes, the conservative parties have a huge financial advantage but this is a low cost measure to get a hotel room for a candidate and have him or her start going door to door and talking about your party and what you want to do for them.The other positive of door knocking is that it might actually generate more people to actually donate to your party, so it might actually be revenue positive to fund your candidate to actually step foot in their riding.
On the flip side I have already had the new Wildrose candidate for my riding knock on my door, shake my hand, tell me who he was, and sincerely ask me for my vote. I don’t know about in the city but out here that actually means something and will actually win this guy votes from some of the most liberal minded people I know out here.
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April 6, 2015 at 12:56 pm
Sedate Me
Perhaps she was trying to pull a Stephen Harper. Leave to join a more radical group, return, launch a takeover, become President for Life. Too bad it didn’t work out the same way for Harper as it did for this gal.
I know I’m an outsider here, but I’ve spent enough time in Alberta to know Alberta is a batshit crazy, one-party state. And proud of it!
Forty-ish years under one bunch or rightist nuts, followed by 50-ish under another bunch of rightist nuts. The only thing that changes is the flag the rightist nuts collect under and that only happens 1-2 times a century.
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April 9, 2015 at 10:17 am
The Arbourist
@Sedate Me
I’m not aware of what the goal was for the WRP defectors. Joining the evil empire that is the Alberta Tories would seem to be the least effective way to effect change in Alberta. Conversely it is the easiest way to get onto the political gravy train that the PC’s have here…
There is a significant portion of the population that has not drunk the PC zombie-blue koolaid. I’ve lived here all my life and have not once voted for the PC party. A bright spot is that I’ve helped elect the only NDP MP in Alberta, Linda Duncan. That is a small start to be proud of. :)
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April 15, 2015 at 4:42 am
rautakyy
I have to ask, what the hell is a “progressive conservative”??? Sounds like such a total contradiction in terms, that suddenly even an utterly nonsensical term like “military intelligence” begins to sound almost like it could fool someone to believe it actually exists…
Conservative: A person who thinks it is a virtue for anything to be as it used to be.
Progressive: A person who thinks only through change can a better future be found.
How can anyone, wether if they consider themselves conservatives, or progressives, with a half a brain, think these two are actually compatible? Is this the ultimate limit of pulling the leg of the constituates?
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April 15, 2015 at 10:29 am
The Arbourist
@rautakyy
A little history – the PC’s took over from Social Credit as the had been in power since 1935. Since 1971, it has been all PC in the province. We have a history of one party rule in Alberta and only changing governments when the corruption is slapping our faces with gusto on a daily basis.
Our PC party stands centre-Right socially and right-right fiscally. Keep in mind that we’re on the Canadian political spectrum so we’re not quite as boots-on-the-ceiling wacky as our neighbours to the south.
Let me refer you this post: Jim Prentice’s Broken Mirror. – being in power for 41 years tends to make the provincial government a little sassy.
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April 15, 2015 at 2:12 pm
VR Kaine
“How can anyone, wether if they consider themselves conservatives, or progressives, with a half a brain, think these two are actually compatible?”
Haha – agreed!
“Is this the ultimate limit of pulling the leg of the constituates?”
To me it’s more like pulling the wool over peoples’ eyes! :)
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April 16, 2015 at 5:41 am
rautakyy
Well, I can not boast about our own politics here in Finland. The leading “conservative” party SKK is actually not a very conservative party at all, though that is what they try to promote in any elections, rather an extremely economically liberal party (so I guess they are a sort of “progressive conservatives”). I only hope they will not turn to neoconservatives as their youth group has allready shown a bit of a fascistic idealism in public, though the older officials have run to silence it out. Our leading “liberal” party KESK was originally the party of the countryside even in name and though they today promote themselves as the center party in between right and left they are the most conservative in values. At least, if you do not count some minor more fanatic parties. It is funny when they in their policies moved from the middle ground towards right they gave up their old name referring to countryside and took their new name referring to middleground policies. Our biggest “socialist” party SDP has been acting for privatization of public property for decades and our main opposition party today PS (the True Finns – I am not kidding, that is their chosen, though rather revealing, name) has no ideology none what so ever – the only unifying thing for them seems to be the fear and hatred of immigrants. The green party is green but that is as much as they can agree between themselves and further to the right and left the smaller the party is the more likely it is to fracture into even smaller and uncompromizing parties.
It seems, it is like with cars, that they are advertized not by their actual characteristics, not even the good ones, but with the poor ones. Like Citroen promotes itself by the carriage and Fiat by rust protection, when everybody knows these are otherwise perfectly good cars exept that Citroen has terrible carriage and Fiat is a total rustbucket… Wonder why.
Thanks for the link Arbourist and thanks for the laughs VR Kaine. :)
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