I read this article, and thought, it's bang on, is this guy an Albertan? As Albertans approach the day of the vote, March 3rd, we still have 1 in 5 undecided, how will they vote? Will Conservatives stay home again, or come out and fight?
Wildrose Alliance's Hinman full of surprises
At first, the merger between the Wildrose Party of Alberta and the Alberta Alliance last month looked like a non-event....
Some remarkable things have happened since: the merger of two marginal parties to the right of the ruling PCs managed to garner a heap of press coverage (albeit still well below that of the Gary Coleman nuptials). Wildrose Alliance leader Paul Hinman now shows up in the newspaper daily as the guy reporters count on for the most combative quotes of a generally bloodless election race. An Angus Reid poll released Thursday now puts the Wildrose Alliance ahead of the NDP among decided voters, with 10% support province-wide. Finally, Mr. Hinman made some kind of impression in last night’s leaders debate. “Here’s one thought everyone might agree on,” the Calgary Herald’s provincial columnist, Don Braid, writes. “Paul Hinman, the Wildrose Alliance leader, established a clear, crisp, identity as the spokesman for Alberta’s orphaned small c-conservatives.”
Orphaned small c-conservatives, more like all Alberta C/conservatives. Just like the federal Liberals sitting on their hands, and walking out of votes, last election many Conservatives stayed home in protest. This time, I sense a fight, because they have an alternative party to go out and vote for, instead of not voting against the other parties. This time we can vote PC or Wildrose, let's not ignore the damage a Liberal government in Alberta would do, we protested last election by staying home, great, point made, but how far do you carry non-voting to? Allowing a Liberal government? Are Albertans ready for that?
My biggest worry is that we might end up with a Liberal minority, the worse situation Alberta could face. We would be ruled by a Liberal/NDP coalition. The damage they could do to Alberta in only a few months would be devastating.
Cap and Trade
20 billion sent to other provinces/countries for carbon credits
Carbon tax
Shutting down new oilsands development
Demanding MORE royalties from oil companies
Demanding that farmers must STILL sell their products to the CWB
Ignoring our most up and coming sector, agriculture
Throwing more money at health care, instead of fixing it
Institutionalized, unionized daycare
More government interference and regulations in our industries
Chretien styled "Oil is owned by ALL Canadians", NEPII
Rent controls, without creating more housing
Stifling businesses with higher taxes
Fear mongering? These are MY personal fears about what could happen to Alberta. Look to Saskatchewan under the NDP for a great example of how a could have been "have" province was kept underdeveloped by their government, look at the changes since they elected a new government. They made a GOOD change in government.
We need change, but it must be GOOD change, not just change for the sake of change. We must be smart with our votes, we must not stay home this time, the future of our province depends on our vote. We let Liberals, the NDP and unions, determine who our Premier would be, we can not let them hi-jack our province by staying home.
We can not let them "kill the golden goose", that is ALBERTA, not oil.
I've never known a Conservative that won't fight hard for their independence and freedom from the heavy hand of government, I hope Alberta Conservatives get mad about what could happen to our province, and come out and vote.
6 comments:
"My biggest worry is that we might end up with a Liberal minority, the worse situation Alberta could face. We would be ruled by a Liberal/NDP coalition. The damage they could do to Alberta in only a few months would be devastating."
Great post, Hunter. I agree completely with what you said. I am reminded of a situation in Ontario several years back where voter complacency brought in a Bob Rae NDP government. I think even he was surprised he'd won.
I do hope disenchanted Tories give Wildrose Alliance a shot rather than stay home and let the Liberals/NDP take over. Your list of personal fears may not be as far off as you think.
My biggest fear is that support for Wildrose will split the right and let Taft come up the middle. I will probably vote for Wayne 'the invisible man' Cao, reluctantly, to avoid just such a thing. Better the liberal we know than the other Liberal we know. (Not a lot better perhaps, but better.)
If Conservatives think about it, they should vote solidly PC in the cities to reduce the Liberal/NDP seats, and vote PC or Wildrose in rural areas, allowing some Wildrose candidates to get elected. That way if we have a PC minority government, the PC/Wildrose can hold the balance of power, instead of the Liberal/NDP.
It really makes me respect what PM Harper has been faced with, 3 opposition parties, all aligned against the Conservatives, yet they are still getting things done, that is truely masterful.
I met Paul Hinman at a Wildrose/Alliance meeting right after they merged. Listened to him make a few party policy statements and a Q&A. I promptly donated a couple hundred bucks and took out a 5 year membership. I've got all my family members registered to vote, and they have all said they are voting Wildrose/Alliance. I'm doing everything I can, if we don't change government soon we're screwed. It may be too late already. There was an 8 billion dollar rollback in the oil sector last year, the National Post had stated in Friday Feb 22 business section!.....and no..... the agriculture sector will not be able to pick up the slack!!!
So you are worried about a minority Liberal government. Well I'm not, we've had a majority liberal government for too long now! My fervent hope is for a minority PC with Wildrose holding balance of power. Well actually I really hope for a Wildrose majority but I've learned to temper my hopes.
Alf, great for you, I like their platform. Being in a Liberal stronghold I will vote PC, one more time. The only candidate who has knocked on our door so far, is the PC candidate, in that bitter cold spell we had, he was out door knocking, for that alone, he deserves my vote, but I liked him too.
Joe, next election, if we all work hard, for the next 4 years, Wildrose will get that majority you dream of, remember Alberta voters turn on a dime. Given a few months to get organized, Wildrose could have been a larger factor this election.
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