Conservatives in Alberta

[ninjandrew]

Hello!

Why do the Conservatives routinely wipe the floor with other political parties in Alberta? Where do all these votes come from? I could see this thread being viewed as a troll, depending on how people decide to answer. Its a question Id genuinely like to know the answer to, so heres hoping for level headed and unbiased replies...

[guyser]

P. E. T.

its so last millenium though.

[dre]

Conservatives win in Alberta for the exact same reasons Republicans win in New Mexico, Colorado, or Utah.

There a big rural agricultural/bible belt that runs from north to south in the middle of North America. Conservatives dominate this belt while liberals tend to do well up and down both coasts.

[ninjandrew]

Thats interesting. Any idea why?

[dre]

Thats interesting. Any idea why?

Different demographics.

For example if you compare alberta to BC...

Alberta is whiter and more english. 80% in Alberta have english as their mother toungue compared to 70% in BC.

Alberta is more religious. Only 23% of people in Alberta claim to have no religious affiliation compared to about 35% in BC.

Alberta has less major urban population centers. It has two cities with a population of more than 82 000 BC has 7.

These are just a few examples of differences I can see off the top of my head. I dont know enough about it to provide a real indepth explanation.

Maybe Liberals just like the ocean?

[Lumpy]

Alberta is whiter and more english. 80% in Alberta have english as their mother toungue compared to 70% in BC.

Alberta is more religious. Only 23% of people in Alberta claim to have no religious affiliation compared to about 35% in BC.

Alberta has less major urban population centers. It has two cities with a population of more than 82 000 BC has 7.

I'm not sure if these reasons stand up.

Ontario and Quebec are only 16% and 5% nonreligious, and yet are generally perceived to be more liberal than Alberta. These numbers were from the Wikipedia (and thus not necessarily from the same study), so I checked out Statistics Canada - the 2001 census numbers on religion back this up (10 years old, but they seem to only account for religion every second census): Albertans are less likely to be religious than Canadians from any other province except British Columbia, and not insignificantly so.

In terms of urban population, according to the 2006 census roughly 64% of the province's population lives in either Metro Calgary or Metro Edmonton: a much greater ratio living in a large urban center than, say, New Brunswick, which is also perceived to be more liberal.

I don't know what evidence there is that correlates being English and/or white with being conservative, but even if true there is a significantly larger proportion of visible minorities in Alberta than in the Maritimes - and I'd wager a larger proportion of non-English speakers goes along with that.

Personally I don't think demographics has so much to do with it. I do think people in Alberta are suspicious of the Liberal party's motives, especially given their history. It's easy for one to say that the NEP is ancient history, but there are plenty of people in the province who remember it and are very vocal about it. It's hard to blame them, since many people lost jobs and businesses because of it. The NEP has become almost legendary here, whether a person feels that's justified or not. Chretien's Liberals didn't help as they played the different regions against each other (very successfully) - and Alberta always seemed to be the "bad guy". This led people here to feel that the province was not respected, and reinforced the notion that the Liberal party could not be trusted.

A lot of people in Alberta fear the Liberals and what they may do (again) to the provincial economy.

It's easy to assume that the province is conservative because it's supposedly full of white religious nutjobs, but I think the real explanation comes down to economics and history.

[wyly]

Different demographics.

For example if you compare alberta to BC...

Alberta is whiter and more english. 80% in Alberta have english as their mother toungue compared to 70% in BC.

Alberta is more religious. Only 23% of people in Alberta claim to have no religious affiliation compared to about 35% in BC.

Alberta has less major urban population centers. It has two cities with a population of more than 82 000 BC has 7.

These are just a few examples of differences I can see off the top of my head. I dont know enough about it to provide a real indepth explanation.

Maybe Liberals just like the ocean?

four cites of more than 82,000, calgary, edmonton, red deer, lethbridge, and fort mcmurray will be there in another year....

[wyly]

Conservatives win in Alberta for the exact same reasons Republicans win in New Mexico, Colorado, or Utah.

There a big rural agricultural/bible belt that runs from north to south in the middle of North America. Conservatives dominate this belt while liberals tend to do well up and down both coasts.

that doesn't count for much in the cities where the populations come from right across canada, as much as 30% of the population hails from saskatchewan...I only met one native born albertan in the first two years I lived here...working in the mining towns before I moved here full time the vast majority of workers were from everywhere but alberta...

the bible belt plays a small part but mostly it's the rural vote and urban voters voting for their oil patch related jobs...

[Bryan]

I'm not sure if these reasons stand up.

The reasons listed are sound, there are just other factors in other regions.

Example: French and Catholic skew heavily Liberal. Not just in Quebec, but also in N.B and Manitoba. It throws things off in weird ways when different combinations of the trends are adjacent to one another. St. Boniface used to be able to count on the Liberal vote no matter what. OLD St. B (French Catholic) still does, but there are so many more English speaking non-catholics who now live in and around the area, that as soon as the Conservatives ran a strong candidate here, the Liberal brand got decimated. When you look at the 2008 results, it shows that the parts of St. B that are still identified as French Catholic still voted Liberal, there just are nearly enough of them anymore.

Edited April 14, 2011 by Bryan

[Lumpy]

the bible belt plays a small part but mostly it's the rural vote and urban voters voting for their oil patch related jobs...

Agreed, it's economics more than anything. The sentiment on the street is such that you really don't hear much coffee shop chatter about gay marriage and other social conservative hot-button issues, but you do hear talk (and much of it) about the Liberals wanting to shut down the oilpatch or "steal our money to give to Quebec".

[Lumpy]

The reasons listed are sound, there are just other factors in other regions.

Of course there can be other factors in other regions, and that's related to my point. Alberta does not equal Alabama. People here have their own unique reasons for disliking the Liberal brand, and in this case I don't think it has much to do with the demographic sources being cited.

[Scotty]

Agreed, it's economics more than anything. The sentiment on the street is such that you really don't hear much coffee shop chatter about gay marriage and other social conservative hot-button issues, but you do hear talk (and much of it) about the Liberals wanting to shut down the oilpatch or "steal our money to give to Quebec".

It doesn't help that Liberal leaders have offered them nothing, and quite the contrary, have, in effect, campaigned against Alberta's interests in order to curry favour elsewhere.

[fellowtraveller]

Glad to see the tired old steroetypes about redneck AB still exist......

Many of the people in AB are not from AB, they are economic refugees from the rest of Canada. They vote Tory because they have no interest in going home.

The old saw that the Biblethumpers rule was conclusively dispelled when Ted Morton was defeated soundly in the last Tory leadership campaign while soldidly backed by church groups. He'll get whipped again this time too. The reason is that Albertans explicitly reject the Godbotherers, much like the rest of the country.

And as noted, the reason that the province votes Tory is money. Having a disposable income not dependent on a welfare cheque is a treasured Alberta tradition, obviously viewed as a quaint anachronism by some here.

[guyser]

Having a disposable income not dependent on a welfare cheque is a treasured Alberta tradition, obviously viewed as a quaint anachronism by some here.

Well except for those 10 or so years they did receive welfare payments (equalization payments.)(but it was a loong time ago)

Edited April 19, 2011 by guyser

[Smallc]

Many of the people in AB are not from AB, they are economic refugees from the rest of Canada.

I like how someone who claims to speak for Canada does nothing but put the rest of the country down in the name of the perfection that is Alberta. If only we could all work hard...and be blessed with massive amounts of oil and gas.

Alberta's position has nothing to do with Albertans any more or less than it has to do with any other Canadians. Alberta is lucky to have oil, and to be part of a democratic and secure country. It's too bad that Albertans have become far more whiney than Quebecers.

[guyser]

It's too bad that Albertans have become far more whiney than Quebecers.

There IS one good thing.....they do it in English !

i keed i keed....

[ninjandrew]

I haven't heard anything out of them. Nothing notable anyway. I think it might be a case of a few Albertans said something like, "Damn, I wish we didnt have to share oil revenues", followed by some people going "Omg! You whiney ingrates never shut up!".

[Smallc]

I haven't heard anything out of them. Nothing notable anyway. I think it might be a case of a few Albertans said something like, "Damn, I wish we didnt have to share oil revenues",

And then there are those that say they should leave, or that they should "cut off the welfare". It's all very bizarre actually.

[ninjandrew]

And then there are those that say they should leave, or that they should "cut off the welfare". It's all very bizarre actually.

Even more so if you consider that separating wouldnt get us anymore money anyways. Canada already gets more or less 0% of our oil revenues. The province only gets 2% of the oil sands. The rest? Corporations.

Anybody who talks about separating should think about what they want to separate from.

[MiddleClassCentrist]

Conservatives win in Alberta for the exact same reasons Republicans win in New Mexico, Colorado, or Utah.

There a big rural agricultural/bible belt that runs from north to south in the middle of North America. Conservatives dominate this belt while liberals tend to do well up and down both coasts.

The irony is that the Conservatives are really only Christian when it comes to "Hot Topics" like abortion and hating gay people.

Based on Christian teachings, the NDP is the better political selection.

Edited May 10, 2011 by MiddleClassCentrist

[Jim Lahey]

Hah, as an Edmontonian I'll agree that there are a hell of a lot of 'economic refugees' in Alberta. I can't walk to the store and buy a pack of cigarettes without running into at least three newfies...

I think we keep electing the tories because of lack of competition. We definitely don't want to go bankrupt with the NDP, and I think the liberals have just generally failed to get their act together. I personally don't like the tories and I'm debating if I really want to give them money so I can vote for the new leader - because whoever that is is likely to be premier for some time. I distrust any political party that has been in power for the last 40 years, and I can't help but feel that they are buddy-buddy with the oil companies. What I want out of my provincial leaders is an increase in the royalty rates, but no one has the balls to stand up to the Goliaths.

I disagree with the notion of the Alberta 'bible belt'. Yes, it is true that there are many socially conservative religious small communities, but they don't represent a large part of the popular opinion. Catholicism is big here, and I think we can all agree that the Vatican's tenets are a far cry from Southern US Evangelicals. I don't think religious concepts play a big part in Canadian politics at all.

As an Albertan who doesn't like the Conservatives, I still think that in the next election they might be the lesser of the evils. As Albertans, we historically have to respect Lougheed and Klein for standing up for Alberta. I criticize Ralph Klein for cutting social services and the whatnot, but he did do wonders for our economy. Hate 'em or love him, he's still King Ralph.

Even though I am fiscally conservative (and a proponent of Alberta's cessation, lpl), I think I'd like a more liberal government because I think that with our oil revenue, we are more able than other places to provide more extensive social services.

And if I can digress to federal politics... Alberta votes for the Conservatives because they are the least likely to screw us over. Even though it is before my time, the 1980 Federal Election where Pierre Trudeau won a majority without winning a seat east of Manitoba and went on the screw Alberta with the NEP is well ingrained in the collective unconscious.