Alberta By-elections Tuesday Night

[Michael Bluth]

Here's my thinking.

Calgary - Elbow ---> Liberal

Drumheller - Stettler ---> Alliance

Nice little chance for voters to give the PCs a boot in the butt.

[geoffrey]

Agreed with Drumheller, Elbow will stay PC.

[B. Max]

Here's my thinking.

Calgary - Elbow ---> Liberal

Drumheller - Stettler ---> Alliance

Nice little chance for voters to give the PCs a boot in the butt.

Damn right. In only a short time Stelmach has shown weakness and ridiculous decisions to the point we now have one group trying to shut down the entire western side of the provinces oil patch, and another group has set up an echo terrorist training camp near Edmonton to try and shut down the oilsands. He needs to resign.

[geoffrey]

another group has set up an echo terrorist training camp near Edmonton to try and shut down the oilsands.

Oh please. It was a bunch of hippies doing yoga. If you fear that, what of al-Qaeda and those that actually want to cause harm.

[B. Max]

another group has set up an echo terrorist training camp near Edmonton to try and shut down the oilsands.

Oh please. It was a bunch of hippies doing yoga. If you fear that, what of al-Qaeda and those that actually want to cause harm.

Never under estimate the enemy.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...c93f3255&k=5882

[geoffrey]

I've never been so scared.

[B. Max]

I've never been so scared.

I think the word blind would more appropriate.

[Michael Bluth]

For once, allow me to get a thread back on topic.

I just think Elbow is prime for plucking.

If the Liberals are ever going to have a shot at a major breakthrough in Calgary, and a chance to form Government, this is the time.

Stelmach was the first choice of less than a third of PC voters. He has done a piss poor job of solidifying the party. Never mind reaching out to non-traditional PC voters.

Tomorrow night will be interesting to watch.

[B. Max]

Tomorrow night will be interesting to watch.

Maybe, but I will be more interested to watch the PC party reaction.

[fellowtraveller]

PCs will win in both ridings.

If anything else happens, the terrorists have won.

[geoffrey]

I'll wager we don't have firm results on Elbow until after the papers are printed.

[Michael Bluth]

I'll wager we don't have firm results on Elbow until after the papers are printed.

I agree with you on that one. But I think the Liberals will sneak it out...

[B. Max]

PCs will win in both ridings.

If anything else happens, the terrorists have won.

The PC's are likely toast in both. In Calgary the PC vote will likely stay home and in drum they will likely come out and vote alliance. Or perhaps even the independent candidate and maybe splt the PC vote.

[jdobbin]

PCs will win in both ridings.

If anything else happens, the terrorists have won.

I expect that if anyone else wins, you will take up arms against these terrorists and kill them.

[kimmy]

I wouldn't be at all sorry to see Alberta dump the PCs.

I just wish the Liberals had chosen somebody better than Kevin Taft. It's a key time for provincial politics in Alberta, and the PCs have not been so ripe for the picking in my lifetime, but with "Bernie" Taft at the helm, I don't think it's going to happen.

-k

[geoffrey]

I wouldn't be at all sorry to see Alberta dump the PCs.

I would be. Look around kimmy, you live in the richest region of the world, the highest per capita investment in education and health care in Canada, the youngest and most educated population in the country.

I know it's not all government, but something must be distinctive between us and the rest of Canada.

I'm not so quick to turn my back on the PC's. Sure, they've messed up a few things, but some 30 years in power will do that to you. Overall, I think we have alot to thank the PC's for, right back to Lougheed.

They've given us this opportunity. I won't kill the goose that laid my golden egg.

[kimmy]

Let's be clear on which goose laid Alberta's golden egg. It's not the government. It's the petroleum industry.

I will give the government credit for doing some things right-- maybe a lot of things, when one compares how our petroleum industry has developed compared to our neighbors to the east, who after decades of searching with both hands and a flashlight, are only now beginning to find their asses.

I applaud them for at the very least not killing the goose that laid the golden egg. But that's not exactly a glowing endorsement. Ok, Klein did a great job early in his tenure of recovering from the mess that Don Getty had created, but it seems to me that if we're crediting the PCs for recovering from that mess, we should also recall that it was them that created it in the first place.

I'm not overwhelmed by the job the PCs have done in recent years. To me, it seems as though they've gotten too cozy with certain industries, and complacent, and done a shoddy job of helping the province's infrastructure keep pace with growth.

I'm not content to just watch the government rest on its laurels, particularly ones that are becoming somewhat dated.

-k

[jbg]

Let's be clear on which goose laid Alberta's golden egg. It's not the government. It's the petroleum industry.

I know you make this point but it bears repetition. Saskatchewan has oil. Newfoundland-Labrador has oil. They're not prospering.

Both Saskatchewan and Newfoundland-Labrador make whatever income they generate from seal hunting (at least according to my Canadian news source, Rick Mercer).

[jdobbin]

I know you make this point but it bears repetition. Saskatchewan has oil. Newfoundland-Labrador has oil. They're not prospering.

Both Saskatchewan and Newfoundland-Labrador make whatever income they generate from seal hunting (at least according to my Canadian news source, Rick Mercer).

Cite that Saskatchewan is not prospering? You're an American so I don't expect you'll know about such things. This year has been some of the most explosive growth in that province.

As far as Newfoundland goes, the oil industry has done quite a lot to propel their growth. If Harper honours the Accord, they are very likely to become a "have" province in short order.

[kimmy]

The point, Dobbins, was that Alberta has been a prosperous province for decades. While Saskatchewan, with many of the same "dead dinosaur" advantages, has been a "have not" province for decades, and only in the past handful of years has begun to prosper.

Some people scoff at Alberta's prosperity and say "oh, they have oil. They're rich because they're sitting on buried treasure." Such people fail to notice that Saskatchewan is sitting on the same treasure and has lost whole generations of young people to other provinces because the leadership of the province was unable to make any advantage of it.

This is why we are acknowledging the past achievements of Alberta's leadership by making effective advantage of this buried treasure.

-k

[Black Dog]

The point, Dobbins, was that Alberta has been a prosperous province for decades. While Saskatchewan, with many of the same "dead dinosaur" advantages, has been a "have not" province for decades, and only in the past handful of years has begun to prosper.

I'm not 100 per cent on the history, but I'm fairly certain Alberta's resource industry has been active much longer than the petroleum industries in Nfld. or SK. It could simply be a question of timing.

[jdobbin]

The point, Dobbins, was that Alberta has been a prosperous province for decades. While Saskatchewan, with many of the same "dead dinosaur" advantages, has been a "have not" province for decades, and only in the past handful of years has begun to prosper.

Some people scoff at Alberta's prosperity and say "oh, they have oil. They're rich because they're sitting on buried treasure." Such people fail to notice that Saskatchewan is sitting on the same treasure and has lost whole generations of young people to other provinces because the leadership of the province was unable to make any advantage of it.

This is why we are acknowledging the past achievements of Alberta's leadership by making effective advantage of this buried treasure.

I don't think I made any Alberta criticism here. From my perspective Alberta managed to get its deficit problem under control during their last oil crunch (although even some Albertans worried just how far some of the cuts would go). Alberta managed to grow their economy at the same time. The eliminated their debt and continue to be a low tax province. Remittances from oil and now being used to manage explosive population growth and continued oil development. How that growth is managed will be the hallmark of the new government.

My point on Saskatchewan was this continued thought that Saskatchewan remains a basketcase. It isn't. It will climb into have status shortly. The amount of work to counter some of the previous government's mismanagement as well as the triple whammy of lower oil prices, low mineral prices and low agricultural price weighed heavy on Saskatchewan. However, the province is doing better on all those fronts and is now has a very promising future.

Newfoundland is probably most dependent on good oil prices to become a have province but they have had some of the most explosive GDP growth of any province over the last several years. It remains to be seen what they can do with their growth. They will always face challenges of a less diversified economy and isolation compared to other provinces. Cap that off with a large group of unemployed to start with a devastated offshore fishery, their recovery will be a lot more complicated. Still, billions are going to come in and they are going to be a have province in due course because of it.

[Black Dog]

Further to the subject of how much of Alberta's prosperity can be attributed to the actions of its government: I'm extremely skeptical. One must only look at the Klein/Stelmach regime's response (or lack thereof) to the pressures of rapid growth to see they were either caught flat-footed or were simply incapable of dealing with the inevitable consequenses. One would expect that a government with the vision and ability to lay the ground work for such propserity would be capable of dealing with its effects.

[Michael Bluth]

What time do the polls close?

Any tv coverage?

[geoffrey]

The 11 o'clocks might have some coverage, polls normally close at what, 8pm?