[RD] The writ is dropped: Alberta provincial election 2019

[Valka D'Ur]

Four years ago, Evie made a thread titled Is it opposite day in Valka-land? (Alberta provincial elections). The reason for this is because for the first time in 44 years, it looked like we were going to actually get a change of government, from Conservative to NDP.

Well, we did (and it snowed that night in May, bringing on jokes about "the NDP being elected in Alberta when hell freezes over"). We've had four years of the New Democratic Party running things, and now it's time for another election. Premier Rachel Notley has dropped the writ and voting day is April 16.

I know there are several CFCOT members from Alberta, so I thought we could get a discussion going. Have the past four years have a positive, negative, or indifferent effect on your lives? What are the issues you'd like to see raised during the campaign?

What do you think of Jason Kenney basically trying to get the provincial equivalent to the CPC (aka Reformacon) going in Alberta? I don't care what they call themselves, it's still basically the Reform party.

My local UCP candidate and some of her people blitzed the apartment building over a week ago (they only managed this because someone on staff had left the front door open, presumably to accommodate a move-in/out or maybe for some other delivery) and my door got bammed on. I did take the opportunity to raise some issues with her (to do with AISH and various health-related needs that the disabled population here has that have never been adequately addressed; I reminded her that we are also voters and taxpayers).

Attack ads have been on TV for several weeks now, and many Conservatives seem to have only two things on their minds: killing the carbon tax and venting about Justin Trudeau. There are others who want to put a stop to GSAs in schools and are still insisting that we need American-style health care.

Personally, I'm not that much better off now than I was 4 years ago. A few weeks ago it seems that Rachel Notley suddenly realized that AISH recipients are also voters and gave us a token raise in benefits. It wasn't enough to be meaningful, however, given that rent and electricity also went up. The government (any government) doesn't seem to be in a hurry to put in any sort of bus system to help people get from city to city since the demise of Greyhound service last fall, so that still leaves a lot of people stranded in whatever city they're in. But by golly, they had $$$$$$$$$ to throw at the Calgary Olympic bid for the 2026 Winter Games, and they want to have bus service between Calgary, Canmore, and Banff.

I'd love to take that bus to Banff. But first I'd have to get to Calgary, and there isn't any reliable way to do so. Able-bodied people can take Red Arrow. But people who use mobility aides are stuck, since handi-buses don't go out of town except on medical charters (very pricey).

I'm also curious to know what the candidates are telling people about the earthquake we had here a few weeks back (I didn't feel it but others did south of here and in a couple of the surrounding towns). It's due to fracking, and of course there are plenty of Conservative politicians who insist it's no big deal to have earthquakes in regions that haven't had them in decades/centuries/millennia.

@Evie, I don't know if you're following this election; if you are, your participation would be welcome.

As for how I plan to vote... I know I'm on the voters' list as that was updated a few months ago. I just need to find out how to arrange a special ballot (which will hopefully go smoothly as provincial Returning Officers aren't usually as hard to deal with as the federal ones). There's not as much choice this time, but ABC is as important as ever since Jason Kenney learned every dirty trick he knows from his time in federal politics with Stephen Harper.

Oh, and to nobody's surprise, it's come out that he did not win his own party leadership position honestly or ethically. Not that I care about the other guy since he used to lead the Wildrose Party, but it's the principle of the thing.

 

[metatron]

A few things, if i may:

1. This sudden election business is making me dizzy.
If i was Canadian this would stress me and i'd claim to be to old for this.

2. Given the opposition to Trudeau's Premiership and anticipation of the federal election i suppose the UCP are going full "oh they are all the same those silly lefties" or something like that?
How effective is that in general and how effective do you think it will be in this case?

3. As polls have it the NDP government defending the Premiership is, well, unlikely but at least... possible.
I understand that Notley has called the election somewhat strategically and that her "play" is credited as sound.
How confident are you that the gap in the polls can be closed?

4. Are you pleased with... Kim Schreiner?

5. In any event: Best of luck.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

A few things, if i may:

1. This sudden election business is making me dizzy.
If i was Canadian this would stress me and i'd claim to be to old for this.

It wasn't sudden. Notley had a deadline (end of May, by which time we had to have held the election), and Jason Kenney has been egging her on for weeks. I don't know why she chose April 16, but for me it's as good a day as any.

2. Given the opposition to Trudeau's Premiership and anticipation of the federal election i suppose the UCP are going full "oh they are all the same those silly lefties" or something like that?
How effective is that in general and how effective do you think it will be in this case?

Notley has been criticized by Kenney, et. al for "cozying" up to Justin Trudeau and being "friends" with him, according to a couple of obnoxious TV ads that have been infesting our TVs for the past couple of months (the reason why I started watching my soap opera online; I hate political ads).

The thing is, she was damned if she did and damned if she didn't. Alberta's major economic issue is oil, and while the NDP are more environmentally oriented than any other party except the Greens, in a province like Alberta it's a case of being forced to push through whatever is necessary to get the oil flowing.

She's widely blamed for the carbon tax that was imposed. People like me (low-income) get a twice-yearly rebate, but that amount wouldn't begin to cover the whopper of an electricity bill I just received for February (at least 3 weeks of needing a space heater running because this place was freezing; my bill was over $100 higher than normal). What people keep overlooking is that Trudeau told the provinces to come up with a carbon tax themselves or he (the federal government) would do it for them.

There are some people who think all NDP governments are "socialist" but the reality is that they vary from province to province. This is the first time Alberta has had one, so we have no past records to compare this one with. Prior to 2015 we had 80 years of right-wing government. As I mentioned in @Evie's thread four years ago, my dad lived his first 10 months under a left-wing government. The next time we got one, he had just turned 80 years old. My mother lived her entire life under a right-wing government. So there aren't a lot of people alive now in Alberta who remember what the provincial government was like in the 1930s.

The UCP (United Conservative Party, cobbled together from the provincial Progressive Conservative and Wildrose parties plus assorted western separatists and other right-wingers) is led by Jason Kenney, who four years ago was one of Stephen Harper's prominent cabinet ministers. Kenney was Minister of Immigration and one of his policies helped Harper lose the election (the issue over whether a Muslim woman could wear a niqab while taking the oath of citizenship). I sincerely believe that Kenney's intention is to establish a provincial government run like Harper ran the federal CPC (Conservative Party of Canada). It's not an unreasonable belief, as we see already that he cheated to get the leadership.

Will it be effective for Kenney and his ilk to paint the NDP/"lefties" as all the same? It seems to work on their already-faithful.

Last time around, the NDP victory here was looked on as a hopeful sign that the federal NDP would do well. I very much doubt that the federal NDP will do well in any case, given how weak Jagmeet Singh is as a leader. I have no confidence in him, so when we have the federal election this fall, I anticipate voting Green (though that might change depending on who the local candidates are; of course it ultimately doesn't matter because that disgusting creep we have now from the CPC is going to win anyway).

3. As polls have it the NDP government defending the Premiership is, well, unlikely but at least... possible.
I understand that Notley has called the election somewhat strategically and that her "play" is credited as sound.
How confident are you that the gap in the polls can be closed?

It depends on how many more misdeeds can be uncovered that were committed by Kenney and his people to secure the leadership of his party. But then we are talking about the province where most voters ignored the unethical behavior and blatant cheating that Harper used in order to "win" his elections.

Right now I have to say "I don't know." The campaign is short by most countries' standards, but it's long enough that anything can happen.

But sadly it may be that our next government will be UCP and I'm going to have to be worried that some of the health care reforms and other related things will not go forward after all (our local hospital, for instance, doesn't have adequate facilities to treat heart attack patients in spite of the fact that we have over 100,000 people here plus we serve numerous small towns and cities around Central Alberta; there isn't even room to do the kind of eye surgery I just had - I had to go to a hospital in a nearby town)

4. Are you pleased with... Kim Schreiner?

I have no idea. I know she's my MLA and I did vote for her (as the candidate for the party), but other than that, I can't match a face to the name and I've heard very little about her. That's the case when an MLA is a backbencher who never gets near cabinet.

5. In any event: Best of luck.

Thanks.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I understand that. But it still looks stressful to me.
Like, if i understand the whole thing correctly, there's basically three months where you can't go on a three-week vacation. If you do you might just miss the election.
I mean sure, you probably have neighbors in care of your flowers and whatnot and they can mail you the thing, presumably, but still: Stressful!

(I'm presuming you get a thing in the mail.)

Or can you, like, preemtively have mail voting stuff get forwarded?
Like:
"We're gonna be in Tahiti all month. If you want to pull the trigger on the election mail us our stuff, please."

Mail what thing? Unless you apply for a mail-in ballot or qualify for an in-home ballot, you have to vote either at the advance poll, at the Returning Office for your riding, or wait until polling day.

 

[Bootstoots]

What are the polls like? Are the Conservatives going to crush the NDP, thawing hell and leading to 50 more years of Conservative rule?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

What are the polls like? Are the Conservatives going to crush the NDP, thawing hell and leading to 50 more years of Conservative rule?

The polls are a bit weird. They show the UCP leading by quite a bit, but other polls show that Rachel Notley is more popular personally than her party is and Jason Kenney is less popular personally than his party is.

There have been indications lately that Jason Kenney is basically Harper 2.0 and sees nothing wrong with cheating to win his own party leadership and "spending millions" to counter any groups who criticize those parties, companies, or government itself for being "pro-oil."

So if Kenney wins, it's back to environmental scientists being muzzled, environmental groups being labeled "terrorists" and non-profit environmental organizations being harassed by CRA and being stripped of their non-profit status. IOW, business as usual for the Reformacons.

Right now I don't know what's going to happen. It does have a psychological effect between what happens federally and provincially even though the parties aren't connected. People look at Jagmeet Singh of the federal NDP and see his very inept leadership and wonder why they should vote for Notley (other people say Notley should run for the federal leadership).

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I suspected there was some sort of notification in the mail.

Anyway, my point was: Suppose you were to plan to go on vacation for a month and the election could be called while you're away. What could you do?
As i understand it the advance poll is only a week before the election.


Not great:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Alberta_general_election#Opinion_polling

I'm still not clear on what you mean by notification in the mail.

Unless it's what's called a "snap election" where one day everything is normal and the next day the PM or Premier decides to call an election, there are usually signs weeks in advance (not literal signs, although there may be "government announcements" that read like campaign literature and "opposition announcements" that read like attack ads).

Anyone serious about voting should think about whether or not they'll be in the riding on voting day and if not, they need to make some kind of advance arrangement.

If you're away when the writ is dropped and won't be home in time for voting day, the best you can do is (if out of the country) try to arrange a mail-in ballot with the nearest Canadian consulate. Some people do use this method (snowbirds and people contracted to work overseas for months at a time), but of course this is no guarantee that their ballots will arrive on time.

 

[metatron]

I'm still not clear on what you mean by notification in the mail.

Oh, i just assumed people get... a thing.
Surely the province has a duty to notify citizens that the election is happening.
I can easily see that this could happen via radio and local newspapers instead, though.

If you're away when the writ is dropped and won't be home in time for voting day, the best you can do is (if out of the country) try to arrange a mail-in ballot with the nearest Canadian consulate. Some people do use this method (snowbirds and people contracted to work overseas for months at a time), but of course this is no guarantee that their ballots will arrive on time.

That's what i mean.
Stressful!

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Surely the province has a duty to notify citizens that the election is happening.

They actually don't. I missed voting in the last municipal election because I'd moved, got missed in the census, and forgot about the election. Since I don't take the local paper either electronically or get a physical copy delivered, I didn't realize anything was going on (easy to miss election signs when you never go anywhere and candidates aren't allowed to go doorknocking in apartment buildings).

I plan to remedy that this year, even though the next municipal elections aren't for another 2 1/2 years. The census starts in a week and a half, and I plan to phone City Hall and get everything answered (saves having to wait for someone to come knocking; I used to work as a city census taker and remember how stressful apartment buildings are).

As for the provincial election, I found out when I read my morning email from CBC.ca. I get these emails twice a day, focusing on Canada in general, and specifically from Edmonton and Calgary (since Red Deer doesn't rate a category of its own, we tend to get sandwiched in with the other two somewhere). Also, there's a free weekly newspaper that gets delivered here. I usually pick it up for the grocery flyers, but sometimes there's an article worth reading. The election announcement was on the front page.

So now I just need to find out where the Returning Office is in my riding, register for a special ballot (and argue about it if the Returning Officer is an idiot who doesn't know about such things), and make an appointment for someone to come by closer to election day (since I don't know everyone who's running here yet).

 

[metatron]

@Valka D'Ur
Have you watched the debate?
If so, what's your take on it?
(I haven't seen it - watching some CBC summary right now...)

 

[Valka D'Ur]

@Valka D'Ur
Have you watched the debate?
If so, what's your take on it?
(I haven't seen it - watching some CBC summary right now...)

I didn't watch it; there should be something uploaded by now. A friend watched it and told me what it was like (I had other concerns besides watching TV, since a pipe burst in the building and we had no water - I had to cancel a home care appointment and decide whether to stay home or go to the mall).

I've already voted (see my recent post in the Rants thread for what that was like; I had to inform the Returning Officer that I don't care if the advance polls haven't opened yet; he told me I could vote there, so I would not leave until I'd voted).

In case anyone's wondering, I voted NDP. It's not that I'm enamored of everything Rachel - some of her decisions haven't been good ones - but the alternative is so much worse.

And people are being targeted for vandalism and destruction of property if they display an NDP lawn sign.

 

[Patine]

Four years ago, Evie made a thread titled Is it opposite day in Valka-land? (Alberta provincial elections). The reason for this is because for the first time in 44 years, it looked like we were going to actually get a change of government, from Conservative to NDP.

Well, we did (and it snowed that night in May, bringing on jokes about "the NDP being elected in Alberta when hell freezes over"). We've had four years of the New Democratic Party running things, and now it's time for another election. Premier Rachel Notley has dropped the writ and voting day is April 16.

I know there are several CFCOT members from Alberta, so I thought we could get a discussion going. Have the past four years have a positive, negative, or indifferent effect on your lives? What are the issues you'd like to see raised during the campaign?

What do you think of Jason Kenney basically trying to get the provincial equivalent to the CPC (aka Reformacon) going in Alberta? I don't care what they call themselves, it's still basically the Reform party.

My local UCP candidate and some of her people blitzed the apartment building over a week ago (they only managed this because someone on staff had left the front door open, presumably to accommodate a move-in/out or maybe for some other delivery) and my door got bammed on. I did take the opportunity to raise some issues with her (to do with AISH and various health-related needs that the disabled population here has that have never been adequately addressed; I reminded her that we are also voters and taxpayers).

Attack ads have been on TV for several weeks now, and many Conservatives seem to have only two things on their minds: killing the carbon tax and venting about Justin Trudeau. There are others who want to put a stop to GSAs in schools and are still insisting that we need American-style health care.

Personally, I'm not that much better off now than I was 4 years ago. A few weeks ago it seems that Rachel Notley suddenly realized that AISH recipients are also voters and gave us a token raise in benefits. It wasn't enough to be meaningful, however, given that rent and electricity also went up. The government (any government) doesn't seem to be in a hurry to put in any sort of bus system to help people get from city to city since the demise of Greyhound service last fall, so that still leaves a lot of people stranded in whatever city they're in. But by golly, they had $$$$$$$$$ to throw at the Calgary Olympic bid for the 2026 Winter Games, and they want to have bus service between Calgary, Canmore, and Banff.

I'd love to take that bus to Banff. But first I'd have to get to Calgary, and there isn't any reliable way to do so. Able-bodied people can take Red Arrow. But people who use mobility aides are stuck, since handi-buses don't go out of town except on medical charters (very pricey).

I'm also curious to know what the candidates are telling people about the earthquake we had here a few weeks back (I didn't feel it but others did south of here and in a couple of the surrounding towns). It's due to fracking, and of course there are plenty of Conservative politicians who insist it's no big deal to have earthquakes in regions that haven't had them in decades/centuries/millennia.

@Evie, I don't know if you're following this election; if you are, your participation would be welcome.

As for how I plan to vote... I know I'm on the voters' list as that was updated a few months ago. I just need to find out how to arrange a special ballot (which will hopefully go smoothly as provincial Returning Officers aren't usually as hard to deal with as the federal ones). There's not as much choice this time, but ABC is as important as ever since Jason Kenney learned every dirty trick he knows from his time in federal politics with Stephen Harper.

Oh, and to nobody's surprise, it's come out that he did not win his own party leadership position honestly or ethically. Not that I care about the other guy since he used to lead the Wildrose Party, but it's the principle of the thing.

I must admit, as a social worker, I am quite worried about this upcoming election. The NDP built a whole bunch of new projects and made new rules to keep abuses of the system in check or stop people quickly ending up back on the streets, except the most willfully incalcitrant. Even the old PC's (pre-Wildrose merger, and barring the period of "Klein cuts") were better in those regards than any other centre-right Provincial Government in Canada BY FAR. Also, Kenney seems to lack a real plan and is light on details, heavily relying, instead, on attacks to make his campaign points - like Scheer Federally, or Ford did in Ontario - or, for a large part, Trump in 2016. The problem is, in the current day and age, this tactic seems to work - which is not a good sign of the times as a whole. So, indeed, as I said, I am very worried.

Also, I couldn't help but notice that a candidate for a far-right-wing fringe party (there have been quite a few of those in Alberta political history, often with as much chance of winning a seat, realistically as Naomi Rankin of the Communist Party of Alberta), some guy named Joe Hankins of the Alberta Independence Party, put a campaign sign across the street from me, in the Edmonton-Highlands Constituency, which has been an NDP stronghold (and Brian Mason's constituency) for several Legislative sessions before the 2015 Election even came around. I found that a bit curious.

 

[Hamid.H]

Also, I couldn't help but notice that a candidate for a far-right-wing fringe party

how could anyone not notice? by allowing trump getting elected and a vote to take place for a brexit the nazis have been emboldened and have been crawling out of the woodwork ever since.

hh

 

[Valka D'Ur]

how could anyone not notice? by allowing trump getting elected and a vote to take place for a brexit the nazis have been emboldened and have been crawling out of the woodwork ever since.

hh

We've had Alberta independence kooks around for decades - long before Trump's election. Preston Manning actually kicked some of them out of his original Reform Party (the one that's been constantly changing its name, pretending to be respectable and now calls itself the Conservative Party of Canada after hijacking the Progressive Conservatives). He considered them unelectable, as well as the far-right religious ones (who think like Jason Kenney and want to turn society back to the 1950s or worse).

Recently on CBC there was an article mentioning that Kenney has been spreading scaremongering propaganda, stating that about half of Albertans are in favor of independence from Canada, which is ridiculous. Of course the anti-Alberta crowd from Ontario on east just lapped this up, and I had to figure out how to say that Alberta separatists are crazy and nobody takes them seriously but themselves, without having it censored by the CBC's unaccountable "moderators".

 

[Patine]

We've had Alberta independence kooks around for decades - long before Trump's election. Preston Manning actually kicked some of them out of his original Reform Party (the one that's been constantly changing its name, pretending to be respectable and now calls itself the Conservative Party of Canada after hijacking the Progressive Conservatives). He considered them unelectable, as well as the far-right religious ones (who think like Jason Kenney and want to turn society back to the 1950s or worse).

Recently on CBC there was an article mentioning that Kenney has been spreading scaremongering propaganda, stating that about half of Albertans are in favor of independence from Canada, which is ridiculous. Of course the anti-Alberta crowd from Ontario on east just lapped this up, and I had to figure out how to say that Alberta separatists are crazy and nobody takes them seriously but themselves, without having it censored by the CBC's unaccountable "moderators".

Today, after he's been calling me several times to get a "pitch" at me, I actually Call Blocked Tom Something, the spokesman of Lily Lie, the UCP candidate in my riding. He wasn't even a robocall - he actually wanted to yap at me and make me answer questions I was already quite decided on and try to tell me I actually don't understand the situation somehow.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

There is something bizarre going on in the Returning Office here in Red Deer North. A friend who also lives in this riding went there and asked to vote, but was told she couldn't until the advance polls open later this week.

My question to them: If you don't want people to vote prior to the advance polls, WTH is the reason for having two voting stations already set up there? Last week I told them I had been told I could vote there, and would not leave until I'd voted. So now my friend has asked if I'm sure it's actually going to be counted - maybe as soon as I left, they removed my ballot and tossed it, out of spite. Of course that would be all kinds of illegal, and this is behavior I'd expect from a Reformacon Returning Officer, rather than one appointed by the NDP (normally it's the incumbent party that nominates/hires the Returning Officer, Deputy Returning Officers, Poll Clerks, etc.).

This is going to make for a fascinating email with the CBC Scrutineer reporter...

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Well, it's over. We will have Harper's lapdog running Alberta for the next four years. That's Jason Kenney, the anti-LGBT, anti-choice, bigoted, racist <censored> POCS who didn't even win his own party leadership honestly (the RCMP investigation is ongoing; bets on how fast that's going to be dropped now?).

The results (leading/elected): UCP: 62 seats. NDP: 25 seats. No other party's candidates won any seats.

Reformacon and Trump fans will be ecstatic and I should really stay off the CBC comment boards tomorrow. It's going to be toxic.

Oh, and I have a bone to pick with the building manager here. He said I couldn't put an election sign in my window. I looked it up and I can so. The Election Act says I can, so come the fall, I might say 'yes' to whichever federal candidate asks (providing it's either Green or NDP).

 

[Synobun]

My condolences to you guys. Awful news.

 

[Patine]

Well, it's over. We will have Harper's lapdog running Alberta for the next four years. That's Jason Kenney, the anti-LGBT, anti-choice, bigoted, racist <censored> POCS who didn't even win his own party leadership honestly (the RCMP investigation is ongoing; bets on how fast that's going to be dropped now?).

The results (leading/elected): UCP: 62 seats. NDP: 25 seats. No other party's candidates won any seats.

Reformacon and Trump fans will be ecstatic and I should really stay off the CBC comment boards tomorrow. It's going to be toxic.

Oh, and I have a bone to pick with the building manager here. He said I couldn't put an election sign in my window. I looked it up and I can so. The Election Act says I can, so come the fall, I might say 'yes' to whichever federal candidate asks (providing it's either Green or NDP).

But, he has the second or third smallest majority (by percentage of seats) of any government in Alberta history. That SHOULD be a message to him in his governance of the Province. He'll probably ignore that message, even though the boisterous Ralph Klein even made a vocal mention of his "humbled mandate" in his final election - and he still had a slightly higher percentage of majority.

Either way, as a social worker, I'm bracing for the storm.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

But, he has the second or third smallest majority (by percentage of seats) of any government in Alberta history. That SHOULD be a message to him in his governance of the Province. He'll probably ignore that message, even though the boisterous Ralph Klein even made a vocal mention of his "humbled mandate" in his final election - and he still had a slightly higher percentage of majority.

Either way, as a social worker, I'm bracing for the storm.

Ralph Klein is roasting you-know-where, and deservedly so. It's absolutely sickening how his name is being trotted out on some of the comment pages like Kenney is expected to be Klein 2.0 (there are people who see this as both a good thing and a bad thing).

What scares me is that he might decide that a $97 increase to AISH recipients is too generous.

And WTH is with this hatred of the farm safety bill? I had to unfriend someone on FB a couple of years ago because she's a farmer, and her feed started including links to people who were advocating for Rachel Notley to be assassinated.

I guess Reformacon farmers like the idea of their workers and children being chewed to pieces by machinery and not having to pay any sort of compensation.