Ah, the Alberta election

Some time ago I wrote a post about how Ed Stelmach didn't have much of a future & it was likely the Wildrose Party would crush him.   Well I was right about Eddie boy, but wrong about the Wildrose Party. 

I admit to being interested in the Wildrose Party when they first surfaced in the Alberta electoral landscape.  The party was, at the time, essentially Danielle Smith.   She was articulate & the party had some ideas I thought were pretty good.   Ideals like allowing tax deductions for volunteered time & asking how come the tax write off for political donations was higher than those for your typical charity.  Later, Ms Smith then publicly stated she was not interested in using attack ads in any future election campaigns. 

Generally I hate pretty much all politicians.  While they may have grand ideas, in the long term they become like the Borg on Star Trek.  Ideas are formulated not for the benefit of the electorate, but for the benefit of the party (and to keep them in power).   Ms Smith and her party did just that.

Just a day after Alison Redford won the leadership of the PC's, the WR immediately released an attack ad.  The ad's focused on her party prior to her being in power & implied she was part of that.  It ignored that the PC Party was generally "top down" & decisions were mostly made by leaders.  I found the advertisements ridiculous because it assumed she would change nothing now that she COULD change it.

When the election writ was dropped, the PC's had a good lead.  That lead was eroded thanks to some of their past surfacing & because of some bungling by the newbie Redford.  The WR made gains but I firmly believed they would not win.  I'd written this controversial opinion in a newspaper stating that WR would never win a majority and that the media did not understand Alberta.  Truth is, I really came to understand Alberta when I lived in Edmonton.  It became clear that the "deep south" of Alberta IS Wildrose Country.  Calgary is not.  Calgary is too young & too cosmopolitan to vote in the WR even if the stereotype is different.  Once you head north, they too are PC supporters.  Central and North Alberta is oil country & oil types did not like the WR policy of land rights for land owners.  It would have created a mess for those in the energy industry.  And what of Edmonton?  While Edmonton is a gritty, blue collar & practical city, it's also somewhat left wing (in the Alberta sense).  Hey, it's home to the lone seat of the Federal NDP party in Old Strathcona.

The true colours of the WR Party came out during the election.  Comments made by a candidate about gays living in a lake of fire didn't go over so well.  Nor did comments about whites being able to speak for everyone.  Noted is that both of those candidates had their asses handed to them in the election.

And while such comments are abominable & disgusting, the real colours of the WR shone through AFTER the election.   After the crushing defeat, Danielle Smith said she might need to "re-investigate" some of her parties policies.  So you lost because of your policy so now your policy will be to change to whatever gets you in office?   I believe it was Ghandi that said all politics must have principle.  Clearly, that quote escaped Ms Smith & the WR party. 

Finally, this last election was another reminder to those in Alberta & across the country.  Alberta IS changing.  Just as Calgary voted in a mayor who is brown & a Muslim, Alberta voted in a leader who is center right & progressive.  These two elections pointed out what some of us living out here already knew.  It's not 1980 in Calgary anymore, it's 2012.  Things change & thankfully for the better.