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EnMasse
This place is all that is left.
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| What will be the result of the Alberta Provincial election? (83 seats up for grabs) |
| Increased PC majority. (61 or more PC seats+) |
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10% |
[ 3 ] |
| Moderately reduced PC majority (52-60 PC seats) |
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50% |
[ 15 ] |
| Drastically reduced PC majority (42-51 PC seats) |
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33% |
[ 10 ] |
| Minority government (And wouldn't the Dippers love that one!) |
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6% |
[ 2 ] |
| Liberal majority (What?!?!) |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
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| Total Votes : 30 |
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Raos
volatilis vir
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 5472
Location: Petropolis
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 Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 4:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Corey wrote: | | Quote: | | "This is not a partisan thing." |
Says the politician in the middle of doing what again? Umm. |
Yeah, I found that quite the boggling statement, as well.
Lethbridge-East will certainly be an interesting riding to watch in the next election, that's for sure. |
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2011 7:51 pm Post subject: |
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The Redford Files
| Quote: | If “the Redford Files” really are “authorized by the Wildrose Party,” as the blog-style attack website that appeared on the Internet a few days ago indicates, it is the best evidence yet the whole ramshackle far-right project is crumbling in the face of Premier Alison Redford’s Tory juggernaut.
The former Wildrose Alliance was never really the right-wing Prairie fire media made it out to be and its most devoted adherents sincerely believed after reading their own press clippings. But this little exercise in mean-spiritedness is nothing more than a puff of greasy smoke, a whiff of desperation.
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2011 7:57 pm Post subject: |
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The site itself.
Contrary to Climenhaga's hedging, yes, I think it is a Wildrose site. When I googled the phrase, I got the WR website, which contained a link. |
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DSquared
aka Aristotleded24
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 5570
Location: Winnipeg
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| Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 8:17 pm Post subject: |
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Only NDP can represent progressives:
| Quote: | Here are the nomination numbers for the three major opposition parties, which any sensible Alberta Liberal supporter must find deeply troubling:
New Democratic Party: 60
Wildrose Alliance: 58
Alberta Liberals: 19
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But while everyone else’s numbers are building, the Liberals’ tally stumbled backward Monday with the defection of Lethbridge-East MLA Bridget Pastoor to Premier Redford’s Tories. This brought nominated Alberta Liberal candidates down from the 20 noted in Dave Cournoyer’s useful Daveberta blog, consistently the best source on Alberta nomination tallies and names.
The loss of Ms. Pastoor comes on top of announcements by the backbone of the Liberal caucus – experienced MLAs like former leadership candidate Edmonton-Gold Bar MLA Hugh MacDonald, former leader and Edmonton-Riverside MLA Kevin Taft and Calgary-Varsity’s Harry Chase – that they won’t be seeking re-election. Another former potential Liberal leader, Dave Taylor, quit the caucus months ago and now sits as the Alberta Party’s sole MLA. He too won’t be running again in Calgary-Currie. |
I think in those last paragraphs are some potential low-hanging fruit for the NDP. Especially the Calgary and Edmonton seats which seem to always vote against the PCs regardless of what the polls say. I think if the NDP gets its act together in those areas, they would be well-positioned to capitalize on the anti-PC sentiment, and from there branch out.
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This is pre-eminently the time, to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
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Raos
volatilis vir
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 5472
Location: Petropolis
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| Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 7:01 pm Post subject: |
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I think the Edmonton seats in question have some short term opportunity for the NDP, but I wouldn't really call the Calgary seats low hanging fruit.
Those Calgary seats, for instance, don't, by any stretch, always vote against the PCs. You only have to go back 2 elections, to 2001, and both were PCs. 2004 was the first time the governing PCs ever lost either riding, and that was with the Liberals with the current candidates.
Further, the NDP has a long way to go in that market from even being competitive for the anti-PC vote. In every Calgary riding won by a Liberal in 2004, the NDP came in last among the "major" parties. In every one of those ridings the NDP vote was below the Wildrose candidate, and the Green candidate if one was present. The only candidates they polled ahead of in any of those ridings were Social Credit. Similarly in the Lethbridge seat whose MLA currently lost the floor, the NDP candidate came in a (distant) 4th, behind the Wildrose (though having beaten the Green candidate). |
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DSquared
aka Aristotleded24
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 5570
Location: Winnipeg
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| Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 11:33 pm Post subject: |
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That all depends on your point of view. If you're an anti-PC voter in Calgary, and you have an incumbent Liberal MLA, why would you throw your vote away on the NDP and risk the PCs running up the middle? If you're the NDP and you have limited resources, why would you invest resources into defeating incumbent MLAs in Calgary, when your best hopes (if any) are in Edmonton?
Even federally, the NDP did much better in Calgary from 2011 to 2008. Granted there probably isn't much party infrastructure outside of a few Edmonton ridings, but surely that represents support that may be counted on in the future. And besides, if you're an anti-PC voter in Calgary, and your incumbent Liberal MLA is not running again, how can you be sure that a vote for the Liberals is the best use of your franchise?
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This is pre-eminently the time, to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
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Raos
volatilis vir
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 5472
Location: Petropolis
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| Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 5:08 am Post subject: |
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| Maybe. I still doubt it, though. There just doesn't seem to be any base of support for the party in the city. If it was just strategic voting I'd expect to see a bit more in other ridings in the city that don't have an opposition incumbent to rally behind, but across the city NDP candidates universally fare pretty dismally. There were only 2 ridings in 2008 where the NDP placed third, and both were a quite distant third. In every other riding in the city they were fourth or fifth (or sixth, in two ridings). Federally the NDP saw a boost in the city in 2011 from 2008, but it wasn't very big and the numbers in 2008 already looked nothing even remotely like they did provincially. |
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 10:24 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | That all depends on your point of view. If you're an anti-PC voter in Calgary, and you have an incumbent Liberal MLA, why would you throw your vote away on the NDP and risk the PCs running up the middle? If you're the NDP and you have limited resources, why would you invest resources into defeating incumbent MLAs in Calgary, when your best hopes (if any) are in Edmonton?
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Dsquared:
I'm confused by your argument here. You're trying to argue that the NDP might have a chance in Calgary. But the scenarios you present, ie. the anti-PC vote consolidating behind the Liberals, and the NDP investing minimal sums in Calgary, seem to make the opposite point. |
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DSquared
aka Aristotleded24
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 5570
Location: Winnipeg
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| Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 4:03 pm Post subject: |
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What I'm saying is that the ground has likely shifted from 2008. If you have an incumbent not-PC MLA who is running again and you don't want the PCs to win, the best way to beat the PCs is to vote for your incumbent. At the same time, the NDP probably figured it didn't have enough to run a serious campaign in Calgary, and figured it was just as well, since the Liberal MLAs were likely to be returned, so the would have focused their energy elsewhere.
If your incumbent is not running again, then you can't vote for the incumbent. So who do you vote for? What I'm essentially arguing is that the NDP should (and probably will) put an effort in Calgary seats currently held by Liberals where the incumbents are stepping aside, especially since the NDP has its act together more than the Liberals do.
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This is pre-eminently the time, to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 3:35 pm Post subject: |
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Climenhaga on the impending demise of the Alberta Party.
I would tend to agree, even without getting into all the specifics that Climenghaga cites. I always wondered what that party thought it was doing. "Red Tories and Blue Liberals" already had two parties they could vote for, depending on which party was doing what at any given time. I never saw any rationale for a third.
Even without Redford's re-branding and Nenshi's talent-poaching in the equation, I doubt the Alberta Party ever had much of a future. |
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 3:37 pm Post subject: |
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| Also, with all due respect to Rene Levesque, I really dislike it when political parties name themselves after the province(or its people). |
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Raos
volatilis vir
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 5472
Location: Petropolis
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| Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 5:04 pm Post subject: |
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| There is a rather healthy dose of chutzpah needed to presume that moniker, isn't there? |
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F.
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 2578
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| Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 5:07 am Post subject: |
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Lévesque himself seemed to anticipate your point:
"Il est un temps où le courage et l'audace tranquilles deviennent pour un peuple aux moments clés de son existence la seule forme de prudence convenable. S'il n'accepte pas alors le risque calculé des grandes étapes, il peut manquer sa carrière à tout jamais, exactement comme l'homme qui a peur de la vie."
"There is a time when quiet courage and audacity become for a people at the key moments of its existence the only form of adequate caution. If it does not then accept the calculated risk of the great steps, it can miss its career forever, exactly like the man who is afraid of life." |
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 2:33 pm Post subject: |
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David Climenhaga on a bad-news poll for the Tories.
Climenhaga is skeptical of the numbers, for reasons he outlines in the column. The "Other Parties" ranking might not seem as strange as DC thinks, IF there has been an upsurge in support for the Greens since 2008. None of the other fringe parties could plausibly have increased their numbers by that much.
Interesting that the Post reported this as good news for the Tories, whereas in fact, if previous polls are correct, the Post's poll would indicate a huge drop in support. |
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TS.
Delicious schadenfreude
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 14585
Location: Toronto, ON
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| Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 9:39 pm Post subject: |
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Climenhaga's broadside against Forum's polling method is really just wrong. That polling method has been used in enough elections now that it can be said it is not markedly more or less accurate than any other method. Forum was also pretty close to the mark in the May 2 federal election.
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"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear." - Thomas Jefferson |
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:41 am Post subject: |
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Another National Post/Forum poll showing improved fortunes for the Wildrose...
| Quote: | Alberta’s Conservative majority remains solid, but the rookie Wildrose Alliance Party appears poised to take Official Opposition status in an upcoming spring vote, according to a poll commissioned by the National Post.
The four-year-old Wildrose won its first MLA in a 2009 byelection — and gained three more as members defected from the Progressive Conservatives. With 29% support (up from 23% in December), if Wildrose can maintain its popularity until the provincial election — expected to take place in April — it is projected to win 17 seats.
The Progressive Conservatives are projected to take 57 seats, down from a current 72.
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| Quote: | “No one’s talking about them forming governance any more — aside from Danielle Smith,” said Dave Cournoyer, a political blogger at Daveberta.ca.
Part of the problem is that Wildrose — formed largely as a reaction to Premier Ed Stelmach — does not have the former premier to kick around anymore. “Alison Redford poses a different challenge to the Wildrose alliance, you don’t get that kind of gut response from people who really had a distaste for Ed Stelmach, especially in Calgary,” said Mr. Cournoyer.
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 3:35 pm Post subject: |
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WTF? A new Leger poll...
| Quote: | The Progressive Conservatives appear to be in the driver's seat as political parties rev up to hit the campaign trail, according to a new poll.
The survey, conducted by Leger Marketing between Jan. 13 and Jan. 18, shows Premier Alison Redford and the Tories with 53 per cent support among decided voters.
That compares to 16 per cent for the Wildrose party, led by Danielle Smith, 13 per cent for Brian Mason's NDP, and 11 per cent for Raj Sherman's Liberals.
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Radically divergent results from the previous two Forum polls. Forum has Wildrose at 29%, Leger has them at 16.
(Hat tip to babble)
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 11:49 pm Post subject: |
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Keep it classy, Wildrose.
| Quote: | EDMONTON - Wildrose candidate John Oplanich is offering a big-screen television and $25,000 in University of Alberta scholarships to constituents who visit him in this Edmonton-Castle Downs campaign office.
“Come in to learn how you can win a brand new 50-inch 1080p TV valued at $1,000 on election night,” Oplanich said in a local newspaper advertisement.
“If elected as a member of the legislative assembly of Alberta I will give away $25,000 of my own money on election night in the form of $1,000 post-secondary scholarships to 25 students in the Edmonton-Castle Downs constituency.”
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:15 am Post subject: |
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And the poll numbers continue their caffeine bender(hat tip to babble)...
From February 2...
| Quote: | A telephone survey of 803 Albertans between Jan. 25 and Jan. 31 shows the PCs leading in voter preference with 46 per cent of decided voters.
The upstart Wildrose Party placed second among Alberta voters with 24 per cent, with 14 per cent of voters preferring the NDP and the official opposition Liberals trailing at 12 per cent.
The fledgling Alberta Party captured four per cent among decided voters.
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Feb. 8...
| Quote: | That’s where we have a poll Wildrosers got a peek at last weekend.
It’s by Abingdon Research and is touted as “the largest survey in Alberta history” with 23,889 completed interviews from Jan. 30 to Feb. 2.
With decided voters it’s Redford’s Progressive Conservatives at 37.9%, Wildrose at 29.4%, NDP at 14.4%, Liberal at 13.7% and others at 4.5%.
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Climenhaga expressed skepticism about Abingdon last year...
| Quote: | Finally, who or what is Abingdon Research? Well, here’s what we know: the company has no known association with any reputable polling or marketing association. It specializes in political strategy and does such things as identify support for conservative parties.
Abingdon’s principal research officer is a fellow named Hamish Marshall, who is identified on a website called “Conservative Home-Centre Right” as “a well known strategist and activist trainer within Conservative circles” and “an active Conservative in Canada.”
Mr. Marshall is married to Kathryn Marshall, University of Calgary law student, member of the U of C Wildrose Alliance Club and vocal supporter of the Wildrose Alliance.
The Marshalls, along with Mr. Marciano, also all seem to have an interesting association with Calgary West MP Rob Anders, who was born on April Fools Day 1972 here in the ’Peg, was the sometime director of director of the Astroturf organization Canadians Against Forced Unionism and is best known for calling Nelson Mandela a “terrorist.”
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Climenhaga might to have a tendency to downplay surveys showing strong support for Wildrose. Nevertheless, my alarm bells kinda went off when I read that Abingdon surveyed 23, 889 people for their latest poll. That's so astronomically outside the usual range of most surveys, it makes me wonder just what sort of survey it was exactly.
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Last edited by voice of the damned on Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:21 am; edited 2 times in total |
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 7:19 pm Post subject: |
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Cities vs. the Province
| Quote: | The explosive tweet by Premier Alison Redford’s chief of staff Stephen Carter blew up big this week, not just because it brought up bad memories around old issues of Tory arrogance but because it’s rooted in a major new issue regarding which level of government really deserves the biggest share of our tax dollars.
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| Quote: | The tweet came following a declaration last week that the Progressive Conservatives engage in favouritism when handing out grants to municipalities. This pointed critique came from Linda Sloan, a former Liberal MLA turned Edmonton city councillor and now president of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA), the umbrella group for Alberta’s town and cities.
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| Quote: | In the wake of Sloan’s rebuke, Griffiths fired off a note to the AUMA saying he and government MLAs would not attend the annual “Meet the MLAs” AUMA breakfast.
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| Quote: | Then came Tuesday night and Carter’s tweet. He was in Toronto but through the wonder of the Internet, he was able to weigh in instantaneously with the tens of thousands of us who are on Twitter. “Let’s be clear,” he wrote, “Linda Sloan didn’t just criticize the budget, she lied. Maliciously.”
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At least in Edmonton, it's likely that the Liberals(who have been bleeding pretty heavy to the Tories under Redford) or maybe the NDP would be in the best position to capitalize on this. I think in Edmonton, Wildrose is generally viewed as hostile to the city. Not sure what people in Calgary etc think. |
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 7:30 pm Post subject: |
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And oddly enough, Smith seems to have said more-or-less the same thing as Sloan, without provoking much controversy.
Sloan:
| Quote: | “In some instances, (grants) have been subject to partisan distribution: so more distribution in certain constituencies than others,” Sloan said.
“That’s just not fair. I don’t think it’s fair to pick communities one way or the other based on what their provincial voting record has been.”
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Smith:
| Quote: | “We have to say no to a government which dangles one end of a carrot up here in the north, the other end to the south and keeps us bickering long into the night,” she said. “A government that says if you don’t vote for us, we’ll help the community that did.”
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I guess Smith was speaking in generalities, whereas Sloan was referring to specific "instances". But still, the gist of both comments is pretty much the same.
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 5:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Alberta's Wild Rose party is making no apology for a coaster campaign against the province's new drunk-driving law.
Party members have been handing out beer coasters to bars and restaurants. One side has a red line running through .05 and says "drink responsibly" while the opposite side has the same red line through the letters PC, for Progressive Conservative, and says "vote responsibly".
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Obviously, handing out booze coasters is not, in and of itself, irresponsible. No moreso than a political party selling booze at one of its meetings.
Still, though. The optics are kinda bad on this. Like campaigning against a no-peanuts-in-school law by holding a fundraiser where everyone dresses as a peanut and eats peanut butter snacks. Kinda mocking the concerns of the people who support the law.
That said, I'm not entirely sure I support the govenment's bill. Alberta cops have rather questionable history with drunk-driving laws, and this new legislation seems very open to abuse.
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sparqui
Dog tired
Joined: 30 Apr 2006
Posts: 5152
Location: Winnipeg
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 3:22 am Post subject: |
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I found out that the Wild Rose Party is a client of RackNine, the media services company that is connected to the election robocalls.
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voice of the damned
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Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 7:26 pm Post subject: |
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Don Braid says that this is the first time in its history that the Tory government has used attack ads against the opposition.
| Quote: | In terms of PC tradition, the change is profound.
Ex-premier Peter Lougheed, after 1971, never mentioned the name of an opposition party in a campaign.
He thought he only needed to explain what he would do; and he was right four times.
In 1993, Ralph Klein had a quarrel with party veterans when he broke the rule because the Liberals were strong.
But even though he took on Leader Laurence Decore, his criticism was relatively mild and there were no attack ads.
After that, the PCs dropped back to their comfortable silence until the 2008 campaign, when former Premier Ed Stelmach was briefly incensed by attack ads financed through a blanket organization for unions.
The PCs responded by making that illegal, but the political opposition was so weak there was no need for the PCs to counterattack directly.
Today, Wildrose is neither weak nor poor; so the PCs enter a street-fighting world they've long had the luxury of ignoring.
And it's farewell forever, phoney civility.
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I was skeptical of that claim at first, but, thinking about it, I couldn't remember any negative ads from the Tories in the years I've followed Alberta politics. Mostly it's just Rah Rah Team stuff.
As Braid points out, the closest they came to going negative was in 1993, when it seemed like they might actually lose government to the Liberals. |
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DSquared
aka Aristotleded24
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 5570
Location: Winnipeg
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| Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:04 am Post subject: |
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Stumbled across the endorsement page for Shannon Phillips in Lethbridge West, and was very pleasantly surprised to see Leeroy Stagger as one of her endorsers. I absolutely love the song of his called, "Where I Live," which talks about issues like environmental destruction, challenges people have in making ends meet, income inequality and unemployment, and popular alienation from the political process. She sounds like a stellar candidate, any Lethbridgers care to weigh in on her chances of being elected?
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This is pre-eminently the time, to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:26 pm Post subject: |
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Along with the the drunk-driving fracas, some other things happening in Alberta right now.
Redford gets into war or words with the Mar camp, over alleged fundraising violations.
Probably doesn't hurt for Redford to be seen as scrapping with the old-guard. Unless of course the general appearance of wrongdoing affixes itself to the party as a whole.
Then there are the commitees that never met. This one will probably end being a four-way Mexican standoff, since all the parties had members on the commitees, and thus don't have much advantage in persuing the story.
Finally, the elderly woman dumped by private health-care providers at a hospital emergency ward.
| Quote: | And the appalling treatment of Grace Denyer, kicked out of the inaptly named Tranquility Care Home in south Edmonton after the private, for-profit, and apparently unregulated operator tried and failed to jack up the rent paid by her family, and dumped dazed and confused at the public Grey Nuns Hospital ER, is certain to focus more public attention on the Redford Tories’ plans to privatize and deregulate seniors’ care in this province.
In other words, this is yet another crisis for Ms. Redford’s government – which is nowadays reeling like a palooka, looking almost as befuddled as the one led by her predecessor Ed Stelmach.
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HeywoodFloyd
Token Right-Wing Mascot
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 1198
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| Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2012 3:33 pm Post subject: |
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It finally happened. An MLA so bad my vote changed. I still support the PC's overall but not this clown.
His riding is as far from the Legislature building as West Edmonton Mall,yet it cost us $93k for three years for him to drive there. Incredible.
http://bit.ly/zZExIW
| Quote: | How does Xiao’s travel tab compare to MLAs in the vicinity? Well, let’s use Liberal MLA Raj Sherman for comparison purposes. I used Sherman’s numbers because he represents Edmonton Meadowlark, which is right next door to McClung.
In 2008-09, when Xiao racked up $31,796 for travel, Sherman was reimbursed just $11,643. In 2009-10, Xiao’s whopping $35,182 year, Sherman got just $16,288. In 2010-11, when Xiao was paid ‘only’ $26,217, Sherman was reimbursed $9,608. Sherman’s total for three years comes to $37,539, which is just $2,357 more than Xiao got for one year of travel in 2009-10.
In the past three years, Xiao has been either the first or second most compensated Edmonton MLA for travel, racking up an impressive $93,195 in travel expenses. |
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Tehanu
More or less, more or less
Joined: 12 Apr 2006
Posts: 17640
Location: Seceded from the Ford Nation
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| Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2012 3:46 pm Post subject: |
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We'll get you voting Dipper yet, Heywood. Only a matter of time ...  |
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Slumberjack
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 13 Jul 2010
Posts: 919
Location: squelch~~big waves and high smiles from the stomach and intestine of capital.
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| Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2012 3:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Tehanu wrote: | | We'll get you voting Dipper yet, Heywood. Only a matter of time ... |
Please tell me this is not your sole aim here....a recruiting center.
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There is this old notion, Bolshevik, a little frigid for sure; the building of the Party. I think that our present war is about giving new content to this depopulated fiction. |
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Cartman
Beyond cuddly
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 8635
Location: OMG! They killed Jason Kenney!
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Willow
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 01 Aug 2007
Posts: 264
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2012 1:59 pm Post subject: |
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hahaha, that picture is too funny.
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Caissa
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 14 Jun 2006
Posts: 1146
Location: Saint John
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| Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2012 2:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Bus enhancement? |
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Vundo Draxon
Leftist-rightie and rightist-leftie
Joined: 12 Apr 2006
Posts: 1712
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| Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2012 3:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Caissa wrote: | | Bus enhancement? |
Yeah, something didn't look natural there... |
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2012 4:16 pm Post subject: |
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To get a bit more high-brow here...
| Quote: | University of Alberta political scientist Linda Trimble reviewed the party leadership race Ms. Smith won, and found the media coverage to be gender-neutral. Prof. Trimble, who has long studied the treatment of women in politics, said coverage of right-wing female leaders tends to be less sexualized than those with centre-left parties.
The early reaction to the Wildrose bus didn’t seem to be an unfair treatment of a female leader, Prof. Trimble believes.
“Yes, it’s fair. It’s part of the campaign. It has news value because it’s immediately quite striking. I’m reminded of Gilles Duceppe’s hairnet photo,” Prof. Trimble said...
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| Quote: | | “It’s more of an issue about the role of social media than it is about the campaign bus. You don’t need to say anything, you just circulate the image,” said Prof. Trimble |
Trimble is right, I think, IF we're just talking about the spread of the image itself via social media. But if you read the comments section of the news sites, there's every combination of double-entendre joke being made, and repeated ad nauseum, by the participants.
Though, in fairness to the on-line humourists, this is one instance where the joke is pretty much just begging to be made. I guess it's a fine line between making a justified quip about an obviously funny photo, and droning on incessantly with cheezy frat-house humour.
link |
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Vundo Draxon
Leftist-rightie and rightist-leftie
Joined: 12 Apr 2006
Posts: 1712
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| Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 12:56 am Post subject: |
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| Here is how I think of it: if there was a funny photo of a male leader with some sort of phallic imagery involved, would it receive the same reaction? I think it would. But try reversing the genders when you see reporters micro-analyzing the clothing worn be female leaders. We never receive intricately detailed accounts of the suits worn by male politicians, but for some reason it's often brought up what our female politicians are wearing. That fails the reversal test. |
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Here is how I think of it: if there was a funny photo of a male leader with some sort of phallic imagery involved, would it receive the same reaction? I think it would. |
I agree. And another criteria I'd add is whether or not the candidate is being sexualized beyond what is justified by the visual pun. Danielle Smith signed off on the bus design(or at least the hiring of the people responsible), so she's the one who made herself into the butt of the joke. As long as the jokes are confined to pointing out that the wheels appear like breasts in the design, and don't get into personal innuendo about Smith, I think it's basically okay. |
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Vundo Draxon
Leftist-rightie and rightist-leftie
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 4:07 pm Post subject: |
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Things with wheels seem to be a bit of an issue for Wildrose these days...
Wildrose MLA vs. sheriff in parking-space dispute.
Last edited by voice of the damned on Thu Mar 22, 2012 5:28 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
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| Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 5:27 pm Post subject: |
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The Edmonton Journal gives more detail about what Anderson said(according to the sheriff)...
| Quote: | “Rob said in a raised voice, wide eyes, and pointing his finger at me, ‘I will be talking to your supervisor about you and your job here,’” the sheriff said in her incident report, obtained by the Journal.
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Chester
not crazy about trees
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 2521
Location: Saskatoon
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| Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 5:35 pm Post subject: |
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| voice of the damned wrote: | The Edmonton Journal gives more detail about what Anderson said(according to the sheriff)...
| Quote: | “Rob said in a raised voice, wide eyes, and pointing his finger at me, ‘I will be talking to your supervisor about you and your job here,’” the sheriff said in her incident report, obtained by the Journal.
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the second link is to CBC too, not the Journal...hey i want to read the fireworks! |
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 7:52 pm Post subject: |
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| My apologies. Here it is. |
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Chester
not crazy about trees
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 2521
Location: Saskatoon
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| Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 10:08 pm Post subject: |
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thanks. are super-ego and conceit over reresented in the conservative psychology? "you need to know who I am"...yes SIR, Mr. Fancy-Pants. and the "i'll have your job" threat, gets thrown out right after the "i pay your salary" declaration within about three seconds of any interaction with a public servant that does't go how they think it should go. |
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
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| Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 4:51 pm Post subject: |
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The writ has been dropped. April 23rd.
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
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| Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 4:56 pm Post subject: |
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The Globe And Mail has a breakdown on all the four major parties.
Not quite sure where they're getting this "wildcard" label for Raj Sherman. It seems pretty predictable what's going to happen to his party on election day. Maybe they're talking about his mercurial persona, in which case I think "live wire" or "maverick" would be the more appropriate word. |
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
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| Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 11:44 pm Post subject: |
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Well, this is not something I was expecting to see debated...
| Quote: | In the wake of an Ontario court decision declaring Canada's anti-prostitution laws unconstitutional, Redford also attacked Wildrose leader Danielle Smith for her support of red-light districts.
“I urge Prime Minister Harper ... to continue Canada’s strong opposition to legalized prostitution,” Redford said in a statement. “As Justice Minister, I saw first-hand what this type of life does to families and communities.”
In 2003, Smith wrote an editorial for the Calgary Herald in which she said “it’s no surprise sex-trade workers are the most vocal advocates for decriminalization. If the status quo is this bad, legalization can’t be worse,” Smith wrote. “City council should establish a red-light district and begin to clean up the neighbourhoods -- and the profession.” On Monday, Smith said her views on prostitution are likely no different from Redford's and that she hasn't encountered any Albertans who want prostitution legalized.
"It's pretty surprising with all the issues that this government is facing that they would trot out a 10-year-old column as the most important issue facing Alberta," Smith said. Albertans have to be asking for prostitution to be legalized. No one wants to go there."
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Gotta say, I agree with Smith that this issue seems rather forced into the campaign by Redford(probably as a wedge issue to pull SoCons away from Wildrose). Though I guess if you've expressed an opinion in a newspaper column, you should be prepared to stand by it.
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The Evil Twin
Stoned Immaculate
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 3746
Location: Toronto
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| Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 2:39 am Post subject: |
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It's also too bad that Smith doesn't want to discuss it, because this quote (from her old column) seems to be one of the few things I could ever agree with her on:
| Quote: | | “it’s no surprise sex-trade workers are the most vocal advocates for decriminalization. If the status quo is this bad, legalization can’t be worse,” Smith wrote. “City council should establish a red-light district and begin to clean up the neighbourhoods -- and the profession.” |
Advocates for sex trade workers and other groups working with the marginalized (like Libby Davies) have been saying something similar for decades. Own your earlier statement, Smith! Don't be a coward!
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
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Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 2:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Own your earlier statement, Smith! |
Not likely. With a few notable exceptions(eg. Ron Paul, who's not really playing to win), libertarians running under the banner of big-tent conservative parties never present their full program to the public. "You have the right to pull your kids out of sex-ed" might play in the Bible Belt. "You have the right to buy and sell handjobs in a red-light district", not so much.
And yeah, as some other commentators have already observed, this is the most negative the Alberta Tories have gone in living memory. Some hints as to why they're adopting these tactics on the very first day of the campaign...
| Quote: | An Ipsos-Reid poll released late Monday by Global News showed the Progressive Conservatives and the Wildrose tied with 38 per cent of support among decided voters. The NDP are at 12 per cent, the Liberals at 11 per cent.
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If the WRP is at 38% provincewide, their numbers are likely to be considerably higher in the rural constituencies.
link |
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6140
Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 2:41 pm Post subject: |
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Don Braid has a wrap-up of the "red-light" controversy, including the full text of Redford's press release and Smith's original column.
Some embarrasing juxtapositions from the press release...
| Quote: | Danielle Smith, Wildrose Alliance:
“Calgary might as well establish a red-light district.” – Calgary Herald, Nov. 23, 2003
“It’s no surprise sex-trade workers are the most vocal advocates for decriminalization.
If the status quo is this bad, legalization can’t be worse.” – Calgary Herald, Nov. 23, 2003
“City council should establish a red-light district and begin to clean up the
neighbourhoods — and the profession.” – Calgary Herald, Nov. 23, 2003
Statement from Wildrose MLAs Rob Anderson and Heather Forsyth, first issued in 2010 at an earlier stage of the legal proceeding, and repeated Monday:
“No little girl ever dreams of growing up and becoming a prostitute and no parent wants to see their child become a sex worker. Girls become prostitutes because they are coerced, degraded, and give up hope for their futures. Instead of making it easier and safer for young girls to sell their bodies, our government should be focused on stopping those who seek to victimize women, and ensure all our children receive the education they need to be successful in their lives. The Wildrose Caucus supports the federal government in seeking an appeal to this decision.”
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But Smith's column is actually spot on the money, and, apart from a few terminological issues(eg. "girls" to mean adult prostitutes) is, as Evil Twin said, something most progressives would probably agree with.
| Quote: | Even worse, one gets the impression that prostitutes are deemed unworthy of the same basic rights to protection the rest of us enjoy.
When a prostitute is raped, beaten or even murdered, her assailant is seldom brought to justice. The book Serial Killers from A-Z contains a section on unsolved multiple murders, a shocking number of which are prostitute slayings. A 2001 study of prostitutes on Vancouver’s East Side, conducted by the Prostitution Alternatives Counselling Education Society, found that police misconduct and violence towards prostitutes is also rampant — allegations include sexual and physical assaults, theft, threats and attempted murder.
Moreover, when a customer refuses to pay for the services he’s received, a prostitute has no recourse to collect on the debt. If she works for a pimp, she has no ability to negotiate wages, benefits, hours of work or working conditions, or even leave the profession. There is no access to treatment for those addicted to drugs. A john has no idea when he picks up a “date” whether she is infected with a venereal disease or HIV.
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But yeah. The favourable quote from Heidi Fleiss at the end probably wouldn't play too well in the Baptist donut shops. |
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