Thanos Thanos:
Pretty sure that when the NDP are ousted in three years it'll be like any other election. For all the condemnation that the PC/WRA/whoever nail them with during the campaign they'll end up keeping at least half of what the Dippers put in, including most of the taxes. Gonna be a tough day for the bloviators at the SUN papers, where most of this bullshit comes from, but there will never be a Klein Part Deux era in this province. Things have changed too much since 2000 and no one will ever endorse that kind of reckless cutting in spending and irresponsible tax cuts again.
Yeah, I don't see how the NDP can stay in power, even in a minority situation.
I also agree that there is little desire for massive cuts ala Klein either - everyone still wants schools, hospitals and twinned highways - at least in their part of the province - as well as no sales tax or increases to any other taxes, so the next government is going to be stuck between a rock and a hard place like the Dippers and the PCs under Stelmach/Redford/Prentice.
Frankly, I think the Dippers are a combination of fresh faces and ruin of Alberta.
While I agree with borrowing to fund infrastructure, when you have to borrow for operational costs, something is wrong with the budget in my books. IMHO, they should have found some cuts to prevent at least some of that borrowing. This could have been something like maybe instituting a hiring freeze for all but the most critical cases (like maybe replacing retiring nurses), and a announcement that a wage freeze is coming for upcoming public sector unions (many of whose contracts are coming up for renewal in the next few years) would have been a good idea too.
I also think that the economy could handle one of their major policy changes at a time (carbon tax, minimum wage hikes, Farm Bill, early shutdown of coal-fired electricity, etc.), but by piling them all up on us over the course of a year or two, I think they are risking doing serious damage to the economy, by killing off companies like this greenhouse operation in southern Alberta:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/a ... -1.3368376All in all, I think the biggest problem is the Dipper's rush to push through all of their agenda in a couple years - had they spaced some of this out, I think it wouldn't be soo bad.
If I was a right winger in this province though, I'd be rejoicing, because of all these changes and their refusal to take a more moderate stance, I think the Dippers have set the progressive movement in Alberta back substantially. After they leave office in 2019, it will almost certainly be at a generation or two before Albertans ever consider a progressive government again.
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