[DrCaleb]

mtbr mtbr:

How come people don't turn up and vote? How can these "dinosaurs" have some sway?


The opposition can't even launch an attack, they started a month before the election was called look what it got them.

You don't live here so you can't offer a justifiable opinion.


Despite what the left wing media tells you outside and inside of Alberta , Albertans are happy.

Thats all that matters.

To quote a friend of mine in another thread:

Whalen Costen Whalen Costen:

Having run in two elections now, I can relate to what Susan said above, however I also relate to the sentiments of Dr.C. I see a new awareness in people and I think they have simply stopped believing in the system. The PC's are flush with campaign money to saturate airwaves, signs everywhere etc while the other parties do not have the resources, nor the manpower to develop the momentum for a campaign that can reach all voters. However, I don't even think that is the main problem.

From my point of view, many Albertan's have stopped believing that any candidate can or will truly represent them. We see the machine working for the corporations and so cease to invest in a system that doesn't serve. When people stop believing, a system crumbles, when investors lose faith in the stock market it fails, it is the same with the political system.

[mtbr]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

mtbr mtbr:

How come people don't turn up and vote? How can these "dinosaurs" have some sway?


The opposition can't even launch an attack, they started a month before the election was called look what it got them.

You don't live here so you can't offer a justifiable opinion.


Despite what the left wing media tells you outside and inside of Alberta , Albertans are happy.

Thats all that matters.

To quote a friend of mine in another thread:

Whalen Costen Whalen Costen:

Having run in two elections now, I can relate to what Susan said above, however I also relate to the sentiments of Dr.C. I see a new awareness in people and I think they have simply stopped believing in the system. The PC's are flush with campaign money to saturate airwaves, signs everywhere etc while the other parties do not have the resources, nor the manpower to develop the momentum for a campaign that can reach all voters. However, I don't even think that is the main problem.

From my point of view, many Albertan's have stopped believing that any candidate can or will truly represent them. We see the machine working for the corporations and so cease to invest in a system that doesn't serve. When people stop believing, a system crumbles, when investors lose faith in the stock market it fails, it is the same with the political system.

No excuse for not showing up at the polls, you can pass your ballot to one of the scrutineers and tell them you decline to vote that way your name is crossed off the list and you are counted as a participant. That would make more of a statement than sitting at home.

A lot of Albertans feel they are only here for the short haul... to make money and return home, they have no reason or need to vote. i think that has a bigger effect on voter turnout than your theory.

[DrCaleb]

mtbr mtbr:

No excuse for not showing up at the polls, you can pass your ballot to one of the scrutineers and tell them you decline to vote that way your name is crossed off the list and you are counted as a participant. That would make more of a statement than sitting at home.

A lot of Albertans feel they are only here for the short haul... to make money and return home, they have no reason or need to vote. i think that has a bigger effect on voter turnout than your theory.

There is never an excuse for not voting. Not. Ever.

But that isn't my theory, it's the experience of someone who's run for the Provincial Legislature once, and Parliament once. And who has been the Leader of a Federal Party.

[hurley_108]

mtbr mtbr:

xerxes xerxes:

And single party democracy continues in Alberta.

Five parties ran...only one had the proper sneakers.


Should we ban the PC because 'they had their turn"?

Funny... there's only 2 parties in BC how come?

No, five parties ran, two got shut out by our warped electoral system, one got relegated to non-official party status by punitive legislative rules (should be based on number of legislatures in whch they've been represented, not on how many seats they have in the current legislature) and alone with another got its seat count cut in half with only a slight shift in popular vote, and the last saw its seat count skyrocket on a similarly minor shift in popular vote.

This wasn't a race about policies. This wasn't a race about leadership. This was a race about "We're the PCs, we've changed because we've gotten rid of Klein, and our leader can stick to his script and not fall on his face, so give us another resounding majority." And the voters said "Okay!"

[bootlegga]

ridenrain ridenrain:

I don't like to see one party win all the time but instead of punishing the party that won, why not ask why the other parties can't attract votes? On one hand we have folks gloating over a decade of Liberal majorities and here their bitching about a decade of Conservative majorities.
make up you're minds.

First off, it's not a decade of Conservative majorities, but EIGHT decades of conservative majorities. The UFA and Social Credit were in power since 1921...the PCs have 'only' been in power since 1971.

I'll admit I voted for Ed. IMHO, he's far better than Klein and I'm hoping he doesn't treat Edmonton the way Ralphie did. If he does, I'll vote for another party in the next election, as will many other Edmontonians.

And true to form, your hypocrisy stands. Where are your cries of "kool-aid drinkers" that you toss around so often when discussing diehard Liberal voters?

[westmanguy]

hurley_108 hurley_108:

mtbr mtbr:

xerxes xerxes:

And single party democracy continues in Alberta.

Five parties ran...only one had the proper sneakers.


Should we ban the PC because 'they had their turn"?

Funny... there's only 2 parties in BC how come?

No, five parties ran, two got shut out by our warped electoral system, one got relegated to non-official party status by punitive legislative rules (should be based on number of legislatures in whch they've been represented, not on how many seats they have in the current legislature) and alone with another got its seat count cut in half with only a slight shift in popular vote, and the last saw its seat count skyrocket on a similarly minor shift in popular vote.

This wasn't a race about policies. This wasn't a race about leadership. This was a race about "We're the PCs, we've changed because we've gotten rid of Klein, and our leader can stick to his script and not fall on his face, so give us another resounding majority." And the voters said "Okay!"

So because the PC's won a resounding majority, the voters are "Your not Klein! Great! Here is a majority!"

You must think Albertans are pretty stupid.

Ed put the "Ed" back in Ed-monton...he is a northerner, and a tad more "progressive", "Redmonton" gave him a victory, and Calgary remained status quo.

The North (Alberta) is in! haha

Anyways the left in Alberta needs to do the following:

NDP and Liberals join and relabel themselves either:

Democrats

or

Alberta Party (i.e. Sask Party)

Or a simple renaming of the Alberta Liberals...the people of Alberta will never give a government to a party with the name "Liberal" in it. Period.

Now the A.B. Liberals are bankrupt big time...

Anyways FPTP is done in almost every Canadian province, stop whining, and every province that has voted on electoral reform (i.e. MMP or SVT) has voted for the status quo.

Good for Ed. He is honest, and a good man. Not as conservative as I want, but oh well.

Can't wait for the PCs to break the Ontario PC record, to get above 42 years...they should go for 50!

[ridenrain]

bootlegga bootlegga:

ridenrain ridenrain:

I don't like to see one party win all the time but instead of punishing the party that won, why not ask why the other parties can't attract votes? On one hand we have folks gloating over a decade of Liberal majorities and here their bitching about a decade of Conservative majorities.
make up you're minds.

First off, it's not a decade of Conservative majorities, but EIGHT decades of conservative majorities. The UFA and Social Credit were in power since 1921...the PCs have 'only' been in power since 1971.

I'll admit I voted for Ed. IMHO, he's far better than Klein and I'm hoping he doesn't treat Edmonton the way Ralphie did. If he does, I'll vote for another party in the next election, as will many other Edmontonians.

And true to form, your hypocrisy stands. Where are your cries of "kool-aid drinkers" that you toss around so often when discussing diehard Liberal voters?

Federal politics and provincial politics are different and because I don't follow Alberta politics, I don't make to many comments about it. Don't let the fact that the words Conservative and Liberal let you believe I'd simply come down on one side or the other. I vote for the BC liberals, after all.

Obviously one side is doing something right and the other is doing something wrong. By you're sniveling, I'm guesing you're in the wrong camp. As a casual outside observer, maybe sniveliong isn't getting it done.

[sandorski]

As long as a Governing Party remains relatively uncorrupted and mindful of their constituents who cares if they're the only Party in town?

BC has a similar history of dominant Political Parties. Once those parties fall off the rails they get turfed as they should.

[tritium]

Huh, first I knew of the election was when I heard it on the radio election day in the car.

Been living here 3 years, nothing in the mail to register to vote, no notice of the up coming election.

Sorta makes me wonder if they forgot to really get the word out and give all the newcomers a chance to vote. Explains why the turn out was only 42%, they only notified the conservative voters of Alberta, they forgot to notify the other 58% Liberals who just moved to Alberta from Ontario, BC and the East Coast.

Makes me wonder if I was the only Albertan to move here in the last 3 years to be forgotten about. My vote would have been Liberal too.

Just an observation...

[Clogeroo]

Stelmach didn't win because the people really support him but because they do not like the other parties and they offer no alternative. After all a quarter voters were undecided right up until the election. Most people did not even bother voting. From the crying I heard from people that do not like the government they never voted. Those who did were mostly those who didn't want to see the opposition gain ground and also old Tory supporters who may have not voted last time around but did this time. I voted for my PC MLA simply because he was the best candidate and even responded to my letters. I would have voted for the WRA but they did not have a candidate in my riding so I moved down the list to the next best one.

$1:

Sorta makes me wonder if they forgot to really get the word out and give all the newcomers a chance to vote. Explains why the turn out was only 42%, they only notified the conservative voters of Alberta, they forgot to notify the other 58% Liberals who just moved to Alberta from Ontario, BC and the East Coast

Bollocks. Every paper covered it and it was on the evening news for the month. There are billboards everywhere here with candidate signs. They were adverts on the radio constantly saying remember to vote March 3. I do not even have a tele yet still heard about it and I'm a new resident being here only seven months from British Columbia. No those who didn't vote simply don't vote or care plain and simple. It takes little or no effort to vote in an election or find out information on party polices. I registered to vote here and voted and it took me maybe ten minutes with a little wait time. Frankly if you can't bother taking ten minutes out of your time to even go down to the polling station and mark an X then who gives a crap about what you think. What do people have to do come to your house for you to fill out your ballot form? If you gave a crap you would have voted. But no those too lazy after work or before or the other various early polling dates would rather have their microwave dinner now instead of ten minutes later didn't want to vote nor cared. I'm tired of this rubbish of why people are not voting. They don't because they do not care if they do not care then why should anyone care if they vote? There shouldn't even be adverts or media telling people to vote they should be doing so because they want to have a say in their government. If you do not want to exercise your rights that is your problem and I really don't give a hoot in hell if you voted or felt compelled enough too. There was enough information to figure out how, when, and where to vote and anyone who did not is either very mentally retarded or just simply chose not to vote.

[Wally_Sconce]

romanP romanP:

ryan29 ryan29:

well there is now less liberal politicians in canada then there was yesterday , that is a good thing .

Yes, that's right, you heard it from the man. Make sure the Alberta House is 100% Tory! Opposition BAAAAD! Democracy BAAAAD!

It should be noted that there was only a 40% turnout for the election. That means a minority of eligible Albertans voted for the Tories. If there had been closer to 100% turnout, and every one of them was well informed, you probably wouldn't see this happening, and you'd at least have a more even mix of seats, which is much better for a healthy democracy. (Yes, I know it's not going to happen, which is both sad and stupid.)

Failure to vote is a vote for the status quo.

Why should I believe you that things would be different?

[tritium]

Clogeroo Clogeroo:

Bollocks. Every paper covered it and it was on the evening news for the month. There are billboards everywhere here with candidate signs. They were adverts on the radio constantly saying remember to vote March 3.

1. I listen to SIRIUS Satellite Radio (Canada) - no advertisments.
2. Don't bother to read newspapers (I'm not job hunting)
3. DirecTV (U.S. Television) no Canadian channels oops. (thank God)

4. Yeah, I saw the signs, thought they were municipal. Didn't see any Provincial as I am not usually driving around strange neighborhoods.

5. Been out of Province driving... just got back and was stocking up on groceries when I heard it on the normal Radio station.

6. Nothing in the mail on the election..

Clogeroo Clogeroo:

Frankly if you can't bother taking ten minutes out of your time to even go down to the polling station and mark an X then who gives a crap about what you think.

As I said, if I honestly new about it, I would have voted. This is and was the only election I have not voted in.

But I think the gov't should have done a more constructive campain on getting the word out. Like sending a simple post card on where to get the information or a number to all registered drivers in Alberta over the age of 18. (It's not like they can't afford it)

Either way who gives a shit. My vote would not have made a difference with the land slide they got, and when it comes down to it, I won't be staying in Alberta long enough to know the effects.

BC to Alberta run, based out of BC. I have to move, a requirement of my job, and the dam rent is even more in BC.

At least there is better weather. (warmer)

[Benoit]

Aging_Redneck Aging_Redneck:

Failure to vote is a vote for the status quo.

Failure to vote can be prompted by employers insisting that people work overtime in the days and even weeks before an election.

[Wally_Sconce]

Benoit Benoit:

Aging_Redneck Aging_Redneck:

Failure to vote is a vote for the status quo.

Failure to vote can be prompted by employers insisting that people work overtime in the days and even weeks before an election.

LOL

Are you going to provide evidence of a mass conspiracy? or is this just one possibility, however weak it is?

[Wally_Sconce]

Anyone that doesn't pay attention to politics enough to discover that an election is happening, doesn't care about the politics. end of story.