Alberta

[nucksRnum1]

And Kennys buddy in Ontario is pulling his foot out of his mouth as well....this is why I am glad we didn't get a Conservative government.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/7N0_DUNMRsU[/youtube]

[hobbyguy]

Another hilarious headline from the Beaverton that totally nails it. Kenney definitely is embarrassing Alberta again with this ridiculous referendum nonsense.

I'm not sure Albertans are anymore embarrassed by Kenney than British Columbians are by Horgan. Or Canadians are by Trudeau. Hmm, on second thought, maybe we all have something to be embarrassed about when it comes to our so-called leaders.

Regardless, equalization payments were introduced in 1957. It's not as if they can't be scrapped in the same way they were introduced. Trudeau et al are doing what they can to ensure there's no money to transfer out of Alberta anyway, yes?

Maybe British Columbians should be embarrassed that they aren't working harder to earn more money for other parts of Canada to live off of? Quebecers can't be expected to support their smoking and drinking habits on their own, fcs.
~

Actually, equalization was part of confederation in 1867. 1957 marked the change to a transparent system of doing so.

Every country practices equalization, we are just more transparent and less corrupt about it.

In the US it takes the form of "pork barreling". New York, Connecticut et al pay a lot more into federal coffers that they get back, and states like Kentucky, Mississippi et al receive a big whack more in federal $$$ than they pay in.

The UK has similar situations, and even has a region that plays Bloc like "independence" games, Scotland. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-sc ... s-56580359

"Scotland public funding '30% higher' than England"

Virtually every country has such regional disparities in central government funding. In the end, why would countries exist, and all of us not fall back into the medieval "city state" scenario if it were not for mutual benefit of such arrangements?

And that's what gets not thought out in the shallow excuses for thinking that opportunist politicians all over the world use in such discussions (and in the end it it is all self serving nonsense).

If BC decided to secede how would BC maintain revenues to pay for federal services? The RCMP is waaay cheaper than a BC Provincial Police Force would be (which is why Alberta abandoned their experiment with an APP years ago). BC would need its own Navy, have to buy fighter jets etc. An obvious target for that funding? Import/export fees on goods that come through BC ports and end up or leave places like Alberta. Oh, high risk goods to export like oil? A big fat surcharge! And so on.

Such parochial nonsense already exists in Canada in the form of inter provincial trade barriers. It is ridiculous that a person can not buy beer in Quebec and bring it home to New Brunswick. Etc. etc. etc.

That sort of parochial nonsense is what makes confederation so valuable, as it eliminates a ton of it (even though some of it still exists). The very fact that the main ports, like Vancouver, Surrey, and Prince Rupert are FEDERAL ports avoids the worst parochial abuses. So how much is that worth to AlSask??? Etc. etc.

Messing about like Kenney is with the very notion of equalization is just a desperate dumb dumb political stunt.

[nucksRnum1]

Waste of time and money

[nucksRnum1]

We have a 650 page report that contradicts the propaganda we spewed against environmentalists.

[crookedmember]

I was going to say the Allan Inquisition was the biggest waste of money this year in Alberta.

But then I remembered Kenney got suckered out of $1.3 billion by TC Energy for a vapourware pipeline to nowhere.

Kenney is Canada's worst and dumbest Premier. He makes the slow-witted drunk driver next door in Saskatchewan look smart.

What an embarrassment.

[The Green Barbarian]

Kenney is Canada's worst and dumbest Premier.

And yet he's still miles ahead of the person he replaced, Nutley. I agree Kenney should be replaced, but it shouldn't be by the even worse NDP.

[fluffy]

UCP threatened on 2 flanks as NDP leads and support surges for Wildrose Independence Party, poll suggests

"A new poll suggests Alberta's governing United Conservative Party is running 11 points behind the NDP while a new threat is emerging on the right as support for the Wildrose Independence Party surges to 20 per cent."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/ ... -1.6059130

While an election may be as much as a year and a half away, the surge in support for the Wildrose Independence Party could be setting the stage for a replay, where the splitting of the Conservative vote opened the door for a takeover by Rachel Notely and the NDP, who are at this point in time polling well ahead of all other parties.

A big question facing the UCP caucus right now is whether or not Jason Kenney can repair his reputation well enough to be a contender for the Premier's chair, or failing that, can a replacement be found soon enough to gain a sufficient measure of support in the time remaining in this term.

[crookedmember]

One of the most interesting things about Jason Kenney and an indication of how thoroughly he's failed is at the moment in Alberta he's 30 points less popular than equalization.

Thankfully next election a smart, educated, born and bred in Alberta woman will replace the Ottawa-boy, lifetime politician Kenney who is so dumb he flunked out of bible school.

The election can't come soon enough for a province that's been run into the ground by a dunce and his cabinet of used car salesmen.

Elect stupid people. Get stupid results.

[hobbyguy]

UCP threatened on 2 flanks as NDP leads and support surges for Wildrose Independence Party, poll suggests

"A new poll suggests Alberta's governing United Conservative Party is running 11 points behind the NDP while a new threat is emerging on the right as support for the Wildrose Independence Party surges to 20 per cent."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/ ... -1.6059130

While an election may be as much as a year and a half away, the surge in support for the Wildrose Independence Party could be setting the stage for a replay, where the splitting of the Conservative vote opened the door for a takeover by Rachel Notely and the NDP, who are at this point in time polling well ahead of all other parties.

A big question facing the UCP caucus right now is whether or not Jason Kenney can repair his reputation well enough to be a contender for the Premier's chair, or failing that, can a replacement be found soon enough to gain a sufficient measure of support in the time remaining in this term.

Kenney himself is not the key. Yes, Kenney is the face of dysfunction - he always was incompetent on the governance side of the equation (not the political side), but Conservatives in general tend to rally 'round when push comes to shove. Just look at how they did so for O'Toole despite him being less popular in Alberta than Jagmeet (and even slightly behind Trudeau at one point!).

So if Kenney can navigate the herding of cats within the UCP, all will be well for Kenney and the UCP despite their obvious incompetence. Yup, they might lose a seat here or there to the NDP, but not enough to matter.

[fluffy]

So if Kenney can navigate the herding of cats within the UCP, all will be well for Kenney and the UCP despite their obvious incompetence. Yup, they might lose a seat here or there to the NDP, but not enough to matter.

The nature of politics in Canada for some time hasn't been to elect a new government as much as it has been to fire the old one. Politicians have become more and more willing to play the game of giving voters something to be angry at and convincing them that they are the only ones able to deliver them from evil. Elections are often won without a platform of any substance other than "let's get 'em". With the forecast of a nine billion dollar shortfall in oil tax revenues in the 2015 budget year Progressive Conservative Premier Jim Prentice bit the bullet and suggested that Albertans might have to help the province through the slump with things like medicare premiums and sales tax. The Wildrose Party latched on to that and made Prentice the "enemy", making the mistake of not considering the NDP as a significant threat as they only held four seats at the time. Notely's NDP campaigned on a plan to boost taxes to both corporations and high income earners, not bowing at all to the temptation of negative campaign tactics. With the vote on the right effectively split, a significant number of defections from the right to the left, and by sweeping all the major population centers the NDP came out with a majority government. Fast forward to Kenney uniting the PCs and Wildrose Party and making Notely and the NDP the "enemy", the 2019 election went to the UCP. But, like their federal counterparts, the Alberta conservatives are split ideologically and that is costing them. The farther right Wildrose Party has rebranded into a separatist party, giving Albertans a new enemy in Ottawa, and playing Kenney off as ineffectual in representing Albertans. Albertans in general still want somebody to blame. The oil & gas industry will never regain its former glory, producers have found that streamlining operations and reducing expenses to be more than effective in making up for lower prices, resulting in fewer jobs and lower wages. Many Albertans are no longer eating up the story of woe that producers are pedalling as profits and stock prices no longer support it. This makes them a prime target for a left leaning campaign that will "take the fight to the rich". I don't think the NDP are out of the game by any stretch of the imagination, and while Rachel Notely might not be playing dirty to the extent that Kenney did last time around, she's not missing any chances to shine a spotlight on his blunders.

[hobbyguy]

I agree with you on "the enemy" stuff. It ought not be the case, but that is a reality.

The UCP is an odd duck, with many "deals with the devil" just as the CPC is. The selection of Jason Kenney as a "savior" was always weird given his obviously buffoonish handling of the TFW issue while a federal cabinet minister. Kenney's lack of judgement (including supporting the invasion of Iraq) was always on display from the get go.

I still think that right won't split the vote, not that the Wildrose bunch won't try. The voters themselves may rally behind the UCP as the UCP will use the NDP as a bogeyman. Assuming Kenney is still there, Kenney is very adept and shrewd at that kind of stuff.

[The Green Barbarian]

I still think that right won't split the vote, not that the Wildrose bunch won't try. The voters themselves may rally behind the UCP as the UCP will use the NDP as a bogeyman. Assuming Kenney is still there, Kenney is very adept and shrewd at that kind of stuff.

And yet unlike man-made climate change, the NDP aren't an invented "bogeyman", Albertans already know the sloth and evil that the NDP bring. While I agree that Kenney is a dinosaur that needs to go, replacing the UCP with the NDP would be like chopping off your head because you have a minor ear-ache. It makes no sense.

[fluffy]

I still think that right won't split the vote, not that the Wildrose bunch won't try. The voters themselves may rally behind the UCP as the UCP will use the NDP as a bogeyman. Assuming Kenney is still there, Kenney is very adept and shrewd at that kind of stuff.

I've been listening to some interviews with Paul Hinman, the current leader of the Wildrose Independence Party and there can be little doubt that he sits at the far right end of the political spectrum, a prime spot from which to stir the pot of voter anger.



Does this sound like the sort of guy who will bow to the greater good of UCP victory or is he in it for himself ?

[Ka-El]

No surprise that more Albertans are ready to vote for Notley and the NDP than either the UCP or Wildrose Party. Albertans now know what dysfunction and self-serving corruption to expect from these conservatives and realize how good things were going for everyone by comparison under Notley's leadership, even grateful for her forward thinking in committing to infrastructure projects that kept many people working through Kenny's disastrous management of the economy. Most Albertans now realize that re-electing an extremist right-wing government would be like hitting your face with a hammer to stop the sniffles. It makes no sense.

[fluffy]

As hobbyguy mentioned above, Kenney is a skilled politician, and I mean "politician" in the worst sense of the word. Notely and the NDP did an excellent job given the hand they were dealt, with the double tap of the oil price crash and the Ft. Mac wildfires. I highly doubt a business-friendly conservative government could have achieved anywhere close to the level of recovery that the NDP did. In stark comparison, Kenney's handouts to oil producers achieved nothing, and the oil patch workforce has been shrinking steadily even as oil prices and producer profits soar. His gross mismanagement of the pandemic, seemingly taking page after page from the Trump play-book of pandering to the far right base, has been exposed by record high infection rates, and a medical system that he gutted upon entering office has been strained to the max. I really can't see how he will make it through the next election, if he even gets that far. The chances that he can run the same scam on voters that he did in 2019 are somewhere between really slim and really, really slim.