We’ve said everything there is to say.
We’ve done everything we can do.
Vote wisely Alberta.
- A commentary on political, social and cultural issues—what else would you expect from a lawyer with a degree in anthropology?
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Susan on the Soapbox 
Amen. Thanks for all you have written Susan. Sleep well tonight.
Thanks Sharon. You too!
Please don’t follow the Erdogan model!
David, looks like “vote wisely” went in one ear and out the other. Sigh.
The outcome of the election illustrates a fatal flaw in the democratic process: a significant number of the electorate are unable or unwilling to see or act upon the fact they are being manipulated by politicians with deceptive intent.
You can still help out with various things at your local constituency office, especially get out the vote efforts. If you are not working or able to take the day off, please consider it, everyone.
here’s hoping big big time. I’ll be thinking of all my calgary people and praying ucp fails. good luck. jodi
Thanks Jodi, looks like many of your Calgary people are considering moving to the coast.
And you as well — tx from us all … let the masses decide; will it be fresh air or a return to the 18th century …
David: and now we know…hello 18th century.
If the polls are to be believed, the UCP is set to be re-elected with a much-reduced majority. However it also appears that the vote will be very close in many Calgary seats, and since I think that NDP voters may be more motivated to get to the polls, there is still a chance they could pull off a upset. But I’m not very optimistic. Conservative is apparently Alberta’s default position, and I don’t see that changing any time soon. It’s sad, really.
Jerrymacgp: According to Nenshi the UCP won some of the Calgary seats by less than 200 votes, so very close indeed. While I think this bodes well for the future, we still have to get around the problem that even with Edmonton sewn up and more than half of Calgary voting NDP, the rural vote has outsized power.
Susan: Thanks for all your great blogs. I will be voting. In the meantime, https://youtu.be/cbctW33iRYwI will share some more fitting music. Here is a song written by Bernie Leadon, Don Henley, and Glenn Frey, from The Eagles, called On The Border. It was released in 1974. I have seen The Eagles live, a decade ago, and they are in my music collection.
Susan: Thanks for all your great blogs. I will be voting. In the meantime, I will share some more fitting music. Here is a song written by Bernie Leadon, Don Henley, and Glenn Frey, from The Eagles, called On The Border. It was released in 1974. I have seen The Eagles live, a decade ago, and they are in my music collection.
Thanks Dwayne, great selection. I just read that this track was inspired by the Watergate scandal and fears of the government overstepping its bounds and infringing on people’s privacy. That echoes so many fears that the TBA inspired UCP will infringe on many of our own rights and freedoms.
Susan: There was a typo in my original post, and now it’s up. I thought it was deleted. Perhaps you can delete it? Thanks!
A landslide for the ndp.
If we vote wisely….our vision and not out fear.
Ingamarie: I was talking with some friends today about why someone would vote UCP and they echoed your comment…that many UCP voters are afraid of change, or recognizing the rights of others, and of losing their vaulted or less than vaulted place in the hierarchy. Sad day for Alberta, But we made significant headway in Calgary. Next time…!
We can’t go home for the next 4years…..or restrict ourselves to progressive comments on sites like yours. We have to engage….join our EDA….become a member, send money……….form discussion groups.
There’s lots to do, and lots of ways we can do it. But climate denial and avoidance of the black elephants in the room isn’t going to win us anything worth having.
We have to build a movement that bases its beliefs and actions on Reality. Ideology is fast becoming the poison that will kill us. Reading a little climate science…if you still believe in science……might bring us back to life.
Susan: Here is my second song pick. This is a Bob Dylan composition, called Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright, from the album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, which was released in May of 1963. This is Bob Dylan’s second album. I have this in my music collection, and I did see Bob Dylan live, in 1990. He turned 82 on May 24.
Dwayne, the line that struck me was this: “you just kinda wasted my precious time”. I feel that Smith and crew are going to waste both our time and our resources over the next four years. They’ll role out horrible laws and policies and we’ll be rallying on the steps of the Leg to get them overturned.
You mentioned you saw Dylan live in 1990, he’d have been in his prime, it must have been a great performance!
Susan, I think that you have said ‘everything there is to say’ about Alberta politics in a way that resonates with very many people. Thank you for everything that you do here. I truly believe that you are a beacon for those of us clinging to hope and longing for truth, honesty and trust in times that would have been unimaginable not very long ago. My best wishes to you and your loved ones. Fingers crossed for tomorrow. It seems like it will be much closer than it ever should be.
Thanks so much Guy. As we now know, it was too close the wrong way around. I don’t know what it will take for the ‘hold your nose and vote conservative’ crowd to see how dangerous this far right version of conservatism is, but we’ll soon find out.
Yes, many thanks, Susan. Your blogs have deep resonance and are highly meaningful. Let’s hope that Albertans vote today with the future and their families and communities in mind. The economy will thrive with people who have healthcare needs met, their children in good schools and respect for all people.
Thank you Dawn. Unfortunately we didn’t end up with a more thoughtful government at the end of the day. Now we regroup. Ingamarie made some great suggestions that bear further consideration.
Interesting comment from the USA.
TB
Melvin…very interesting commentary. I was going to say we should have learned from the Trump experience, then I realized that a significant portion of Alberta’s population desperately wants the Trump experience.
Now we have to figure out how to get out of the resulting mess before we go further down that destructive path.
Vote wisely – well said. I feel the people who follow Susan are generally quite thoughtful, well informed and will vote wisely. I feel we have done everything we can too. I just hope the message gets across to enough others.
Dave…sadly we almost, but not quite made it. Now we have to figure out (1) how to get through the next 4 years and (2) what to do so the NDP are elected the next time around.
We are smart caring people. We will find a way.
Susan: Here is my final song pick. It is a composition from Gary Brooker and Keith Reid, from Procol Harum, called Conquistador. They were in Procol Harum. Gary Brooker would have been 78 years old today. He passed away in February of 2022, at age 76. Lyricist, Keith Reid, passed away on March 23, 2023, at age 76, of this year. He would have turned 77 years old on October 19. This is a live performance from 1997, in Michigan, when Gary Brooker was part of Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band. Gary Brooker is on keyboards, and lead vocals, Peter Frampton is on guitar, Jack Bruce is on bass, Mark Rivera is on keyboards and Simon Kirke is on drums. I did see Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band live in 2015, but not with this lineup. I did see Procol Harum 4 times live with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. I saw Peter Frampton once live.
Dwayne, I hadn’t really listened to the lyrics until now. What an enigmatic song.
PS you really have seen all the greats!
Dear Ms Wright:
In an earlier e-mail I said that there were much more brilliant women on
this planet, than Ms Christie, [whether she wins the election or not],
and, a few other dimly-lit women like Majory Taylor Greene,
who make bright women like yourself a shambles.
One of T H E brightest at the moment is, Sheng Thao, the newly minted
mayor of Oakland CA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheng_Thao
This lady is T H E quintessential, “rags-to-riches” story.
Her family are H’Mong who live in the far northwest corner of Viet Nam.
They are a singular people, that are N E I T H E R of Chinese or any
other southern Asian group of people.
Their language differs quite widely from the Veitnamese, and, the
Chinese, the Laos, or, Cambodian languages, and goes farther back than
most others than the Chinese.
That has to be understood in order to under Sheng Thao success.
Sadly, like many “outsiders”, they have been targeted down the years.
Her family managed to flee the murders in time.
They came to the USA with nothing but their clothes they wore.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laotian_Civil_War#Evacuation_of_the_Hmong
Basically, she is self-made from the age of 17.
I am N O T surprised, as family friends were missionaries to the
H’Mong from 1946 to 1956, but, these folks had been there before, about
1930 to 1940, and, realized
how a brilliant people they were…….even smarter than the Chinese.
That likely caused their temporary expulsion back deep into China for a
few years……pure jealousy.
There are other similar up-n-coming “young” women who are going to shape
America, and, Canada.
I sincerely hope that Ms Notley wins, though from here its certainly is
not a given.
I O N L Y support Ms Notely, not for political party, but, that she
is miles long smarter.
Sincerely.
Gord Young – Peterboro ON
Thanks for this Gord. I also received your other comment clarifying that your reference to Ms Christie was actually supposed to be a reference to Ms Smith.
As you pointed out, despite Ms Notley’s efforts her party didn’t quite make it. It will be interesting to see how they regroup. I’m sure it will be with renewed vigor and purpose.
Actually Ms Wright.
If Ms Notley is on top of her game, which she likely will be, all it
will take is for her to have her full caucus for a vote on a bill of
some sort, and,
The Donald-in-A-Skirt to not have enough members, and, you are in for a
new election.
Wouldn’t be the first time in Canadian history.
Some of the other bright women besides yourself, is ladies like, Janet
Yellen Secretary of the Treasury, the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Madeline
Albright
and, Louise Arbour for starters.
Here is a “local story” for you.
Dr, Nancy Chenoweth MD, in the first class of women graduates U of T.,
is Canada’s first M A R R I E D woman to be certified in medicine.
After a stay in Escanaba with her husband’s family, they went west to
Alberta, and, were Methodist missionaries there.
Then in BC, where he died of heart failure.
She brought him back to Ontario.
She then learned that the University of Chicago was offering a
certificate in X-Ray medicine.
So.
She went there with her baby son, and, took her course[s].
She then went to Escanaba where her in-laws [railroaders with the
Chicago & Northwestern RR]…..until son Rodger
graduated highschool, and, pre-medicine in MI-state.
They then came back to Ontario, and, when graduated from U of T in
medicine they came to Peterborough.
N O W.
Here is the stinker of the story.
She needed to sit for a license-to-practice in…………….
a]Ontario
b]MI-state
c] AB
d] BC
e] Ontario
f] IL-state
g] MI-state
h] Ontario
P L U S
License-to-practice in Baby Well Care program in……….
a] AB
b] BC
c] ON
d] IL-state
e] MI-state
f] Ontario
PLUS
License-to-practice in X Ray medicine in…………
a] IL state
b] MI-state
c] Ontario
I do hope you D O N O T get a migraine trying to count this number of
exams she H A D to write.
She H A D to write them in order to support herself and son and get
him through university..scholarships notwithstanding.
Now.
Is there a somewhat smarter woman that you can think of besides, say
Marie Curie ?
BTW: Our first female doctor here in Peterborough, was Dr. Jessie Birnie
MD, who was known in a very kind way, as “Peterborough’s Unsinkable
Molly Brown”.
Dr Birnie, was a “re-purposed” Grade 8 school teacher from Collingwood.
She is enshrined in Peterborough’s Pathway of Fame
Dr. Jessie Birnie (accepted by Dr. Jessie Dobyns)
Our hospital really, really worked on this one !!!
Dr. Dobyns, was a the time the head of Women’s Health at the
hospital..which Dr. Birnie created.
_https://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/news/peterborough-region/peterborough-pathway-of-fame-welcomes-new-names/article_bcfee604-ec27-5ea7-8a90-5feeb28e1696.html?__
__
_Besides being our first female doctor, she was the first woman to have
a membership in the Canadian Automobile Club, as she drove a late 1916
Chev with electric starter.
When the Quaker Oats plant caught fire, exploded, and, burned, she was
among the number of injured women who had safely escaped, but, got hurt
getting out.
Then she thumbed her nose at the City’s doctors and called in the
Healers, from Curve Lake First Nations, Hiawatha First Nations, and,
Alderville First Nations, to help dealwith
dozens and dozens of men whose second and some third degree burns were
not healing well.
What the Healers brought we can N O T get them to tell us what might
have been brought.
But, those men, and their families were very grateful that she had taken
that move.
That might tend to impress you or someone.
Have a great weekend with best wishes.
Gord
The polls have been closed for more than an hour & the vote numbers are ridiculously low. Where the #*& are the advance votes? Over 750K electronically counted votes still not up on the board & apparently Elections Alberta is saying ‘everything is going to plan’. If the plan is to leave everyone in suspense they have certainly succeeded, but I thought the whole concept of using machines was that the process would be speeded up. Seriously, if this election vote has been buggered up they’d best admit it immediately, not say ‘going to plan’. Talk about fodder for conspiracy theories & claims that the elections was rigged/stolen.
Linda, you make me smile with your comment about rigged/stolen elections. Some UCP supporters started down that path before election day, but clammed up now that the UCP won. Funny how that works. If they win, everything is fine, if they lose the election was rigged.
I accidentally misidentified the UCP leader Danielle Smith as Ms Christie.
Onset fozzilization, made me repeat the name Ms Christie in speaking to
another person about a totally different matter.
Sorry about that.
Fozzilization is no fun Ms Wright.
No problem Gord!
The polls have been closed for over 2 hours now & Elections Alberta is finally confessing that there are ‘issues’ around the automated vote count. Apparently only 72 of the machines are working as they should. So much for ‘progress’. Not a few official commentators have noted that the old fashioned hand count would have permitted enough data to call the election by now. Frankly am not impressed. Also going to bed as obviously the data is going to continue to trickle. Presumably we will finally have enough data by tomorrow to know what the end results will be. And those 750K advance votes had better be up on the board!
Well it looks like Albertans have decided to give Ms. Smith free rein for another term. While the UCP did lose ground, the competing variations of Conservative party didn’t split the vote as much as I had thought they might. I imagine there will be recounts for a number of ridings given the close outcomes. Quite an obvious split between urban & municipal voting overall. I’m apprehensive about what state Alberta will be in after another UCP term. This was not the outcome I was hoping for.
Linda, I agree. Definitely not the outcome I was hoping for. It certainly highlights the urban/rural split and the outsized weight accorded to rural voters. As Thomas Lukaszuk said: in some rural ridings there’s one MLA for every 14,000 voters whereas in urban ridings there’s one MLA for 30,000 voters so the rural voters get twice as many MLAs as the urban voters do. And the rural voters tend to be farther right than the urban voters, so it’s a mess.
Hi Susan: I was surprised so few votes went to other parties overall. A couple of independent candidates did very well – they may not have gotten elected but had a very respectable vote count. Regarding the low votes for other parties I must say I saw very little in the way of signage or election material from other parties. In our riding we had a Green Party candidate, but there was so little promotion I effectively found out we had one the day before the advance polls opened. If that held true for the other parties then not really much of a surprise that the majority of votes went NDP or UCP.
The rural ridings might have proportionately ‘more’ MLA per capita, but they don’t seem to get much leverage from it. Given that Ms. Smith wasted no time making waves I am expecting not a few who thought we’d get a reformed Danielle – hey, she said she’d serve all Albertans! – are regretting giving her another chance. As for that ‘serving all Albertans’, how does that equate with her idea of forming an advisory committee of those failed to be elected UCP candidates to advise her on Edmonton related matters? I mean, why would she actually listen to the duly elected NDP MLA’s from Edmonton when her UCP buddies know what Edmontonians want? Mind you, ‘serving all Albertans’ obviously doesn’t mean actually listening to them…..
Well susan, you can only lead a horse to water…
Agreed, GoinFawr. agreed!
It is pretty obvious that the Rural Rubes treat elections as a team (Tribal) competition and are so phobic towards the NDP that accountability means nothing to them – NDP 0 vs UCP 42. You would think they believe the UCP is less dangerous or private enterprise might actually do something for them. Slow learners – obviously forgot about the absence of rural doctors, high vehicle insurance, and the complete disregard for life at Cargill. The ignorance is stunning and right out of Texas.
Rob, that’s what I can’t fathom. In addition to the damage caused by the items you’ve listed, there’s the continual erosion of the rural municipalities’ tax base because the UCP gave oil companies a tax holiday (supposedly they were suffering so Kenney government said they don’t have to pay their municipal taxes), plus the diversion of provincial tax dollars (ie their tax dollars) into the pockets of billionaires to pay for an arena in Calgary and into the pockets of oil companies who refuse to comply with the law forcing them to clean up their abandoned wells, plus, plus, plus…
The negative impact of election Smith’s UCP is obvious and they did it anyway.
The fox finally got the chicken coop but we will see for how long.
The only problem is that the chicken are smarter than the fox.
So we just sit and wait to see the fox get euthanized like the ones before them.
Too many foxes is a real problem.
Carlos, that was a brilliant analogy…especially the last sentence. There are indeed too many foxes!
🙂 🙂 🙂 I think Danielle will become a chicken soon
I for one will be more than happy to wait to see her getting dragged out by the tail.
The more humiliating the better. These people do not deserve any respect and neither do their supporters. They know very well that their attitude is unethical and moral only within their interpretation of morals, which is none whatsoever.
It is time politicians suffer the consequences of their tactics.
From my exposure to real people I predict that Canada is ripe to see what just 5 years ago would be unthinkable. As far as I am concerned, they brought it on themselves and continue to do so.
The very first thing I would do is to end once an for all their parliamentary immunity. People have to be responsible for what they say and do just like the rest of us.
IF you lie you should be called a liar. If you call people that get vaccinated, Nazis then you should face the consequences of that. By allowing this abuse we are creating a failing society. Honesty, integrity and respect maybe something the UCP does not care about, but they have to. We have the responsibility to make them follow the rule of law because most of them do not understand it.
I will patiently wait for the next chaos.
We have former American President to thank for unleashing unthinkable politics and heresy and chaos! I am really disappointed that NDP didn’t at least achieve the minority government. This leader and party doesn’t represent my beliefs and values or vision for a stronger Alberta. I am rather concerned what razor ride we will be on in the coming years!
Second try
Kimberlee I know exactly what you mean but here is the deal.
We cannot blame Trump for all of this. Trump only brought to the surface what we have created since we started our GREED solution to our world of ultimate individualism. Remember GREED is good? – remember the state is not your father/mother?
This is not democracy, this is a British invention to sooth the lower classes in believing they have a voice. They called the labour side the Labour Party. Just propaganda. Real labour never had a chance whatsoever to run anything or influence in any way just like we do not. The leaders of the labour party are in many instances as rich and part of the high elites as the conservatives and for the most part implemented the neo-liberal dream which is nothing but what we have now. Examples the famous British labour prime minister Tony Blair that attacked Iraq under a lie and created the British Service industry that is worth as much as someone to say RUN in the markets and they sink, as it seems they are already. Furthermore Boris Johnson convinced the British people that they are in the 1700s and still an empire and now they are becoming as irrelevant as anyone else. They will think they are an empire for another thousand years believe me. Look at countries like Greece , Portugal, Spain, Italy …. that are still waiting. That is what the Americans call Millionaires in waiting.
The problem is that we were born in this system and like a lion in a cage, we continue to do what we are told.
In countries where democracy is closer to reality we would now have a government where 54% of the ministries would be run by the UCP and the rest would be run by the NDP. Examples of this Denmark and Norway at least. Does not work here? Why not? Because we love majorities. They are convenient. If we are concerned with convenience, then just stop spending money on fake elections. If we want majorities just run polls and find out who is ahead and give them the power.
We being so democratic, prefer to make the premier an Emperor and the rest of us are the court, including their own back benchers. The so called opposition now screams murder for another 4 years and in the meantime the emperor implements whatever is that he/she fancies even if that means that we become enslaved to corporate power, who by the way, already runs this province without even caring for elections. If you think this is just talk – start reading. Danielle Smith was and probably still is a lobbyist for the Oil companies. Does that not bother anyone? Why do we allow that? Convenience? or worse THAT IS THE WAY IT IS.
We just basically create a 36 million dollar event that does absolutely nothing to change anything for the better. Now we will see taxes go down and then next time the oil drops the cycle begins:
1) Oh my goodness we have a 15 billion deficit
2) Time to cut more education and health care and other social programs
3) We have to lower taxes to the corporations so they create more jobs
4) the population gets poorer with less power to pay attention to what is going on and so the autocratic state is slowly implemented.
This is nothing new, but we naïve Canadians fall for it and help the system creating what exists in more than half of this planet – misery.
We do not need to accept lower expectations. We need to stop giving away what we own for noting. We are now cutting down our amazing forest faster than the Brazilians in the Amazon but we continue pointing fingers. For what? We are cutting down trees that are 3 thousand years old to make trinkets including toilet paper. Why? Are we allowed to know these contracts? No. Why not? Is it because like the old priests, they are the only ones who can talk to God? Do we have the right to know what they are doing with our resources?
Then the propaganda increases and convince all of us that we are lucky to even have a job. Having a home and food is only for those who work three jobs.
On the other hand the parties that are supposed to be closer to the PEOPLE are also part of that system and claim that if they change anything the corporations will move. Well let them move, we have sufficient education to create our own wealth and possibly even save our country from an environmental catastrophe. Remember Tailing ponds – who do you think is going to clean it up?
This is all part of the propaganda process. We are simply enslaved by our own political system. People know this but we choose to believe we are on the right track like the Battered Wife Syndrome.
Tell me sincerely – what is the role of the NDP other than great salaries for the MLAs and learn how to oppose? In other words scream as loud as possible.
Also they have to learn how to scream because in the legislature they are not allowed to say much other than Mr. Speaker the honorable person is misinforming us. Well that is not enough. I want our legislatures to have less Mr. Speaker and allow any MLA to raise real issues and debate them and if necessary uncover what is behind all of this buddy buddy system with the rich and powerful.
Radical you say? Well we have a choice – we subjugate to this cycle of MLA joy and inertia or we take over our country and we change it for the better.
We are afraid because it is a big job, but if we do nothing Canada will very soon join the gorgeous title of developing nation which just means that we are now the farm team for the Wallmarts, Ikeas, Safeway and on and on. Furthermore I will not be surprised in the least if the so called state starts squeezing us more and, like in most developing nations, convince us that a certain amount of censorship protects us from disaster. We are seeing it right now with the foreign interference in our elections which is something that should be openly debated and not just for the eyes of those we are supposed to trust, like Justin Trudeau or Pierre Poilievre.
I ask you – do you trust what they are telling us?
We need to get together and we need not just prepare in 4 years time but we need to challenge this system that is working only for the superrich and the businesses elites. Waiting another 4 years and then rush to knock at doors without even knowing what your representatives believe in, is a joke. Example what do you know from this election what the NDP stands for?
Believe me that even if you want to know it is not easy if inside the party. If you dig deeper the reason we do not know much is because the NDP itself did not know enough to tell us. It was not a strategic error, it was simply that they do not have a party that talks internally or discusses anything. You go to the barbecues and all that music and jazz events and all you hear is bashing the other party or even better, if you try to talk about something you really want to know about the party, you are sent to an assistant that then figures out a way to keep you smiling on your way home.
It is a farce and the reason the WEST is in decline. If you do not believe it again take a bit of your time and read what is going on around the so called democratic world. It does not exist really or it is so weak that no one really cares. All they can say is that it is better than Russia or China. Well that is a big consolation really. It is 2023 and we are drowning on propaganda.
GoinFawr – you criticized me for not standing for anything other than what you called cynical defeatism. I respect your opinion.
You challenged me to explain what you said you could not understand what I meant. Let me know what it is that you do not understand in this post. I will be happy to explain. I apologize English is not my mother language but I try to get better.
I am sure you can understand I am not a conservative. I sympathize with the NDP only because there are no other alternatives.
In Alberta due to our illiteracy, a person like Danielle Smith can be a fascist but God forbid to be a socialist. Why? you know why as much as I do – PROPAGANDA against the left as being on par with criminals.
Clear examples – the invasion of Afghanistan by the Russians was a crime – the one by the USA was silently considered inevitable – the Iraq one is even more amazing but hey did you hear any MP calling out the US?
Have you given some thought as to why?
Would it be because we are afraid of them? we are the so called cousins? we have no morals? There has to be a reason right? What is it?
You see I am not cynical and much less defeatist – if anything I want to to understand what is it that we do as a nation. Is that anything wrong with that? I want to be very proud of being Canadian and right now I think we are definitely going the wrong way. My modest opinion.
Thank you for allowing me write to all of you – I truly appreciate it. It is a great honour for me to have discussion with such interesting people in this blog.
I hear you Carlos.
But in my opinion the Alberta NDP are definitely about much more than just ‘higher salaries for MLAs’.
Good things take time, and they haven’t really been given much.
And I of course agree that things are heading in a decidedly fascist direction, especially when a premier doesn’t step down even after being found GUILTY, by her own party’s ethic’s commissioner too, of threatening the province’s democratic institutions. I am looking forward to the ‘recommendations’ that should be coming from that office any day now.
And if those rec’s don’t come right smartly, we should all take the time to remind the commissioner of the job they have to do.
It started faster than I expected but here it is
https://albertapolitics.ca/2023/05/premier-danielle-smith-fresh-off-election-victory-suggests-resurrecting-the-family-compact-to-run-edmonton/
Great democratic ideas – IGNORE THE NDP MLAs
At least what I said previously is sounding less strange !!
We better get ready to fight back and hard, or even the pseudo democracy we enjoy will be gone.
Carlos: I think the UCP have shown us that democracy doesn’t matter to them. They don’t like being on the losing end, and created a shadow cabinet of defeated UCP MLAs for Edmonton. Whoever enabled this government to be in power, really should be ashamed of themselves.
I little more defeatism. The consequences, in my opinion of the bad politics of neo liberal globalization which ignore completely what people want and force the superrich economics down our throats.
The democratic process is fake and the consequences are dire.
Read this article
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/31/across-europe-the-far-right-is-rising-that-it-seems-normal-is-all-the-more-terrifying
This a mere 70 years after we lost millions of people to protect ourselves from the Nazis. How bad is it that even Sweden is on the bandwagon?
Is this the famous second coming?
We better start doing something to change our system or we will face dire consequences again. I guess we do not learn anything from history.
Our politics are rot with corruption, entitlement, anti-democratic and useless.
Health Care for example has been a problem for at least 2 decades now. Are we going to talk about it or we wait until someone like Danielle Smith forces her version on all of us?
Can we actually sit down and discuss it or are we waiting for AI to resolve it and then complain.
So many great articles it is hard not to suggest them
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2023/05/31/Danielle-Smith-Example-For-Canada/
Tyler Shandro was defeated in Calgary-Acadia by just seven votes (yes, there is a recount, of course – keeping my fingers crossed!).
I am proud to say that three of those votes came from my household.
Thank you for all your efforts Mike! If any pol ever deserved to lose his seat for abuse of power, it’s that guy.
How can Shandro be defeated by only 6 votes?
What can the reason be for Calgarians to choose this idiot?
I think that it says more about the people in that constituency than about him.
I am sorry but I cannot understand what is it that people can see in this guy?
Can someone from this constituency tell me what is it that they like in Shandro? Other than of course the old reason – because I have always voted Conservative which in itself is bizarre.
I suspect that it is more a tribal identity thing – he may be an idiot . . . but he’s OUR idiot. Smacks of Goochy sensitivities eh?
I agree that Diana Batten was the obvious choice for anybody who bothered to glance at the candidates for that riding.
The lowest information voters probably didn’t know the first thing about Tyler, but they are brutally conditioned to jump when the hate whistles shriek.
If the teary eyed driveway rage man does lose his seat in the commons, even by the slenderest of margins, that’s still undeniable progress sending a strong message to those abusing their positions in order to line theirs and theirs owns’ pockets from Albertans’ coffer; I applaud and thank the citizens of Calgary-Acadia that are letting them know how we all feel.
This is a reply to Dwayne but I was not able to post it as a reply to his post so I will try it at the root level.
Dwayne I could not agree more and if she goes ahead with this so called council of unelected then I ask the question I have asked on my post – what is the purpose of spending 36 million dollars on an election that only matters if they win, otherwise it is fake or they work outside the legislature.
What is the point?
Furthermore I will bet that she can get this council and no one or any rule will stop her from doing so. Is that not always the story?
I think the problem is that our system is not only outdated but it is becoming the cause of our crisis. My opinion of course.
No one trusts it anymore. All of the inquiries and commissions are done to be shelved and so slowly it has become just a process. Who trusts politicians today?
So here we are running our lives without any trust in the system, including the all important judicial system which keeps the rule of law universally accepted. When we loose that then it is impossible to keep a democracy alive.
You ask 10 people if they trust the Judicial system and you will be amazed what you get back.
So the question is why are not not making the necessary changes to keep it functional and trustworthy? Is it that we came to believe this is the ultimate democratic system? Really?