"Oh, you better take your money out of the oil industry." "Oh, it's Bob Rae politics and budgets coming." "Oh, no more pipelines." "Alberta is now Alberta-stan."
When you're used to winning … . The reaction from some on the right to the NDP victory in Alberta was pretty distasteful.
In some ways, the NDP benefits from this hysteria because the reality can't possibly come close to the non-utopia the right believes is coming. Yes, the NDP promised to raise the corporate tax rate from 10% to 12%. Yes, that is a 20% increase (not that Jim Prentice got that correct in the debate), but a 2 percentage point increase, which is the more proper way of explaining the difference, isn't catastrophic to capitalism.
As for the Bob Rae references, before Rae was an interim federal Liberal Party leader, Rae ran the Ontario NDP government from 1990-1995.
The timing was bad if you remember the early 1990s: Ontario and Michigan in particular had bad economies, but the Ontario version was blamed because of "NDP budgets."
If you are a Millennial and you wonder why Rae is relevant to Rachel Notley in Alberta in 2015, you aren't the only one who is confused.
The funniest reaction was those "threatening" to move to Saskatchewan because of the NDP win. Those wanting to jump to Saskatchewan should know that the province charges a 5% PST on top of the federal 5% GST, so those in Saskatchewan pay 10% on goods and services instead of 5% in Alberta. For those who love using a percentage, that is a 100% tax increase. The province also has a separate 10% liquor consumption tax, a relevant point if you are drowning your sorrows.
Unlike those who are debating a move to Canada (including your humble narrator), moving from Alberta to Saskatchewan is a lot easier. You do have to adjust to a new provincial health care system, learn not to set your clocks forward or back. And if you live in Lloydminster, you just have to cross from west of 50th Avenue to east of 50th Avenue.
-
Alberta votes for change, NDP, Rachel Notley
-
2015 Canadian politics preview
-
CanadianCrossing.com Canadian politics coverage
For all the factors that may or may not lead to the Keystone XL pipeline, the new NDP government isn't high on that list.
Premier Rachel Notley said during the campaign that the province would not lobby for the Keystone XL pipeline. The previous 4 Alberta premiers — all Progressive Conservatives: Ed Stelmach, Alison Redford, Dave Hancock, and Jim Prentice — all extensively lobbied for the pipeline and clearly that didn't work.
Besides, the federal government under Stephen Harper will do plenty of lobbying in Washington to get the pipeline passed.
The reaction of some progressive Web sites in the States was very positive about the NDP government being a key factor in the pipeline not ultimately getting done.
If the pipeline is approved in the States, then the NDP government could express concern. Then again, if the fight lasts until the next Alberta election (4-5 years away), then the question is relevant.
---
Notley referred to the large number of women in the NDP caucus on Election Night. Nearly half of Rachel Notley's NDP caucus in Alberta is female and the NDP government will have more females than any other caucus in Canadian history.
---
We got a hint about why Danielle Smith left the Wildrose to jump to the Progressive Conservatives. In a Day 6 interview with Brent Bambury on CBC Radio, Smith talked about the battle to improve the situation for gays and lesbians in Alberta. You might recall that a Wildrose candidate in 2012 made derogatory statements against gays.
Bambury: While you were the leader Wildrose Party, you tried to put sexual orientation into the party's non-discrimination policy and that effort was met with resistance. How much did that have to do with your decision to leave the party and cross the floor?
Smith: It made the party that I was leading unwinnable in the two major centres in Calgary and Edmonton. I was doing my level best to try to bring forward some of these policies to get us to catch up to where the public was. I failed at that, but I think that the conservative movement in Alberta is going to have to come to terms with these moral issues that nobody is interested in fighting anymore.
The Wildrose did jump above the 2012 level in terms of ridings and is the official opposition party in the province, but is primarily stuck in rural Alberta.
Change came last week to Alberta, but clearly more change needs to come to the province. Good to see that Smith was willing to fight that fight, even if things didn't work out for her.
---
According to Elections Alberta, the unofficial voter turnout was 58.1%. This was better than normal for the province, but the closeness of the election should have helped the turnout. This was nowhere near the Prince Edward Island standard of 84.6% last week, but still a lot better than most turnouts south of the 49th parallel.
---
The regional strongholds of the CBC proved handy last week in monitoring the elections in Prince Edward Island and Alberta. Like our coverage of New Brunswick's election last fall, watching and listening to the CBC coverage is really easy, even in the States.
The CBC Radio app allows you to listen to whichever CBC Radio One station you would like. There are limitations outside Canada for some CBC Radio 2 feeds, but you do get Eastern and Pacific international feeds. And you get to listen to a crystal-clear feed, something that certain Radio One stations that are on the AM band can't do in Canada.
Each CBC grouping has its own Web page, where you can find the feed for election coverage. You can also watch individual stories and newscasts from that part of Canada.
Often times, when people talk negatively about the CBC, the discussion is about the NHL on CBC or "bad" TV shows. The CBC is about serving Canada in ways that other outlets simply can't and won't.
In listening and watching the individual province election coverage, you get a lot of local colour. Tidbits obtained during the coverage are sprinkled into the reports here at CanadianCrossing.com.
You could hear local folk music in the background when the CBC checked in at Bites Cafe/Hampton Dental Clinic, home of the Green Party gathering in Crapaud, PE. The cafe/dental clinic (Peter Bevan-Baker, the new Green party MLA, is a dentist) is held inside an old church that had to close.
The scene gave us a glimpse into a window of the island. No fancy hotels; just a bunch of people in a converted church with cool music in the background.
All you need is a strong enough Internet connection and you can reach this world.
Comments