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Alberta Politics

Are we really obsessing about a T-shirt? You're trying to tell me that's the most serious issue facing our province right now? Not the fact that crime and homelessness are plaguing even small communities, that wait times for medical treatment are out of control, that access to affordable housing is at a crisis point and access to senior's housing is as bad or even worse? No, it's the fact that the premier posed at the Stampede with some dude who has an idiotic T-shirt. That's the level of dialogue in our province today: Albertans are losing their minds over somebody's T-shirt.

I don't support Danielle Smith, I didn't vote for her in May and I think the UCP has dropped the ball on a number of key files. (To give them credit, there are some things they've done right.) That being said, public officials have their photos taken with a TON of people. Some of those folks turn out to be unsavory or bigoted or worse. Doesn't anyone remember the First Lady of the United States (Rosalynn Carter) having her photo taken with a top Democratic fundraiser in Chicago...John Wayne Gacy? Or Bill Clinton and Barack Obama having their photos taken with Democratic supporter Jeffrey Epstein? Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama with Harvey Weinstein? Sometimes photos are taken that turn out to be REALLY bad ideas.

But additionally, I have to ask, where was all this outrage, this concern for the future, this worry about what continued UCP rule means for the future of Alberta, you know, in May? There was an election in which just a little bit more effort, a little bit more focus, a few more people talked to and warned about the UCP and urged to vote strategically would have ended in a completely different result. Look at ridings such as Calgary Bow, Calgary Cross, Calgary North West and Lethbridge East where a bit harder push, a bit more effort, could have resulted in those seats being won for the NDP? Consider ridings like Strathcona-Sherwood Park, Leduc-Beaumont and Spruce Grove-Stony Plain where the UCP had no business even being competitive. Why didn't the NDP and their supporters make a concerted push and pick up those seats?

If you're horrified about Danielle Smith's judgment and think four more years of her is a crisis, then I have to ask: where were you in May?
 
^ A lot of the NDP campaign resources were allocated to Calgary, where they picked up about 10 more seats. I really wonder about these people who said that Rachel Notley dropped the ball during the debate. "She's being harsh on Danielle Smith." or "She's too adversarial." Rachel Notley stuck to her guns during the campaign, but much of the UCP base stuck with Danielle Smith, regardless of the adversity,. Did Smith really care for the fire or flood victims? Did voters really think the UCP would be different? The voter turnout in the rural ridings was generally higher but alas, no real change because again, they took pity on the UCP. Like you said TravellingChris, the above urban/suburban ridings that went UCP could have made a difference. These jurisdictions need hospitals, schools and other infrastructure in a growing province that could grow by about 400,000 by next election.
 
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Also, I think about the green shirt. There's a difference here. People may have had their picture with Bill Cosby or Prince Andrew, before their fall from grace. But how many leaders would have posed someone wearing a swastika or some other offensive message, knowing that the message hurt people? Smith could have told that one in the photo to change.
 
TravellingChris said:
….
If you're horrified about Danielle Smith's judgment and think four more years of her is a crisis, then I have to ask: where were you in May?
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many of us were were active and vocal critics of danielle smith and the ucp and take back alberta here and elsewhere for a long time prior to the last election, many of us also being long time previous pc supporters.

we don’t need to be lectured about criticizing a t-shirt photo that is a concise pictorial image that visually represents many of our concerns. that t-shirt photo demonstrates a tone deafness of behaviour that goes far beyond and much wider than a t-shirt photo those good decisions you noted not-withstanding.
 
kcantor said:
many of us were were active and vocal critics of danielle smith and the ucp and take back alberta here and elsewhere for a long time prior to the last election, many of us also being long time previous pc supporters.

we don’t need to be lectured about criticizing a t-shirt photo that is a concise pictorial image that visually represents many of our concerns. that t-shirt photo demonstrates a tone deafness of behaviour that goes far beyond and much wider than a t-shirt photo those good decisions you noted not-withstanding.
Click to expand...
Again, as I said, if you think Danielle and her party are that bad, you had a chance to stop them in May. If all you're going to do is criticize her after the election is over, what's the point?
 
The_Cat said:
^ A lot of the NDP campaign resources were allocated to Calgary, where they picked up about 10 more seats. I really wonder about these people who said that Rachel Notley dropped the ball during the debate. "She's being harsh on Danielle Smith." or "She's too adversarial." Rachel Notley stuck to her guns during the campaign, but much of the UCP base stuck with Danielle Smith, regardless of the adversity,. Did Smith really care for the fire or flood victims? Did voters really think the UCP would be different? The voter turnout in the rural ridings was generally higher but alas, no real change because again, they took pity on the UCP. Like you said TravellingChris, the above urban/suburban ridings that went UCP could have made a difference. These jurisdictions need hospitals, schools and other infrastructure in a growing province that could grow by about 400,000 by next election.
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I still can't understand why most of the "ring" ridings around Edmonton went UCP. These are mostly fast-growing areas with increasing suburban populations that should have gone NDP. I also heard from residents that some of the UCP MLAs in these constituencies are poor representatives and don't respond to e-mails, etc. So they should have been easy to defeat with a concerted effort. The fact that the NDP swept Edmonton and then pretty much fell off a cliff in the ridings immediately outside the city (winning only St. Albert), speaks volumes about the NDP campaign.
 
TravellingChris said:
Again, as I said, if you think Danielle and her party are that bad, you had a chance to stop them in May. If all you're going to do is criticize her after the election is over, what's the point?
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you’re still looking at this the wrong way…

it’s not about last may’s election, it’s about the next one and holding her and her party accountable in the interim.

you said that should have happened to a greater degree last time so why does seeing it this time annoy you so much?
 
The NDP supporters put up a hell of a good fight. However, human nature is slow to change. Perhaps the strongest NDP victories were in constituencies with the strongest growth or greater turnover of residents.
 
Winning an election does not give anyone immunity from being criticized for current or future bad judgement.

Yes, her past bad judgement was well discussed during the election and she said "she would do better" But this is not about that. One could argue that promise is now broken.
 
TravellingChris said:
You think this is all a laughing matter?
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The tragedy that is Daniel Smith , the incompetence, the embarrassment, the uncertainty and stress people have to endure about health care education and public services is not a joke. So we can either cry or try to find the humour of her total incompetence. I choose the latter.
 
in other news, edmonton sets third consecutive weekly record for opioid deaths and still sees random violent attacks downtown and in its transit system (including one death), our environment minister’s new mandate is to make life easier for industry, our finance minister is still looking at wasting billions on pension plans and tax collection reforms no-one wants or needs, a provincial police force no-one wants appears to still be in the works, hsr still seems to be getting support while an hst can’t get any, and everything that’s not perfect is still ottawa’s fault (which they could partially fix by sending us even more money for day care and diversification and health care and disaster relief…). surgical wait lists and er and lab waiting times (if the er is actually open in your community) are all longer, hospital services are being curtailed and the government is meddling in individual health-care staffing decisions while sole sourcing media contracts to campaign managers.

if i managed to get all of that on a t-shirt, i wonder if i could my picture taken with the premier?
 
kcantor said:
in other news, edmonton sets third consecutive weekly record for opioid deaths and still sees random violent attacks downtown and in its transit system (including one death), our environment minister’s new mandate is to make life easier for industry, our finance minister is still looking at wasting billions on pension plans and tax collection reforms no-one wants or needs, a provincial police force no-one wants appears to still be in the works, hsr still seems to be getting support while an hst can’t get any, and everything that’s not perfect is still ottawa’s fault (which they could partially fix by sending us even more money for day care and diversification and health care and disaster relief…). surgical wait lists and er and lab waiting times (if the er is actually open in your community) are all longer, hospital services are being curtailed and the government is meddling in individual health-care staffing decisions while sole sourcing media contracts to campaign managers.

if i managed to get all of that on a t-shirt, i wonder if i could my picture taken with the premier?
Click to expand...

Can't agree more.
 
Two things can be true. There are so many serious issues this province is facing that are being mishandled, and that t-shirt photo shows a serious lack of judgment of either the premier or the people around her.

Especially given the larger backlash against the LGBT community that seems to be growing on the right wing it's not a good look to put it mildly.
 
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