David A
Senior Member
Who is being appointed to cabinet?
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Alberta Politics
- Thread starter ION
- Start date
kcantor
Senior Member
^
Nobody.
It’s a purely theoretical discussion regarding the possibility of having representation in Cabinet for a region not represented by a governing party MP or MLA should the Prime Minister or a Premier have an actual desire to do so.
The political foofarah when the region is ably (or even simply largely) represented by opposition MP’s of MLA’s (who in fact could also be invited but aren’t likely to be non-partisan enough to sit productively) would probably be worth the price of admission.
Nobody.
It’s a purely theoretical discussion regarding the possibility of having representation in Cabinet for a region not represented by a governing party MP or MLA should the Prime Minister or a Premier have an actual desire to do so.
The political foofarah when the region is ably (or even simply largely) represented by opposition MP’s of MLA’s (who in fact could also be invited but aren’t likely to be non-partisan enough to sit productively) would probably be worth the price of admission.
David A
Senior Member
Ok, I was wondering if I missed something important. Usually the political requirement to run for election soon after appointment means the party must have or find a potentially winnable riding in the area for the person. As you may recall this was a bit of an issue when Danielle Smith became UCP leader and Premier, there was a recently vacated Calgary riding, but there were concerns it was not sufficiently safe.
This generally means another party MLA in a safe riding retiring to make room for the unelected person to run, which is what happened so Smith could run in Medicine Hat instead. Of course, this does not work in an area where there are no elected party members and/or they are unlikely to be elected, so unlikely to have a UCP cabinet member appointed say in Edmonton. Although, Federally but not provincially there is still the option of appointing a Senator to cabinet, which is still technically possible, but also seems to be falling out of favour politically recently.
This generally means another party MLA in a safe riding retiring to make room for the unelected person to run, which is what happened so Smith could run in Medicine Hat instead. Of course, this does not work in an area where there are no elected party members and/or they are unlikely to be elected, so unlikely to have a UCP cabinet member appointed say in Edmonton. Although, Federally but not provincially there is still the option of appointing a Senator to cabinet, which is still technically possible, but also seems to be falling out of favour politically recently.
EdmTrekker
Senior Member
Here is a good reason not to fly with Westjet - tied to to UCP.
“Smith is scheduled to travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with U.S. senators to promote Alberta’s energy industry and environmental technologies, including carbon capture, utilization and storage, methane, geothermal and biofuels, the province said in a Tuesday news release. Smith, who will be travelling with six staff members, is scheduled to then attend a congressional reception hosted by the Canadian American Business Council and WestJet.”
edmontonjournal.com
“Smith is scheduled to travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with U.S. senators to promote Alberta’s energy industry and environmental technologies, including carbon capture, utilization and storage, methane, geothermal and biofuels, the province said in a Tuesday news release. Smith, who will be travelling with six staff members, is scheduled to then attend a congressional reception hosted by the Canadian American Business Council and WestJet.”
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith heading to Washington, D.C., Wednesday
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith will be heading stateside to visit with U.S. lawmakers Wednesday to promote the province's energy industry.
edmontonjournal.com
The_Cat
Senior Member
Ms. Smith goes to Washington?
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Glenco
Senior Member
Lougheed
ChazYEG
Senior Member
It's less about the city having political power and how the power balance in the province is distributed right now.
Rural Alberta is unlikely to shift dramatically towards the NDP, Edmonton is an NDP stronghold and Calgary is becoming more and more a swing area.
Because rural Alberta is disproportionately represented in the Legislature doesn't leave room for any strategy that doesn't involve strengthening the NDP's position in Calgary, if we want Edmonton to have any political leverage whatsoever. It's either that or something crazy happens and they lose all, or most, of their seats here.
Also, apart from Notley, Edmonton hasn't really produced many strong political leaders with provincial aspirations lately, save for MAYBE Iverson. Whether this is cause or consequence of the aforementioned balance of power is debatable, but doesn't change the reality of the matter.
A successful NDP government, regardless of who the leader is, and where he/she/they is from, will likely help redistribute this power and shift it back towards a more equitable position between Edmonton and Calgary, but that could take a while to happen.
Also, power is not only vested in the Premier, but their base and by extension, their cabinets, which will likely figure a LOT of Edmontonians in an NDP government, even if the Premier is not from here. Edmonton is their stronghold, and they would do well to keep their voters here appeased, but for any of this to happen, we need to flip votes in Calgary.
Add to that the fact that the "rivalry" between the cities is felt much more strongly on their side of it than ours, and they're a lot less likely to vote for an Edmontonian Premier than the opposite, and the best strategy starts to get clear.
I would love to have an Edmontonian as Premier, or even an NDP leader from a smaller city that doesn't have closer ties to either city, and these might happen if the UCP is dislodged from power, but I don't really see it happening right now. The federal NDP does have a person who could possibly make it happen in Heather McPherson, but I doubt she'd leave her very safe MP position to gamble her political career in an attempted shot at premiership. Other than her, I don't see a name that is strong enough to make this happen, while there are a few names in Calgary that could potentially kickstart the process, Nenshi being the strongest one, IMO.
As people said here already, he has good acceptance here, has never been politically aligned before, was a very competent mayor and is still a popular guy down in Calgary.
Our closest name in terms of strenght, Iverson, has been linked to the Liberal Party through most of his career (a big no-no even in Edmonton, but more so in Calgary and rural Alberta), and hasn't had the same level of success and popularity as Nenshi as mayor.
If anything, by NOT considering a Calgary leader for the NDP, that can turn votes there and dislodge the United Calgary Party, We might then want to do everything that you said, because we'll be keeping 100% of the provincial political influence in the hands of Calgary and rural Alberta.
archited
Senior Member
Maybe spellcheck interfered but the name is Iveson.
TAS
Senior Member
Next Premier?
Edmonton Whitemud MLA Rakhi Pancholi is in the NDP leadership race and is stirring things up early by suggesting consumer carbon tax may need to go.
Website includes short (and good) intro campaign video.
www.voterakhi.ca
She will be top contender I think. She is more centre than maybe some in NDP but still progressive.
Edmonton Whitemud MLA Rakhi Pancholi is in the NDP leadership race and is stirring things up early by suggesting consumer carbon tax may need to go.
Website includes short (and good) intro campaign video.
Vote Rakhi
Rakhi Pancholi is a two-time MLA who is running for Leader of the Alberta NDP in the 2024 leadership election.
www.voterakhi.ca
She will be top contender I think. She is more centre than maybe some in NDP but still progressive.
BASE
Active Member
She's a great choice. This could be a crowded field and always interesting to see how that thins out.Next Premier?
Edmonton Whitemud MLA Rakhi Pancholi is in the NDP leadership race and is stirring things up early by suggesting consumer carbon tax may need to go.
Website includes short (and good) intro campaign video.
Vote Rakhi
Rakhi Pancholi is a two-time MLA who is running for Leader of the Alberta NDP in the 2024 leadership election.
She will be top contender I think. She is more centre than maybe some in NDP but still progressive.
SarcasticMarmot
Active Member
Alberta doesn't have a provincial consumer carbon tax.Next Premier?
Edmonton Whitemud MLA Rakhi Pancholi is in the NDP leadership race and is stirring things up early by suggesting consumer carbon tax may need to go.
Website includes short (and good) intro campaign video.
Vote Rakhi
Rakhi Pancholi is a two-time MLA who is running for Leader of the Alberta NDP in the 2024 leadership election.
She will be top contender I think. She is more centre than maybe some in NDP but still progressive.
David A
Senior Member
Ah, we already do have a consumer carbon tax and a lot of people have been complaining about Ottawa not exempting certain things. So maybe a provincial one with a bit more flexibility would be a better way to go.
SarcasticMarmot
Active Member
No argument there, but that's not what she said. I've historically liked Pancholi as an MLA but starting her campaign promoting an idea that is either incredibly uninformed or willfully misleading is gross.
TAS
Senior Member
Nobody said Alberta has a provincial consumer carbon tax. The UCP deferred an Alberta-made policy to the federal government to control when Kenney won the election in 2019.
And so we do pay a consumer carbon tax - gasoline and fossil fuels if used to heat our homes. BC and Quebec have their own systems to meet federal standards.
What exactly do you think she said?
SarcasticMarmot
Active Member
It's in the interview here. She talks about getting rid of consumer carbon pricing in Alberta, which as you point out is not something in the provinces control. She then goes on to talk about implementing industrial carbon pricing, which is something Alberta already does. Either she has a very poor understanding of how things actually work or she is feeding into misconceptions to score political points, both of which I find gross.