Alberta Politics

[Whattagame]

This seems to be damage control for stiffing Edmonton on the hospital. After all, if there's going to be a million people in Red Deer, better get them a hospital immediately!

I understand that they are underserved as well, but nuance isn't a strong suit for the intended audience.

 

[Kosy123]

Probably a bit spooked too tbh. Both Red Deer ridings were much closer than people expected in the last election. Ironically, the city getting larger and more urban would probably turn it into a more competitive NDP/UCP area similar to Lethbridge.

 

[David A]

Yes, there also does seem to be an aspect of a UCP/Wildrose retreat to their rural base in these sort of comments by Smith. Last election they were already struggling in Calgary, if they lose a few places like Red Deer they will be done.

 

[Gus Haynes]

I could imagine Danielle thinking that her job would be easier if there was a major urban center that voted uniformly conservative, to act as a counterweight to Edmonton and (increasingly) Calgary. I think what Danielle may not fully appreciate is that the larger and more diverse a city grows (in terms of educational and employment demographics), the less conservative the voter base is. But, more immediately, I'm not sure how thrilled the existing residents of Red Deer are with the thought of their community growing into something completely huge and unrecognizable to them. This is a dream held by Danielle and few others, I suspect.

 

[Whattagame]

If you've seen what they've done to the school curriculum and how they're pressuring post-secondary to align politically with the UCP, I don't think they'll have to worry about an educated population becoming a threat.

 

[David A]

To paraphrase another infamous politician, I suspect they love the uneducated.

 

[David A]

Rate of Last Resort': Alberta renaming its default electricity rate​

MSN

I suppose they chose Rate of Last Resort because "We're going to shame and blame you because you are poor rather than making it more affordable" was way to long

 

[Gronk!]

Alberta to overhaul municipal rules to include sweeping new powers, municipal political parties | Globalnews.ca

The bill would give the province the right to fire councillors, overturn bylaws, postpone elections and allow political parties to run on municipal ballots in Edmonton and Calgary.

globalnews.ca

 

[Garneau2Go]

Alberta to overhaul municipal rules to include sweeping new powers, municipal political parties | Globalnews.ca

The bill would give the province the right to fire councillors, overturn bylaws, postpone elections and allow political parties to run on municipal ballots in Edmonton and Calgary.

globalnews.ca

Regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum, it should be important that a councillor or mayor be allowed to finish their term and represent their constituents as they were voted in a free and fair election, they should be able to freely represent their constituents without fear of the province removing them if provincial cabinet decides it’s in the public interest.

Frankly that’s the bare minimum.

 

[Westendyeg]

Danielle Smith has already come out and said the single use bylaw is ideologically driven, so this will likely be repealed almost immediately.

 

[Glenco]

Absolutely outrageous. This coming from the freedom party ,less government blah blah blah. This is turning into a dictatorship.

 

[IanO]

Regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum, it should be important that a councillor or mayor be allowed to finish their term and represent their constituents as they were voted in a free and fair election, they should be able to freely represent their constituents without fear of the province removing them if provincial cabinet decides it’s in the public interest.

Frankly that’s the bare minimum.

Bill 20 certainly sends a message over all municipalities bows.

 

[EtoV]

Bill 20 certainly sends a message over all municipalities bows.

"We only respect democracy when it benefits us."

In terms of the municipal party thing, support for it is less than 30%, so why are they doing it? Well as someone who is currently in BC where there are already municipal parties, the reason is simple. Currently municipal politics in Alberta forces voters to look at actual policy (albeit at a high level for a lot of people), since they have nothing simple to indicate which "team" someone is on. Introducing parties is a great way to ensure low information voters vote for a certain party, since it's a lot easier to get people to vote against their own self interests without realizing. Parties increases the chance that voters to blindly vote for "their team", even if their team has no interest in helping them.

Can't wait til our municipal elections becomes "orange team wants to raise your taxes, blue team wants to lower them", and all other policy directions and decisions are ignored. Municipal politics in BC have been conservative for decades for this very reason, in a way that really doesn't align with the actual values of the population.

It needs to he scrapped yesterday in BC, and it's a travesty that Alberta is choosing to follow those footsteps.

 

[Gus Haynes]

Tons of petty shit in this bill. One of the "funniest" is the ban on electronic ballot tabulators, despite McIver saying he's not aware of any problems with them -- just aware that some people don't like them because they believe in Trumpist conspiracy theories.

Smith and McIver are doing their best DeSantis impersonations with this crap.

 

[Whattagame]

Is there still time to tack on a rider to ban 5G? You know...just in case.