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Federal Politics

TAS

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Coun. Ben Henderson is running for federal Liberals in next federal election in Mill Woods riding - once held by Sohi.

Interesting that he is not running in Strathcona - area he has represented for a long time on council.

 
I’m flattered but lawn signs with my name on them aren’t going anywhere.

the problem with being elected - or even running to be elected - is that you have to be patient and be prepared to give as much time to stupid as you do to smart.

i’m simply too old and impatient to waste any more of my time with stupid.
 
I’m flattered but lawn signs with my name on them aren’t going anywhere.

the problem with being elected - or even running to be elected - is that you have to be patient and be prepared to give as much time to stupid as you do to smart.

i’m simply too old and impatient to waste any more of my time with stupid.
Fair... I don't have the temper to hold public office, but I'd gladly join technical positions in public administration.

Nonetheless, since you don't want to run, I guess we're stuck with what we have... All things considered, the pragmatist in me would vote Soho, if I could.
 
municipally, i think sohi is the front runner and deservedly so. this is going to be a fractious, inexperienced council with a new city manager and an entrenched administration and it will need an experienced and capable collaborator with sohi’s skills and empathy if we are going to get anything done without falling even further behind.

federally - which is what this thread is about - I don’t have a clue. too much stupid all the way to the top from all of them. best case scenario is probably a weak minority regardless of who leads it so at least they can work on keeping each other honest.
 
Public opinion polls look pretty good for the Liberals but of course things can change. There were four provincial elections during the pandemic and the governing party won them all.

I would hope the city elects a couple of Liberals so we have a much better opportunity for a local at the cabinet table.

Best bets of that are likely city centre and I guess Mill Woods with Henderson running - yet Sohi as a cabinet minister lost by 9,000 votes last election so that's quite a bit to make up. But I guess Henderson thinks he has a better chance there than Strathcona, held by NDP for at least a decade now.
 
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Yeah, I wish we had some better leaders for our federal parties right now...

I vote pretty differently depending on the election. Federally I usually lean more conservative, but scheer and the conservatives have been rough. Trudeau is brutal though too. If either party puts out better options in the future, that'll sway me. Provincislly I'm left of center.....alberta party has interested me quite a bit. Then municipal I lean pretty progressive. Sadly I find the party politics at the federal level challenging. Every party has some positions I really disagree with, so its hard to vote.
 
Yeah, I wish we had some better leaders for our federal parties right now...

I vote pretty differently depending on the election. Federally I usually lean more conservative, but scheer and the conservatives have been rough. Trudeau is brutal though too. If either party puts out better options in the future, that'll sway me. Provincislly I'm left of center.....alberta party has interested me quite a bit. Then municipal I lean pretty progressive. Sadly I find the party politics at the federal level challenging. Every party has some positions I really disagree with, so its hard to vote.
I'm probably going to lean Liberal/Progressive throughout all levels, just out of sheer pragmatism. I also tend to lean centre-left in general.

Genuine question, for everyone, is: what is it and the widespread anti-Trudeau sentiment in Alberta, across all of the political spectrum?
I get it that he's far from the perfect PM, but putting my outsider hat, from a point of view of someone who's been studying Canadian politics, economy and history as much as I can, he seems to have been fairly competent as far as the national economy goes, not many scandals really worth the title, no major corruption indication...
Is it just a general conservativeness that comes with the territory, even among the more progressive Albertans?
 
I'm probably going to lean Liberal/Progressive throughout all levels, just out of sheer pragmatism. I also tend to lean centre-left in general.

Genuine question, for everyone, is: what is it and the widespread anti-Trudeau sentiment in Alberta, across all of the political spectrum?
I get it that he's far from the perfect PM, but putting my outsider hat, from a point of view of someone who's been studying Canadian politics, economy and history as much as I can, he seems to have been fairly competent as far as the national economy goes, not many scandals really worth the title, no major corruption indication...
Is it just a general conservativeness that comes with the territory, even among the more progressive Albertans?
Yeah, good question idk. I mean, I've lived in Toronto and Vancouver and went to the UofA, so I dont think I'm the stereotypical albertan. I also find that its funny how Albertans are viewed as conservative, but when I lived in both Toronto and Vancouver I found that anyone outside the core, similar to edmonton/Calgary, was just as conservative. Like the GTA is not actually that liberal. Tons of small towns that got absorbed, manufacturing industries that produced families with similar values and views as farmers and oil patch workers. Lots of immigrants as well who hold more religious views that are often quite conservative compared to Canada.

So tbh, I've found 3dmonton more progressive than most people I've met in like Hamilton, surrey, Langley, pickering/durham region. But the alberta stereotype prevails.

In terms of Trudeau, I think his character is atrocious. The number of scandals he's been caught up in are embarrassing. Sadly we don't seem to care about character in our political leaders anymore, hence the Trump reality.

Trudeau will win as the center party with little competition. But a strong push by the ndp or pcs with a good leader I think could take on Trudeau. There's just no alternatives.

I'm not anti trudeau, like a F Trudeau bumper stick guy at all ahha. Not that albertan. But I really don't trust anyone who has had multiple ethics investigations and scandals.

I also generally lean fiscally right at a federal level, whereas I lean left for municipal. Tbh, one of the most convincing things one of my urban planning profs sold me on is that canada should move to a government system where municipal is more powerful and federal/provincial are less. And I'm really convinced that would be better. So that leads to a desire for smaller government and less spending federally. (Although in areas like immigration i lean pretty far left, so thats one of those areas where I dont feel well represented by pcs federally. But monetary policy by ndps federally is concerning to me too).
 
I'm probably going to lean Liberal/Progressive throughout all levels, just out of sheer pragmatism. I also tend to lean centre-left in general.

Genuine question, for everyone, is: what is it and the widespread anti-Trudeau sentiment in Alberta, across all of the political spectrum?
I get it that he's far from the perfect PM, but putting my outsider hat, from a point of view of someone who's been studying Canadian politics, economy and history as much as I can, he seems to have been fairly competent as far as the national economy goes, not many scandals really worth the title, no major corruption indication...
Is it just a general conservativeness that comes with the territory, even among the more progressive Albertans?
A big part is genuinely just his name and the legacy of his father being superimposed on him. (And the virulent hatred for his dad in the prairies as a result of the NEP).

if he was a regular Liberal leader with no “star” power with his father’s name, it wouldn’t be the same in my opinion.

As someone who leans heavily left, he’s genuinely just an “eh” politician. Not the worst that im virulently anti Trudeau but im not going to sing praises for him as well. It’s just a weird political culture going on here, something that can and will change within the next decade.
 

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