Sounds like Rob Anders is contemplating running for the leadership of the Wild Rose party. I hope he does become their leader, will pretty much guarantee those tea baggers will never form the government!

He would certainly dead end them. Though I would prefer the Wildrose to have some seats. A safe place for the right to camp out and roast marshmallows.

It would certainly make me reconsider voting for them again.

RIP Manmeet Bhullar. He died in a car crash on QEII during the snowstorm.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...rash-1.3331978

Is anyone else concerned that the wild rose party once coming to power in 2019 will scrap Albertas new climate change plan?

Once all the provinces have plans, I believe the general thrust is they will be locked in somewhat using a Canada Health Act type mechanism where a province that opts out then the federal government has the power to implement a program to achieve the same targets.

RIP Jim Prentice.

Jim Prentice killed in a plane crash outside of Kelowna.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...lled-1.3804941

Poll finds Alberta PCs leading and strong backing for 'unite the right'
 

A surprising new poll shows the Progressive Conservatives with a significant lead among Alberta voters, while the governing NDP has plunged to third place.

The survey from the Citizen Society Research Lab at Lethbridge College also shows two-thirds of Albertans support a merger of PC and Wildrose parties in time to fight the next election in 2019.

The live-caller telephone survey of 1,513 adult Albertans, conducted from Oct. 1 to 8, puts the Tories ahead with 38.4 per cent support among decided voters, with the Wildrose at 25.7 per cent and the NDP at 19.7 per cent.

http://storage.calgarysun.com/v1/dyn...y=80&size=420x

Complete article at: http://www.calgarysun.com/2016/10/18...nite-the-right

Say hellooooo to Premier Kenny!


Ugh. Disgusting and embarrassing.

[del]

Not sure if they can overcome the negativity. Of course that all depends on who's squaking the loudest

If this were any normal type of situation we'd be going into the red zone pretty quick (2 years till next election). Wonder it the ND's will keep their foot on the gas or if they'll back off until the next election

[del]

I think this time has a much better chance of being different depending on how much support Jason can get from the real power players in the province and if the PCs are smart enough to make some major changes to how they operate to ensure we never have a repeat of their last years. How they elect their leader, true fixed election dates, etc. are some of the things I believe the masses would like to see. Also, the WRP seems to be stuck at ~25% support--if they are unable to raise that figure under the current circumstances how will they when things get better and the PCs have rebuilt their party?

If I was the NDP I would be very worried. Deep down they must realize that the only reason they were elected is because people wanted to punish the PCs. Rachel seems like a nice enough person but I believe those running the show behind the scenes are very scary. I think a lot of Albertans feel the same way. Too many ideologically-based decisions are being made despite the fact that those same decisions have proven to be complete disasters in Ontario. I do applaud them for being smart enough to keep spending on infrastructure to take advantage of lower costs. That is something that the PCs are going to have to copy because waiting until times are better and costs are higher is also being ideologically stupid.

[del]

That's a rare "CATI" opinion poll - live telephone interview (landline/cell). Very expensive yet quite accurate - considered the "gold standard". Nanos federally is also CATI and has been bang-on over the past 5 fed elections.

The only polling stuff that comes out of Alberta is either opt-in online panel polls (Insights West/Think HQ) or IVR (robo) polls (Mainstreet). Just cheap polling junk.

The Calgary-Greenway by-election from March, 2016 basically corroborates the foregoing with the PCs winning, WR in 2nd, Libs in 3rd, and NDP in 4th spot.

I have always stated that the AB NDP was an "accidental" gov't akin to the 1990 ONDP gov't and suspect that it will suffer the same fate - wiped out in Calgary, rural AB, suburban Edmonton with a rump NDP MLA group in inner city Edmonton. AB NDP support is collapsing here and, in all likelihood, will be a "one-term wonder".

The 2015 fed election results in AB, with the CPC obtaining 60% popular vote share (-7% over 2011), confirms that AB continues to have the highest right-wing voter demographics in Canada.

BTW, I can't see Kenney taking over the PCs - he's a WR type. Suspect that another one of the PC contenders will win the PC leadership contest next March.

Either you're misunderstanding me or I'm misunderstanding you. I'm saying that the PCs can't be tied to having balanced budgets at any cost. Going back to the days of huge infrastructure deficits and only building when we have the money to do so is stupid. We need to build when costs are low and build up the treasury when times are good.

The NDP winning in AB in 2015 was a protest vote gone wrong. People wanted to punish the PCs, the media did a great hatchet job on the WRP, and Rachel looked good in the one debate they had. Too many people viewed Rachel as a nice person which I'm sure she is but forgot to factor in that the rest of the party and their supporters had no government experience and a scary agenda that few would support if we got to vote on it. Now we're stuck with them until 2019 which seems like an eternity. I was hoping for a minority government which I thought would be the best case scenario but that's not how this province operates.

I wouldn't count Jason out. He seemed to be able to get a lot done in Ottawa and he has a ton of connections. His biggest foe will probably end up being the left-wing media. They would shit themselves if he united the right because that would mean he would very likely become the next premiere. I hope whoever takes over the PCs makes fundamental changes to how the party is run and makes a strong written commitment to improve democracy in AB. I want to see true fixed election dates not this two (?) month window nonsense we currently have. I also want to see recall legislation without the ridiculous levels of support that BC requires in their legislation. The entire system needs to change but that can come later.

Yeah. Followed the election closely. The Liberals were leaderless, the PC/WR fiasco rubbed folk the wrong way with the WR also essentially leaderless, while Notley had previously replaced Brian Mason as NDP leader.

And Prentice's missteps during the leadership debate (along with Notley's showing) essentially sealed the deal for Notley. NDP candidates were basically a ragtag of social activists, union activists, and enviro activists.

To top it off, the AB NDP gov't imported quite a few BC NDP stalwarts into senior positions, who have been long known in BC as political incompetents. To wit:

1. Brian Topp - 2013 BC NDP campaign manager - now Notley's chief of staff;
2. Jim Rutkowski - former BC NDP leader Carole James former chief of staff - now senior advisor to Notley;
3. John Heaney - current BC NDP leader John Horgan's former chief of staff - now AB deputy minister of policy and planning;
4. Marcella Munroe - BC NDP strategist - now heads Calgary gov't communications bureau;
5. Parm Kahlon - former executive assistant to several BC NDP MLAs - Notley's executive assistant;
6. Matt Hannah - formerly BC NDP - now AB Gov't issues management;
7. Benjamin Alldritt - former communications officer with BC NDP caucus - now AB Gov't issues management;

I can go on and on.

In any event, once the AB NDP were elected, I gave them 1 1/2 years at most before they would collapse in public opinion into 3rd place. Same scenario played out in BC with the election of the BC NDP back in 1991. Same social engineering going on in AB as in BC back in 1991/1992. Déjà vu. Within 1 1/2 years of election, in 1993 the BC NDP popular support collapsed into 3rd place (after the BC Liberals and BC Reform Party - 1993 Mustel polls [also CATI pollster]).

Within 1 1/2 years, the NDP brand in BC had become so badly damaged that the federal NDP vote/seats had also collapsed in BC during the 1993 fed election and thereafter.

On that note, a fed by-election was held yesterday in the AB riding of Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner - always a right-wing seat federally. Also of note is that the AB NDP won one of the underlying provincial seats in May, 2015 - Medicine Hat.

For a by-election, the turnout was relatively high at 44.54%. More importantly, the NDP vote completely collapsed as it is apparent the NDP brand in AB is also now fatally damaged:

CPC: 69.9%
Liberal: 25.6%
CHP: 2%
NDP: 1%
Libertarian: 0.8%
Rhinoceros: 0.6%

http://enr.elections.ca/ElectoralDistricts.aspx?lang=e

Not a protest vote for me. Still don't think it's gone wrong. If there was an election today, I'd vote for them again.

^ x 2. I would vote the same again and I support the vast majority of initiatives and policies the AB NDP has put forward