Alberta Politics II

[suburbia]

The RCMP is Now Questioning Voters About Election Fraud Allegations in the 2017 UCP Leadership Vote



https://pressprogress.ca/the-rcmp-is...adership-vote/

Three members of UCP supporter Kanwaljit Shergill’s suburban Calgary household appear on the list connected to an e-mail address registered at “ptclmail.com,” a domain that was registered five weeks before the vote.

Shergill told PressProgress she provided statement after RCMP investigators from a “special unit” visited her home and asked her family about e-mail addresses they’d never seen before.

The RCMP investigators were “showing us some e-mails,” Shergill explained. “They were not related to me.”

Shergill said the RCMP investigators asked her family if they “provided our e-mails” to the UCP — “we never did,” she noted.

“They were asking if we voted online or not, but we never did, we said no.”

Harjeet Singh, who appears on the list along with two other household members connected to a “link3mail.com” e-mail address, said he voted in-person in Falconridge.

Singh told PressProgress he has never seen the “link3mail.com” e-mail address, explaining he uses a “yahoo.com” e-mail address.

Ramandeep Singh Johal also told PressProgress he’s never heard of “bsnlhost.com” even though he and two family members are listed under that e-mail address.

Five members of Karamveer Tiwana’s family are connected to an e-mail address at “gianimail.com,” an e-mail address he says he’s never seen before and insists he voted in-person for the UCP leadership too.

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by ciudad_del_norte

Thanks! I appreciated that as it gave me an opportunity to try to work through my assumptions. Since I know there isn't a whole lot of interest in the social side of things on UCP side these days, I tried to think of it in terms economics, and I'm still struggling to see the UCP as a clear choice. (Note - I know you weren't necessarily putting these forward as your arguments, so I'm trying to argue with you, but just present some potential challenges to the assumptions that often come with those points.)


1. raising minimum wage - If a business can't afford to pay people a living wage, isn't that business really viable? Is having a large segment of the population rely in business that are only viable by paying people less than they can live on actually good for the economy or society overall? Not to mention, having a populace that can afford to live is also likely going to have economic benefits as well? I suppose one could argue that the minimum wage shouldn't be a living wage, but if not I'm curious as to how we would set it - or perhaps maybe the solution would just be to do away with minimum wages entirely.

Sectors where employees make a lot in tips and fast food never should have had their minimum wages raised so quickly. I don't know about elsewhere but fast food in Calgary has easily gone up 25% in many cases.

2. raising corporate taxes - Alberta - and most of North America, really actually has very low taxes. The assumption of lower taxes providing overall economic benefit has been a 40 experiment that hasn't proven successful. The only times where some may argue it has worked has included a lowering of taxes from actually high taxes. Jurisdictions like Kansas, Saskatchewan (and now Alberta) that have tried to rely on lower taxes have had to hike taxes again eventually because the economic benefits were not realized. Alberta was spared from this reality because of resource luck.

Raising corporate taxes resulted in a significant drop in revenues not an increase. Lowering corporate taxes can and has resulted in more revenues.

3. Carbon tax
Just another externality and this sort of approach is considered by many economists as a decent market-based approach. Generally, the impacts of CO2 emissions will be borne by the population as a whole, much falling on the government. By not paying these taxes, we are collectively subsidizing carbon emitting industries. In most cases, it is the job of the government to step in when the short term market pressures fail and do not account for the true costs.

I think it's too soon to say whether or not this was a good idea or not.

4. Musing about another review of royalties
If the resources do belong to Albertans collectively, why wouldn't we check in regularly to make sure we are getting a good deal? Not to mention, if the concern is uncertainty, I'd argue that Jason Kenney actually presents more uncertainty for the industry. Removing the carbon tax with established parameters which will then be replaced by a federal administered version. Undermining the rationale for federal pipeline support, creating inflaming antagonistic relationships with both BC and Ottawa.

Changing the rules too often is not good for investors. I also don't think many people understand the rates.

Of course, someone may argue different sides to these points. But I feel like this ingrained assumption that the UPC - or conservative policies in general are somehow more economically sound is neither borne out by theory or experience

I also don't want to come across as anti-business. I've been working for the last two years starting a small business of my own. I've been struggling a bit trying to decide if I feel like the UCP would be a better option for me (although I still couldn't vote for them given their dismal social record). Honestly though, after taking a serious look at their platform, I don't see anything that would really help me and my business. In fact, they have alluded to some steps that would actually hurt me -although haven't committed to any of them yet, thankfully.

Some of what the UCP is proposing doesn't come across as being economically sound to me at all but other things do. Like the NDP they're too driven by ideology for our own good.

[jawagord]

Originally Posted by suburbia

The RCMP is Now Questioning Voters About Election Fraud Allegations in the 2017 UCP Leadership Vote



https://pressprogress.ca/the-rcmp-is...adership-vote/

Shucks, I voted yesterday, if you had just posted things like this earlier I might have changed my vote!

[DizzyEdge]

So realistically what is the legal penalty for this sort of voter fraud assuming it is proven to have occurred?

[suburbia]

Analysis of those who voted in Trump and might vote in the UCP


LINK - https://www.sprawlcalgary.com/econom...rta-needs-both

It is a shame but we see this happening even on this same forum. The UCP supporters, when confronted with the reality that is Jason Kenney's party, never respond to those actual issues, that form the foundation of the Unite the alt-Right movement of which Kenney is flag bearer.

[suburbia]

LINK - https://twitter.com/bpincott/status/1115673978452844544

ARTICLE - https://www.theglobeandmail.com/cana...ree-land-deal/

[Corndogger]

Elections Alberta says a whopping 140,000 Albertans cast a ballot on Day 1 of advance polling

By Phil Heidenreich Online journalist Global News

Many political pundits have said the 2019 Alberta election will be a battle the likes of which the province hasn’t seen in ages and if numbers from the first day of advance polling are any indication, voter engagement is heightened as well.

On Tuesday night, Elections Alberta posted the figures, showing a staggering 140,000 (approximate number) Albertans turned out to cast ballots on the first day they were able to. For context, on the first day of advance polling in 2015, about 58,000 Albertans voted.

The 2015 vote saw about 235,000 Albertans take advantage of advance polls, setting a record for the number of advance votes in provincial history at the time.

This election also marks the first time Elections Alberta has opened up the voting process to allow Albertans to cast their ballots at any polling station. Based on Tuesday’s numbers, the opportunity to do this is being seized upon with Elections Alberta saying about 33,000 of Tuesday’s 140,000 votes came from people voting outside their electoral districts.

Full story at: https://globalnews.ca/news/5149622/e...cial-election/

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

Elections Alberta says a whopping 140,000 Albertans cast a ballot on Day 1 of advance polling

No matter which way you lean on the fiscal spectrum, social spectrum or environment spectrum, one thing is for sure - that the electorate has been energized at multiple levels by this election. All specific topics of debate aside, I'm legitimately excited about this.

Did you have a read of Avnish Nanda's article? Thoughts?
https://www.sprawlcalgary.com/econom...rta-needs-both

[suburbia]

For those with healthcare on their minds, this was a good read

Originally Posted by suburbia

LINK - https://calgaryherald.com/news/polit...o-pc-era-chaos

[suburbia]

LINK - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...data-1.5091952

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by suburbia

LINK - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...data-1.5091952

If I was a member of the Sikh community, I'd be pretty upset about now. Having been manipulated in this fashion by Jason Kenney is not something to be taken lightly. I truly hope that knowledge of this treatment of the community by the UCP is shared broadly, and that it is considered as they finalize how they will be voting in this provincial election.

If there are Sikhs among the forumers, or if you have friends who are Sikhs, please do share this latest CBC story.

[ciudad_del_norte]

Some good and fair thoughts here, I of course have some others as well

Originally Posted by Corndogger

Sectors where employees make a lot in tips and fast food never should have had their minimum wages raised so quickly. I don't know about elsewhere but fast food in Calgary has easily gone up 25% in many cases.

Okay, so if I understand correctly your concern is less with the actual policy but with the speed of implementation? I'm not sure I agree but I can see why that would make sense.


Raising corporate taxes resulted in a significant drop in revenues not an increase. Lowering corporate taxes can and has resulted in more revenues.

This doesn't add up to me. The only way raising corporate taxes would not increase revenues would be if there was a significant decline in taxable business activity (likely true in this case). But why would it be assumed that the decline in activity is attributable to tax policy not the impacts of forces far beyond the control of sparesely populated province in Canada.

Also, the idea that lowering corporate taxes increases revenues is a typical supply side economic theory that I haven't seen demonstrated in practice. Although there may be other examples out there that I'm not aware of? Even if we agree that the laffer curve is accurate, I'd argue that our taxes are still low enough that we are at the point of diminishing returns on government revenues with further cuts. Completely unverifiable personal opinion - but I don't think Alberta's boom had anything to do with tax policy - I think we just had a resource that was in high demand. The industry and the market have changed, but much of Alberta just wants things to go back. Which to some degree is fair - we were spoiled - but now have to face the realities that the rest of the world has to deal with. A pipeline may help, but even then - if the market isn't there for our product, maybe its time to start finding something else to offer the world. I worry the UCP interest in trying to revive an industry back to something it will likely never be again will just leave us farther behind.



Changing the rules too often is not good for investors. I also don't think many people understand the rates.
I think there is some truth here. Although I think the problem is typically overstated in this case. I think there was some hesitancy with the election of the NDP, but their approach has been centrist and despite what Kenney would have us believe, I'm not convinced that much of the struggles in the past years have much to do with the NDP. I also would reiterate that the NDP is definitely the more stable choice moving forward. The industry knows the tactics and what to expect. Kenney's plan to pick fights with BC and the federal government may win points with the base but are likely to cause more turmoil and uncertainty. Not to mention that socially conservative policies also impact investment decisions. For example, the businesses that have pulled out of Georgia as the state adopted concerning social stances. These things may not matter to the typical oilfield worker but our reputation on social issues will impact the choices of potential investors and labour.

My business faces substantially more uncertainty under a UPC government than it does under the NDP. It's far to small to make a difference in the grand scheme of things though



Some of what the UCP is proposing doesn't come across as being economically sound to me at all but other things do. Like the NDP they're too driven by ideology for our own good.

Rigid ideology in politics is definitely a problem, and nobody is immune. But from what I can see the UPC is much more ideologically tied to a combination to both supply side economics and oil & gas. I'm not personally convinced that either of these are likely to get us very far in the future. We pissed those booms away - mostly under conservative governments relying on supply-side economic theories. It really is too bad, but I don't think we're going to get that same chance again.

[suburbia]

LINK - https://www.thegatewayonline.ca/2019...bout-students/

[suburbia]

LINK - https://twitter.com/jwondga/status/1115757870933372928

[suburbia]

Hard to deny what Mulcair is saying ...

https://www.theloop.ca/ctvnews/alber...r-tom-mulcair/

“It’s going to be very surprising if all of the polls are that wrong. She has put up a spirited fight. She’s delivered on some of her key promises, has disappointed on others and we’ll see whether it’s there for her on election day,” the CTV News political analyst told CTV’s Power Play on Wednesday.

But he said that the poll numbers “are so solidly” in United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney’s favour, “that barring some very unforeseen circumstance the result is pretty well pre-ordained.”

[Airboy]

Voted last night. Wife and I were walking by the polling station and said what the hell lets get it done.

Apparently we were not the only ones, as there were 10 other couples in line.

Went by the downtown polling station at lunch yesterday and was amazed at the line.

Radio this morning said that more people voted in advanced poling in the first 2 days than all of last election advanced polling.

[jawagord]

Political scientist David Taras was on the news this morning commenting on the mistake in strategy Rachel Notley has made in going hard negative in this campaign. He thinks she should have been campaigning hard on her record and by not defending her record she has ceded the economy, the most important issue in this election to Jason Kenny. The tea leaf readers are great at stating the obvious after it becomes obvious!

Duane Bratt is calling this the most negative election campaign in recent memory and it’s clear who he thinks is responsible for it. Being angry is in the ND’s DNA, they can’t escape it even when they are the government, which is why they probably won’t be the government after next week.

Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University, said anti-campaign signs and defacing of signs have been ongoing issues for many years. But he said this case is more insidious than a counter-sign or graffiti. “This is a much more sophisticated operation,” Bratt said. “It’s clearly an anti-UCP group.” The signs are the latest stunt in a string of negative stories emerging from the spring election campaign.

Brett said this election has been one of the most divisive he’s seen for two reasons: a polarized group of voters and deliberate campaign strategies.
In comparison to the 2012 and 2015 provincial elections, the parties are further apart on issues than in the past.

Brett also believes the personal attacks before and throughout the month-long campaign have fueled the negativity.
“I’ve got a quote from Rachel Notley the day after Jason Kenney was elected UCP leader where she talks about getting rid of this climate denying, gay-outing political party, and that’s been the narrative for the last year and a half,” Bratt said.

https://globalnews.ca/news/5154020/a...ake-ucp-signs/

[suburbia]

So it looks like UCP candidates not showing up for candidate forums is really becoming a thing.

https://chatnewstoday.ca/article/594...election-forum

All but four candidates from both Cypress-Medicine Hat and Brooks-Medicine Hat were in attendance. Neither candidates from the Liberals or UCP were at the event.

This is the second time the local UCP candidates declined the invite to an event hosted by Alberta Teachers Association locals.

A debate hosted by the Medicine Hat School District Local 1 was scheduled for this past Monday, but was cancelled when the UCP would not commit to the event.

You'll recall the prior excellent observation my one of the Alberta Party candidates:

[suburbia]

As the investigation into voter fraud committed by Jason Kenney's team continues, it is becoming abundantly clear that they specifically targeted members of the Sikh community

https://www.theloop.ca/ctvnews/alleg...adership-race/

Documents show two pages of names with allegedly fake email addresses attached. Among those names are Albertans Gurwinder Athwal and his wife Sarbjit. Although Athwal confirmed he voted online, his email address is different than the one on the list.

He told CTV News: “I don't know what's going on … nobody wants any trouble.”

---
Political scientist Duane Bratt told told CTV News that the allegations of voter fraud would continue long after the election.

“It will have an impact in the long run because there remains Elections Alberta investigation and RCMP investigation -- so I think this story is not going to end on April 16th,” he said. “Those investigations are going to continue.”

---
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/alle...race-1.4375038

[suburbia]

This Tweet by Alberta Party candidate Gar Gar showing a white slum lord destroying a campaign sign on one of his properties that is rented out is extremely disturbing. People who rent homes are allowed to express their political views, and the owner of the property cannot come in and do this. It is extremely shameful and the UCP should issue an apology.

Screen captures from video:


LINK - https://twitter.com/GarGar4YYCEast/s...67376876085248