Calgary Federal Politics

[Dado]

Originally Posted by fusili

This election does demonstrate how much "vote-splitting" needs to be addressed. While I prefer a mixed member proportional system, I do agree with Malcolm that something like a Instant Runoff Vote is a good idea. The question is, why didn't the Liberal Party do anything about First Past the Post when they had massive majorities in the 90s? The other issue is the question of whether the left can really unite. I, for instance, would vote Conservative over NDP (holding my nose the entire time), and I am not alone.

Why would they? Back then the Liberals were still in full-on "Natural Governing Party" mode. The PC-Reform split was doing them wonders in Ontario. How else could the Liberals have swept rural Ontario? By contrast, IVR might just have returned enough PCs and Reformers (as the case may be) along with a few Dippers here and there to upset their majority.

It seems that no party once it has managed to get a majority government in a first-past-the-post system is all that inclined to do something about it. That includes the NDP provincially where they have had a number of opportunities over the years to change the system.

The Reform Party once held such views as well, but once they were taken over by the Ontario PC Party (yep, that's right - the Conservative Party of Canada is the result not of the Reform Party or Canadian Alliance taking over the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada but rather of the Ontario PC Party taking over both) that idea went out the door along with most of the other democratic reform ideas it once had. Senate reform anyone?

The one thing that really upset me in the race is the horrible vitriol that was directed at the Turner campaign (which I was deeply involved with) and the Greens in general from the Liberal Party in particular. The level of condescension and anger directed at Turner supporters was pretty off-putting.

Yep, that sounds like the Liberal Party. The "entitlement culture" runs deep in the Liberal Party as they regard any non-Tory vote as should-be-theirs. They don't even seem to be able to understand that the Green Party can and sometimes does draw off some Tory voters who were never Liberals anyway.

What I think the Federal Liberal Party in Alberta needs to understand is that they are not entitled to the "progressive vote" here. In order to gain people's support, they need to speak to your values and respect their thoughts. Calling people "dirty hippies" or "Tory hipsters" doesn't bring people to your cause. Imagine if Stephan Harper and Peter Mackay used such language against each other when trying to merge the Alliance and PCs.

The Federal Liberals need to learn that lesson generally, not just in Alberta. Talk to the other province where the Federal Liberals have long behaved that exact same way, except substitute "progressive" with "federalist": Quebec.