76 Search Results for wildrose

As she contemplates The End, Danielle Smith should give Peter MacKay a call. He might tell her what happens to your political career when you let the other guy dictate the terms of surrender.

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…their latest.

Media polls: you get what you pay for them.

That is to say, nothing.

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So sayeth an expert.

Really?

Seriously?

Um.

 

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Here. H/T BCL, natch.

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Here.

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Wildrose not as scary as some say
The Daily News (Kamloops)
Fri Apr 20 2012
Page: C1
Section: Opinion
Source: Vancouver Province 

It is intriguing to hear the gathering chorus of alarmed bleating as Wildrose leader Danielle Smith grows closer to taking power in Alberta, with her libertarian views and her band of small-business managers, oilpatch professionals, real-estate agents and municipal councillors.

Recent stories have noted, eyebrows raised, that Smith advocates a more robust role for Alberta within Confederation, in keeping with its economic clout. She thinks that, horrors, Alberta should explore having its own police force, as Ontario and Quebec do. She’s a proponent of “firewall” politics, a reference to the famous letter of 2001, signed by a group of prominent Alberta conservatives, including Stephen Harper.

At the same time, in response to politically incorrect remarks by Wildrose candidates, we’ve seen the now-customary reactions.

“If elected, she will unleash social and political chaos unlike anything Alberta has seen since the bad old days of Social Credit,” wrote Warren Kinsella, summing up the Liberal view nicely.

But history, logic and evidence suggest the opposite. Wildrose will stumble, but it will be by what afflicts every new government populated by inexperienced idealists: awkward compromise and simple incompetence.

This is the real risk in a Wildrose victory: Smith and her band of rebels are green as grass. The party has four members of the legislature. Combined with policies of internal free speech, recall rights and referendums, this can become a mess if mishandled, as it did for Reform 20 years ago.

But Smith is an avowed progressive and it is not credible to suggest that anti-abortion, anti-gay Visigoths are at the gate. The clatter about Wildrose’s ascent is nothing more than, oddly, conservatism — fear of the new.

Judging from the polls, Albertans are not inclined to buy it.

— Vancouver Province

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Campaigns matter. Stephen Carter, the election strategist who took Naheed Nenshi from nowhere to capture Calgary’s mayoralty, is the same guy who engineered Redford’s huge win on Monday night.

Carter is self-effacing and brilliant – and he showed, convincingly, that a well-run campaign can make all the difference on election night.
Redford and Carter undersold and overperformed. They were disciplined.

But, most of all, they understood modern Alberta better than their main opponent. While Smith had candidates saying gays would burn in hellfire, and white candidates were better than non-white ones, the Alberta PCs stuck to the middle of the road – which is where all the votes are.

They showed everyone that centrist, progressive politics ain’t dead. Not in Alberta, and not in Canada.

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Wildrose has been dropping sharply since the bozone layer eruptions began.  The PCs now own Edmonton, and the huge Wildrose lead in Calgary has vanished.  Rural Alberta is rural Alberta: WCC, blah blah blah.

Contrary to what Canada’s conservative-dominated media pundits may tell you, (a) the PCs have run a solid campaign under Stephen Carter (he of Nenshi fame) (b) the homophobic, racist stuff has hurt Wildrose and (c) there has been a lot of vote moving around in the past few days, just as Tom Flanagan wrote about, presciently, in respect of the 2004 federal vote.  It matters.

Seats?  Dunno; things are too, er, wild right now.  But I don’t see a Wildrose majority at all.  If Redford can make some kind of a deal with the few Liberals and New Democrats elected, she’ll be Premier at this time next week.

Thank the Lord, etc.

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I love it when conservatives give writing tips, and then misspell three key words in three sentences:

Hey Kinsella: You would make a great writer for the National Enquire. Have you ever consider that? Totally amazing what goes thru that little mind of yours. Howard Melnikel

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Here, courtesy of GC.

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