I chose a couple of different photos to hashtag #albertaelection and #albertavotes and #albertandp and i think they sum up my opinion quite nicely....
But I am not entirely losing faith, at least not completely, on a federal level. Most of the ridings I looked in detail at actually had more people vote for right-of-center parties than for the left-of-center parties.
For example, in my own riding, 8987 votes came in for WRP and PC combined, with 7225 for the remaining parties combined. The second riding in my region had 11, 898 WRP and PC, with 3729 for remaining parties. My riding ended up with an NDP MLA while the other riding held with the previous WRP MLA keeping his spot. But the whole area is still voting a majority of right-leaning parties at 66% of the total votes.
I am randomly clicking on other ridings in Alberta that ended up with NDP MLA seats to see what their totals are....
Wetaskawin-Camrose: 7525 NDP - 7633 WRP and PC combined (50.3% majority right-leaning with NDP MLA)
Fort Saskatchewan-Vegerville: 8927 NDP, Liberal, Green, etc - 8650 WRP and PC combined (not a majority but less than 300 votes difference)
Lethbridge-East: 10 112 NDP and Liberal - 8628 WRP and PC (not a majority again, but not exactly a trouncing either)
Lethbridge-West: 11 923 NDP and Liberal - 7055 WRP and PC (okay that is bad, but it's almost 40% right-leaning)
Calgary-Hays: (note PC MLA, just for comparison) 6208 NDP, Liberal, Green, SC - 11233 WRP and PC
Calgary-Acadia: 6267 NDP and Liberal - 9585 WRP and PC combined (61% right-leaning with an NDP MLA)
Calgary-Mackay-Nosehill: 7235 NDP, Liberal, Green - 9558 WRP and PC combined (57% right-leaning votes with NDP MLA)
Calgary-Glenmore: (this is actually a tie at the moment, it is my brother's riding and he told me they are having a recount but as of right now this is the result) 9077 NDP Liberal AP - 12073 WRP and PC (57% majority right-leaning, unknown MLA at this time as PC and NDP tied wth 7015 votes each)
I decided to look at various ridings because I have seen a great number of my liberal friends post "bye bye Harper".. as though they believe the tides are turning since NDP won a majority in Alberta. Could they win a majority federally now?
The official provincial results show NDP with 40.6% of the vote and a majority government of 53 seats. That looks at first glance like a huge hard left turn. PC and Wildrose together only have 31 seats.... but the popular vote puts 52% of Albertans still voting for a right-of-center party with WRP and PC. That doesn't always help when we are talking about the breakdown into seats for MPs in a federal election, but it's not exactly like the majority of Albertans have suddenly become lefties. In fact, the majority of Albertans who voted are still righties. This does not mean the end of Harper quite yet. At least I hope not. I am not a die-hard supporter of any politician really, but I have no problem with Harper and how things have been going in the past 12 years with him as Prime Minister. I do however have nightmare thoughts of Trudeau or Mulclair so I guess we shall see what happens.
I think it is important to note that a great deal of the vote was directed at a "throw the bums out" mentality and as she was the most personable leader, the NDP benefited from it hugely. Saying that this election was an endorsement of NDP policy directions is a huge stretch.
ReplyDeleteNotley is saying all the right things now, so there is hope that it won't be all that bad. We were getting a steady does of nanny statism under the PC government so we are used to that. I think we owe her to reserve comment on government direction until the speech from the throne and budget are presented.
That being said, my MLA is a communist which is a major concern. I am not sure if the Calgary candidate that views any Christian that owns a gun as a potential terrorist is an MLA, but there are likely others with that viewpoint. Mulcair has done a good job of keeping his radicals in check. I hope Notley does the same.
Grant Notley was my MLA years ago and was a very decent man. If that rubbed off on his daughter there may be some hope.
You certainly won't hear those right-left % totals from the provincial or federal NDP and Libs. They only use those totals when they lose.
ReplyDeleteFlynPig Ranch
Thanks for your replies. it is hard to say what will happen. i have seen people post that the NDP still gave multi million in tax breaks to corporations in other provinces like NS. i have not had time to look all that up myself, but we shall see.
ReplyDeleteThe man that won the MLA seat in my city (ndp seat) tried to get my workplace shut down about 25 years ago. i work in a childcare center and my boss recognized him when he happened to come to her door campaigning a few days before the election. He smiled a lot and said he remembers her and she was thinking "wtf are you talking about sir? the last time i saw you, it was fighting you in city hall because you were trying to shut down ALL private 'for-profit' daycares in the city!!!'. but he was talking like they were old friends and said "oh you still run this! i remember you!' and he called her by her first name. she could not believe it. he and a woman that has served on the school board all these years were partners in trying to shut us down. unbelievable. So their '$25/day daycare plan that was on their platform until it was suddenly deleted' is something we are watching. most often, the more control any govt entity takes when in charge of the funding, the more rules we have to follow, and we are very curious what some of those rules would end up being. such as, perhaps, no more 'for profit' at all? Our profit is laughable, i might add, and we are THE cheapest center in the city,, cheaper even than 'not for profit' centers, so screw them if they try something!!!
ps please forgive the lack of capitals. there seems to be a crumb in the laptop again! kids!!!
ReplyDelete