Stelmach will be a uninfying force for the PC Party and will also change the nature of politics and governance in Alberta too. All for the better. Great campaign and the extremists were rejected by Albertans today, as were the traditional powerbroker politics of the past. Change was wanted and change is what we got.
Dion will be good for Alberta, especially as we tackle the environmental and immigration demands and opportunities before us.
If you want to know more about Stephane Dion go to Policy Channel for the interview we did with him during the campaign.
The link is http://www.policychannel.com/AVideos/Dion/iframe1.php
I am very tired and very happy to have called both the Dion and Stelmach wins tonight. I just wished I had made more bets.
Welcome to the New Alberta and the New Canada. Democracy has spoken very clearly and profoundly today in both places.
Thank god! A great day for Alberta. Now we can continue building a society based upon reason, pragmatism, individual freedom and opportunity rather than black and white, narrow ideology. Please keep blogging. It's important to have voices of reason in the blogsphere to drown out some of the noise from the right!
ReplyDeleteAs a Tory foe I'm torn...Stelmach will clearly steer Alberta in a direction of sanity. But I'd still like to see the natural governing party spend at least 36 years as the opposition.
ReplyDeletejust wanted say thank you. this is the first time i've become interested / involved in any kind of "politics". and i found your blog educational, inspirational and thought provoking. you also have a great sense of humor. please keep it going.
ReplyDeleteHi Ken,
ReplyDeletethe talk ...
all night
and ...
all morning
"one of us won"
repeated over and over and over and over and over and over and and and and over again .... on the streets, on the telephone .... in everyone's homes and businesses ....
so here's to us all
:-)
Thank YOU for letting us comment on your blog site.
:-)
becky
i still would like to know how many of the bay street boys have a contract out on Dinning for taking all their money and not producing something (like the golden ring or maybe a golden butt) that they can kiss. Dinning's going to have to go into hiding for a while!!!!
ReplyDelete:-))
Nice having you around Ken.
Alberta Black Widow
"Cultural Creatives Trump Social Conservatives"
ReplyDeleteThis should be the headline of the day. It's about time moderate and rational voices began to combat the stark ideology of the far right that has for too long gone unchallenged.
Sean
To the contrary, the Morton camp is extremely pleased with the outcome in this election!!! It could be "Liberal Candidate Gets Destroyed". Btw, Stelmach is completely against SSM and is for an Alberta Pension Plan.
ReplyDeleteMorton was instrumental in knocking out the liberal candidate - maybe Dinning will run for the libs in the next election.
Got this from an article:
ReplyDelete"Mr. Stelmach, a deeply religious man who sings in his church's choir, stayed out of the public spotlight yesterday to spend time with his family."http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061204.wxsteady04/BNStory/National/home
Doesn't sound like an anti-social conservative.
One can be devoted to family and have strong spiritual convictions and still be a moderate, no?
ReplyDeleteSean
The difference between Morton and Stelmach is that Stelmach isn't going to shove his convictions down my throat. Nobody minds if a politician is socially conservative, or if any individual is. That's fine. That individual can choose to (a) not marry someone of the same sex; (b) have pre-marital sex; (c) use birth control; (d) have an abortion; etc. Get my point anonymous. I call it tolerance. What Albertans didn't want was for the social conservatives to try to force their religious and moral viewpoints on everyone else.
ReplyDeleteKen,
ReplyDeleteDion may have been the least bad choice of the bunch of clowns running for Liberal leader, but the LAST thing this country is another Liberal federal government. Dion would definitely NOT be good for Alberta because he's got too much baggage attached to the Kyoto clusterf**k. The Liberals have done absolutely nothing to date and think they can meet their commitments by eviscerating Alberta's economy with a punitive carbon tax so they can shell out billions for "carbon credits" to so-called exempt counties so that THEY can develop industries to pour greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.
Sean - the liberals and dippers lost when Dinning lost. Dinning is going to first sulk a bit and then wander off. Morton will be there at ground level with his 41,000 supporters who are not libs or dippers. Watch out for a signficant and influential portfolio being given to Morton.
ReplyDeleteDepends on what you mean by moderate. Looking at your previous comments, how can someone who opposes SSM be moderate (in your view).
Like it or not, the election result was a great day for true blue tories. It demonstrated that no matter how much time (7 yrs) or money spent (several million), the libs and dippers cannot take over the reins in AB.
We'll have to see if Stelmach denies a vote on Bill 208 - I'm guessing he'll allow it (so that might be indirectly shoving it down your throat).
Again, a lot of the 30 second PCers likely do not like this result, but they are going to have to live with it. Morton has set the agenda and will be following through with it - at least with respect to a few key areas - democratic reform, bill 208, and an AB pension plan.
As a "30 second tory" I love the result. A lot of "30 second tories" that I know, who have voted Liberal or yes, even, NDP in the past - joined and voted for Stelmach because he seemed like a nice gentlement with lots of integrity. Liberals and dippers weren't too motivated to join the party to vote for Dinning with all his corporate connections - and lifetime membership in the Tory party, not to forget the brutal cutbacks of the mid 90s. They were, however, motivated to join the party out of fear of what Ted Morton would do to this province. Some of them voted for Dinning because he was the front runner, with what was perceived to be the best chance of winning. Others voted for Stelmach. In the end, what they accomplished was their goal of keeping Morton off the final ballot. As someone who joined the party on the last day, I have to say that that was my goal: mission accomplished!!!
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, I've read in a lot of place this notion that Liberals and dippers supported Dinning. These people seem to be using these words as a perjorative, sort of like, if you don't agree with my world view, then you're a Liberal. Please don't slur people like that. The world has moved past using other perjorative. Hopefully, more conservative Albertans will refrain from using the world Liberal as a perjorative. Treat us with the same respect that all citizens of this great democracy deserve!!!!
I'm glad the 30 second PCer likes the result. However, these libs and dippers simply don't do their research. Ed is far, far more conservative than either Dinning or Klien.
ReplyDeleteThe Liberal name is stained. It's unfortunate but not likely to change in my lifetime. ...Just like you treat Morton supporters with respect? It works both ways, sorry.
What's with all the "anonymous" posts? Are you guys too lazy to even just think up a handle?
ReplyDelete