[Clogeroo]

I just found an interesting new political party starting up called the Wildrose Party of Alberta. It looks like it is branding itself as an alternative to the PC's here in Alberta. They have lots of intriguing proposals some I agree with and some I do not but if they get their feet on the ground I might consider voting for them next election.

http://www.wildroseparty.ca/main/index.php

[Knoss]

Probly radiacally left like any other orgaisation named wild rose.

[Tracker]

Albertans will hardly notice this party, IMO.

[ziggy]

Tracker wrote:

Albertans will hardly notice this party, IMO.

Only if it's a wild party. Noticed your avatar,you a "Flintstone"?

[Leppy]

Well, it would be nice to switch governments for a term or two just to get the skeletons out of the closet- re-establish some govt departments such oh&s, reign in the WCB- find out whose hand has been in the cookie jar 30 years is to long for any party to be in power

[smorgdonkey]

I've been hearing a lot about this party as of late. A couple of high profile Conservatives have joined the ranks and from listening to a few interviews it seems that they are prioritizing 'resetting' the oil & gas royalty structure that Premier Ed changed. It seems to me that this group is really focused and determined to give Albertans an opportunity to bring a party to power who will make Alberta attractive once again to oil & gas development.

An interview that I heard recently stated that Alberta has dropped to the basement compared to other places that companies can do business with as it relates to oil & gas.

I think that Premier Ed was honestly following the general public's desire to 'get more money' from the sector but the general public was thinking in terms of 'getting a cheque in the mail' like when Ralphie was at the helm. It is one of those situations in which the public thought it was simple when it wasn't - now some serious retooling has to be done to bring the investment back to Alberta and get it going again.

I'm 5000+ km away but I think that the Wild Rose party has it right. They are also one of the few sources that actually know and try to publicize some of the good environmental aspects of oil & gas companies and things that they have done to improve their impact in the operations.

[Zipperfish]

They've got a charismatic leader and seem to be appealing to Albertans right now. I read their policy platform, and it's pretty thin and somewhat naive right now, but it will probablky flesh out as the party grows.

The biggest threat will probably keeping those on the extreme right quiet.

[smorgdonkey]

No doubt about that Zip. I think it will be the economic factors which will put votes on ballots for them. I lived in Alberta for 11 years (1996 -2007) and one thing that I found that people were quite used to was a strong economy and jobs everywhere. There were slight hiccups along the way during that time but they were just small pauses. When the economy is going then everything is going and in Alberta that definitely means oil & gas.

[Alta_redneck]

smorgdonkey wrote:

I've been hearing a lot about this party as of late. A couple of high profile Conservatives have joined the ranks

High profile? Rob Anderson is a first term nobody and Heather Forsyth is a Ralph Klein has been. She is though, the Chairwoman of the HTF and most Albertans know how well she's been running that.

[bbrnr]

Wild Rose, isn't that a brand of tequila strawberry liqueur?

[bootlegga]

Zipperfish wrote:

They've got a charismatic leader and seem to be appealing to Albertans right now. I read their policy platform, and it's pretty thin and somewhat naive right now, but it will probablky flesh out as the party grows.

The biggest threat will probably keeping those on the extreme right quiet.

Not this Albertan!

[Zipperfish]

bootlegga wrote:

Zipperfish wrote:

They've got a charismatic leader and seem to be appealing to Albertans right now. I read their policy platform, and it's pretty thin and somewhat naive right now, but it will probablky flesh out as the party grows.

The biggest threat will probably keeping those on the extreme right quiet.

Not this Albertan!

Well it's easy to appeal when your policy platforms are things like "Putting families first." Later on, as you develop, you have to develkop more specific policies that can turn into "ensuring poorer families have access to adequate daycare" (on teh left) to "making sure that there's no queer books in the school library" (on the right).

[smorgdonkey]

It seems to me that the biggest issue that was being discussed was returning Alberta to its former favorable status as a place to do Oil & Gas exploration, development, etc.

Oil is at $80 per barrel and I remember being there about 4 years ago when it was at $50 and people were losing their minds. $80 oil should have the place hopping but Ed's got everyone thinking that there isn't enough stability there.

I wasn't a fan of Ralph because of his 'look after the rich' outlook but he certainly knew how to make things good for business which (for once in history) definitely had a trickle-down effect to the working people.

[derpderp]

This is one old thread, anyway though the WRA is going to win the next election or at least split Alberta right down the middle.

[Guy_Fawkes]