Previous  1  2  3  4  5 ... 19  Next

I'm leaning that way too. I live in Paul Hinman's riding and I think that he's a complete dolt. I don't have anything personal against Redford the way the foam-at-the-mouth sammich people do. I do kind of like Smith but I think that she's really going to get embarrassed when the dumbass rednecks in the WRA start mouthing off too much, just like happened to Preston Manning with some of the dumber Reform caucus members when they got to Ottawa and just couldn't figure out how important it was to keep their mouths shut with the CBC and Chretien Liberals watching them and just waiting for an excuse to pounce on them. That sort of basic political ineptitude in the face of an implacable and dangerous enemy for me became unforgivable.

There's something about the WRA I just don't like. It's like it's just another attempt at pushing the most simplistic solutions for complex problems, and I just don't buy into that way of thinking anymore. There's something TeaPartyish stinky about the WRA and I'm not able to overcome my basic mistrust and intense dislike of that particular style of politics, especially the total viciousness with which they've been going after Redford on a personal level. That they're being backed 100% by those hate-filled assholes like Rick Bell and Ezra Levant at the Calgary SUN makes it even more difficult for me to like the WRA. I do not want a return to the policies of the Klein years with a slash and burn approach to spending cuts that left the infrastructure, the cities, and the health system devastated, and I do not trust the WRA not to do this very thing to Alberta again a second time.

Put me down as probably PC this time around.

   

Given the choice between the nanny state with a hefty price tag and another round of slash-and-burn... that is actually quite a conundrum.

   

That's my guy then. I live in Dunluce.

The poll needs another option. "I'm not sure yet." I'll be making up my mind as the campaign goes on. That is the point of having the campaign, right?

In the past I've usually voted for the party rather than the candidate for the reason Dragon-Dancer gives. The one exception being when I lived in Calder and voted for the NDP candidate David Eggen. Because he was a really good MLA, even if he was NDP.[/quote]


I think I got that covered with;

Based on past performances as well as party platforms, which party will you be voting for?

   

I suppose you do, at that. Put me down for Alberta Party then. They haven't got enough of a past to have disappointed me yet. If there does end up being a pirate or rhino party candidate I'll probably vote that way.

   

I really have no idea how I will vote. My choices are:

LIB
Brian MacPhee

NDP
Regina Vergara

PC
Ric McIver

WRA
Wayne Anderson

Libs and NDP are pretty much non-starters for me but I'll at least listen to what they have to say.

I can’t say I'm a big fan of McIver. He talked the talk when he was in council but really for all his bluster he didn't accomplish much other than promoting himself.

Wayne Anderson, I don't know a thing about the guy.

I all most have half a mind to just vote Wild Rose though, the PC's need a good swift kick in the ass.

At the same time though, even though I don't support a lot of things Alison Redford has done as of late but I like the way she has handled the Oil Sands issue, very level headed.

At the end of the day I haven't heard enough about the issues each party is campaigning on so I'll wait and see before I make up my mind.

   

I'll be voting Joanne Autio- WRA Edmonton-Millwoods

   

..Alberta Wildrose party promises to reinvigorate nest-egg Heritage Trust Fund
By The Canadian Press | The Canadian Press – 18 hours ago
..
.
OKOTOKS, Alta. - The Wildrose party says the Progressive Conservatives are squandering Alberta's petro-billions on perks and pet projects, moving the province dangerously close to the precipice should oil prices tank once again.

"Alberta families know the difference between a want and a need," Wildrose leader Danielle Smith said Tuesday while outlining the party's financial platform in her home constituency of Highwood, just south of Calgary.

"Unfortunately, the Redford PCs have completely lost the ability to make that distinction.

"They're only interested in what matters to them (with) things like getting paid to be on committees that never have meetings, extravagant severance packages and huge pay hikes for them and their pals."

Despite the price of oil — the wellspring of Alberta's economy — hovering around US$100 barrel, the Tories under Premier Alison Redford withdrew $3.7 billion from the Sustainability Fund this year to cover off a record $40 billion in spending.

The province has been running multibillion-dollar deficits for the last four years, regularly transferring money over from the savings fund to prevent incurring long-term debt.

Redford's team is promising to review all spending later this year and says it will return to surplus budgets next spring.

Smith said the Tories, who wiped out long-term debt under former premier Ralph Klein, no longer know how to prioritize. Under former premier Ed Stelmach, $2 billion was committed to carbon capture and storage technology test projects. Redford says she doesn't plan to follow through.

Earlier this month, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation announced that it had found 21 politicians, most of them Tories, who were being paid $1,000 a month for years to sit on a committee that hadn't met.

Recent estimates say that generous changes to severance rules under Klein will result in more than $10.6 million being paid out in transition payouts to 22 MLAs of all stripes who have decided to retire from politics. That includes more than a million dollars for outgoing Speaker Ken Kowalski and almost a million dollars for Stelmach.

Smith said such wrongheaded priorities are similar to the ones that pushed countries such as Italy and Greece over the edge into spiralling debt and unemployment.

"Jurisdictions that fail to get a grasp on public spending are drowning in debt, besieged by taxes, plagued by unemployment and flailing desperately for lifelines and bailouts."

Redford's team has already promised to balance the budget this year by cutting extraneous government spending, particularly on carbon capture, and by extending some infrastructure projects by a year.

If elected on April 23 to form government, Smith said the Wildrose would pass a law to direct half of all future surpluses to the nest-egg Heritage Savings Trust Fund. The goal would be to grow it to $200 billion within two decades and reduce Alberta's reliance on roller-coaster oil and gas prices.

Future spending would be limited to growth plus inflation, forcing politicians to direct money to where it was needed, she said.

Smith said she would focus on more funds for front-line help in schools and hospitals and would not increase taxes or introduce new ones to do so.

— By Dean Bennett in Edmonton

   

How bout doing that review before the election and then letting us know exactly how you plan to get back to surpluses? Maybe I'm asking a lot, but that's the kind of thing I'd like to know before casting my vote.

   

Exactly!

   

Yeah I ain't holding my breath thinking that the freeze and review on power bill fees is going to do much after the election, I'm an unhappy PC supporter but I either go for the former Transportation Minister under Ralph and Ed, who did a hell of a job for our riding, or a soccer mom (and that's unfair, I haven't got a clue who she is) from Sylvan lake.

   

I think Redford had a lot of things she wanted to do before the election but didn't have time to complete the tasks before she knew she would need to call one. Oh well, I would count this as more of a continuing promise than a broken one... not that I'll vote for her either way.

   

He's nice in person too - and not just to voters, but regular people as well. I worked at the Legislature and got to know a lot of MLAs (from all the parties), many of whom are really nice, down to earth people, although there are a couple of real weirdos too.

   

His constituency office is next to Richard's Pub - I stumbled across it a year ago when I used the car wash in that strip mall.

I usually vote for the candidate (I've voted all over the spectrum provincially, for NDP, Liberal and PC), not the party, but this time I'm going to vote for the party instead.

   

WTH.! Voting for someone because they are nice!!! That's what has gotten us into our current mess!

   

That argument would be a lot more convincing if he own party members weren't sitting on the same committees or taking the exact same pay increases.



The Sustainabilty Fund and the HTF are two totally different funds (not that I'd expect a journalist to know the difference) - one is a nest egg and the other was specifically created to help the government avoid going into debt when the economy went in the tank and oil prices fell.

Believe it or not, the provincial government isn't a bunch of wastrels - they provide a lot of necessary services and the costs of those services increase every year - no matter what Smith thinks.

   

Previous  1  2  3  4  5 ... 19  Next