Tomorrow, Albertans go to the polls! An election was called about a month ago, for our provincial government. The main reason for this is that, the current party underwent a leadership change last year. Before, our premier was Ralph Klein, a.k.a. “King Ralph,” who lead Alberta from 1992 until 2006. He was a man who made us very rich, and stuck his foot in it a lot. Some memorable moments include the time he was hit in the face with a pie during his annual Stampede breakfast, by a protester, and the time when, in a drunken rage, he burst into a homeless shelter, threw spare change onto the floor, and yelled something along the lines of “GET JOBS YOU HOMELESS BUMS!!!” Nice, huh? Nevertheless, the citizens of Alberta loved him. And so, we were mainly sad when he retired almost 2 years ago.
His successor was a man by the name of Ed Stelmach, a man that I know essentially nothing about, and don’t care to listen to when he is on TV. Apparently, a lot of people agree, which is why we are now having an election.
Why is this election pointless? Well, Alberta is notorious for voting Progressive Conservative (DO NOT, even get me started on the idiocy of that party name. It just… baffles me!). We’ve been under Conservative rule for THIRTY-SIX (36) years now! What are the chances of a new party getting in? It really would be about time, but, even I, a left-wing supporter, and despiser of the Conservatives and everything they stand for, can see how Alberta just… wouldn’t work under a Liberal rule! We’ve been given a third option this time around, in the form of the Wildrose Alliance Party (which is a hybrid of the new Wildrose Party, and the old Alliance folk). I heard their platform, involving making day care allowance also available to stay-at-home moms. Essentially, their idea is that families should stay together, and they way they should stay together is by allowing women to stay home with their children. Well, that’s lovely, and my mom was a stay-at-home-type, so that was nice. But something about a conservative party that prefers women to stay at home and assume a homemaker role, just seems a tad backward to me, in a way I am not comfortable with!
Anyway, the campaign has been in full swing (phone calls from the various candidates in my area and beyond have been coming in all week, and my parents spotted Ed Stelmach, and his large bus, in the middle of the road yesterday), and finally will wrap up tomorrow, with what I expect to be a pretty typical Conservative win. I could be wrong though! All I can really be sure of is my own vote- which you can be certain will not be Conservative, and even more so will not be Wildrose! 
I’ve never heard of the Wildrose Alliance Party before, but the name makes me think of the Marijuana Party :P
Also, King Ralph is pretty interesting. At least your Conservative government wasn’t boring? I’m glad Ontario has Liberals, but it would be cool if we were rich, too.
Oh, and here’s some semi-related question I heard on Royal Canadian Air Farce: now that the gap between the rich and poor in Canada is getting wider, do you think it will take longer to drive from Nova Scotia to Alberta? :P
Progressive…Conservative? That doesn’t sound right. Sounds very much like “Okay, guys, we know damn well we’re conservative, but let’s not scare people with that. We’ll add some spice in it to give people the idea that we’re cool.”
Progressive Conservative just makes me think of a bunch of of our Conservative party playing progressive rock. Have fun voting all the same - I hope your party gets extra seats
I always vote for the Green party out here in BC. They never win, but i just love what they stand for.
Good Luck in AB!
I can’t possible agree more! After having been under Conservative rule for 36 years, it’s not as if it’s going to change anytime soon, even if it has long been called for. I can’t vote yet, and I’m really hoping I turn 18 very soon so I can–even slightly–affect the results! Ed Stelmach seems the very core of the Progressive Conservative party as he has yet to do anything significant. People took him in with a lot support calling him “Honest Ed” and “Steady Eddie” but that all seems to have waned now. As useless as it may seem, I’m still hopeful of Liberals winning, but their representation and publicity kind of sucks at the moment.