Looks like Notley may be on her way to a second term of office
Notley wins big with ‘eastern bastards’ joking remark
Fri, 2017-11-24 22:48
#1
Notley wins big with ‘eastern bastards’ joking remark
Fri, 2017-11-24 23:00
#3
Disagree with her if you like, but she is just doing her job, which is to represent and fight for the citizens of Alberta, and what people like about Rachel Notley is that she is authentic, and very few politicians have that attribute
Fri, 2017-11-24 23:09
#4
Fri, 2017-11-24 23:10
#5
Dp
Sat, 2017-11-25 11:16
#6
And it was a joke about the Toronto Argonauts, who are playing the Stampeders tomorrow in the Grey Cup.
Context.
Sat, 2017-11-25 12:28
#7
progressive17
Notley will get applause for dog whistles to the oil sector in a speech to an oil-supporting audience. So would Al Gore or David Suzuki. Notley is fighting for her political life, now that the UCP has united the right in Alberta. The only reason the NDP won in the first place was that the conservative vote was split between the PCPA and the Wildrose Alliance. Does this means that conservative voters will vote NDP when they can vote for the real thing? No. Not ever.
Sat, 2017-11-25 12:52
#8
Considering the wild rose and UCP aren't "the real thing" - that is, the former conservative party even as it was under Allision Redford, there are definitely some who will vote NDP or not vote at all rather than cast a ballot for them. Will it be enough? Probably not, but there is a reason why those parties split in the first place, and having Jason Kenney at the helm will if anything drive that wedge deeper.
Sat, 2017-11-25 13:12
#9
alan smithee
It's funny because if I called Albertans bastards,I'd face nothing but condemnation here at babble. Somehow the term 'eastern bastards' is authenticity. Weird and pathetic.
But thank you Smith for pointing out the context of the remark. But in my opinion,it's still unacceptable.Regardless who she is representing.
Sat, 2017-11-25 13:10
#10
And it was a joke about the Toronto Argonauts, who are playing the Stampeders tomorrow in the Grey Cup.
Context.
Yes. You'd have to have a pretty stereotypical view of Albertans to think that they are just going to auttomatically vote for anyone who uses the phrase "eastern bastards"(a phrase never actually used on record by an Alberta politician; it was a bumper sticker) in a speech.
That said, if the point is that Rachel Notley has a sense of humour, speaks the common lingo, knows how to work a room etc, and that these qualities might be useful for the future political prospects of the NDP, that's a valid observation.
Sat, 2017-11-25 13:17
#11
It's funny because if I called Albertans bastards,I'd face nothing but condemnation here at babble. Somehow the term 'eastern bastards' is authenticity. Weird and pathetic.
But thank you Smith for pointing out the context of the remark. But in my opinion,it's still unacceptable.
I'm pretty sure that if, on a thread about the CFL, someone said "Well, we've beaten the Argonauts, so now it's time to head over to Calgary and show those bastards who's boss around here", it wouldn't provoke much outrage. Especially if it was immediately followed by friendly words toward Calgary babblers.
Sat, 2017-11-25 13:28
#12
alan smithee
It's funny because if I called Albertans bastards,I'd face nothing but condemnation here at babble. Somehow the term 'eastern bastards' is authenticity. Weird and pathetic.
But thank you Smith for pointing out the context of the remark. But in my opinion,it's still unacceptable.
I'm pretty sure that if, on a thread about the CFL, someone said "Well, we've beaten the Argonauts, so now it's time to head over to Calgary and show those bastards who's boss around here", it wouldn't provoke much outrage. Especially if it was immediately followed by friendly words toward Calgary babblers.
That's not the point VOTD. This thread wasn't about a remark about a football game. It was suggested that she referred to the east as bastards. Even going as far as to call her ' authentic' for saying it.
I have no problem with the comment in the context of a football game but if it was actually a dog whistle to the lowest common denominator in the West,it's unacceptable.
Sat, 2017-11-25 13:53
#13
Well, actually, the thread IS about a comment about a football game, though in the context of a political speech.
I once saw the famous Ontario-based journalist Charles Lynch, in a speech NOT referencing a football game, perform an a capella song he had made up(to the tune of Java) where he impersonated Peter Lougheed as a "blue-eyed arab", with the refrain something like "Titti bum titti bum titti bum titti bum".
In retrospect, that whole "blue eyed arab" thing was offensive to arabs, but I don't think it was seriously offensive to Albertans(even when it was meant negatively), and most of the Albertans watching that particular performance seemed to think it was funny.
As for "eastern bastards" being a dog-whistle, well, a dog-whistle is supposed to sound superficially benign, while conveying an offensive meaning. So, even if "eastern bastards" were intended as a serious attack on the east, it wouldn't be a dog-whistle, because it's pretty obviously uncomplimentary. A dog-whistle would be something like "Those easterners might not understand how much we value hard work and innovation out here", the inference being that eastrerners are lazy and stangant.
Sat, 2017-11-25 13:59
#14
Java...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqwIpH6phJs
The notes at 0:07, and subsequent repititions, are the "titti bum titti bum" parts.
Sat, 2017-11-25 14:10
#15
As football talk goes, at least she didn't call them banjo-picking inbreds.
Sat, 2017-11-25 14:27
#16
Bingo!
If anyone had tasken the time to read the article referred to in the opening post, like Smith did, well.............enough said.
That said, if the point is that Rachel Notley has a sense of humour, speaks the common lingo, knows how to work a room etc, and that these qualities might be useful for the future political prospects of the NDP, that's a valid observation.
Sat, 2017-11-25 14:32
#17
Notley, NDP far from dead yet
And let no one forget. Rachel Notley is one hell of a campaigner.
http://calgarysun.com/opinion/columnists/bell-notley-ndp-far-from-dead-yet
Sat, 2017-11-25 14:34
#18
'Join the fight': Notley calls for unity across party lines to get pipeline built
http://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/join-the-fight-notley-calls-for-u...
Sat, 2017-11-25 14:37
#19
Was there a reason to divide a single conversation into two threads? Western weasels...
Sat, 2017-11-25 14:46
#20
alan smithee
Notley wins big with ‘eastern bastards’ remark
Disagree with her if you like, but she is just doing her job, which is to represent and fight for the citizens of Alberta, and what people like about Rachel Notley is that she is authentic, and very few politicians have that attribute
Hmmmm...alrighty then.
Sat, 2017-11-25 14:46
#21
As football talk goes, at least she didn't call them banjo-picking inbreds.
I was always kind of insulted that Alberta never seemed to warrant its own cultural-stereotype, and instead had to settle for hand-me-downs from Deliverance.
Sat, 2017-11-25 14:57
#22
Actually that was Winnipeg talking about Saskatchewan.
As for Alberta, they are rightly catching a bit of hell for their appropriation of cultural stereotypes. Maybe they should look for some of their own.
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/football/cfl/bowman-says-eskimo...
Sat, 2017-11-25 15:11
#23
Actually that was Winnipeg talking about Saskatchewan.
As for Alberta, they are rightly catching a bit of hell for their appropriation of cultural stereotypes. Maybe they should look for some of their own.
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/football/cfl/bowman-says-eskimo...
Word on the street is that the Eskimo management is trying to condition the public into an eventual name change. You can probably guess what that might be from this...
Sat, 2017-11-25 15:13
#24
Actually that was Winnipeg talking about Saskatchewan.
Really. I'm not sure I've ever heard such a stereotype applied to Saskatchewan. And I'd be curious to know how someone in Winnipeg would think that it applies any less to Manitoba, or indeed, any place on the prairie.
Sat, 2017-11-25 15:34
#25
alan smithee
Well, actually, the thread IS about a comment about a football game, though in the context of a political speech.
I once saw the famous Ontario-based journalist Charles Lynch, in a speech NOT referencing a football game, perform an a capella song he had made up(to the tune of Java) where he impersonated Peter Lougheed as a "blue-eyed arab", with the refrain something like "Titti bum titti bum titti bum titti bum".
In retrospect, that whole "blue eyed arab" thing was offensive to arabs, but I don't think it was seriously offensive to Albertans(even when it was meant negatively), and most of the Albertans watching that particular performance seemed to think it was funny.
As for "eastern bastards" being a dog-whistle, well, a dog-whistle is supposed to sound superficially benign, while conveying an offensive meaning. So, even if "eastern bastards" were intended as a serious attack on the east, it wouldn't be a dog-whistle, because it's pretty obviously uncomplimentary. A dog-whistle would be something like "Those easterners might not understand how much we value hard work and innovation out here", the inference being that eastrerners are lazy and stangant.
Now why would I think there was more meaning than simply a football game? Alberta hates the East. Fact.
In fact le Journal de Montreal ran a cover story about how Alberta hates 'us' I'm taking it that 'us' means Quebec. They sort of made a big deal about it as into imply that we should care. I certainly don't.
But if a politician was to call the East ' bastards' ,it would be unacceptable. They are not private citizens. Albertans,private citizens, can continue calling us 'Queerbec',I'm not going to lose sleep about it. Le Journal made a big deal that Alberta hates us,personally I think the feeling is mutual.
The thread made no explicit message that the comment was about football. It read like it was a general comment. If you can't see where I'd get that idea,you made no effort to read the thread title.
Anyway,that's all I have to say about it.
Sat, 2017-11-25 15:46
#26
In context, I thought Notley's comment was pretty funny. I think humour is something that can reach across divides and this was clearly not meant in the way some people are taking it.
Oh and I was born in Ottawa, lived much of my life in Quebec, and have never lived West of Ontario
And yes, I have laughed at jokes about Ottawa, and Eastern Canada (which itself is pretty funny since Ontario always thinks itself at the centre and the Atlantic Provinces are East).
And, once in a while, people East of Manitoba as a collective should understand why people from the West might even mean it -- outside of a football reference -- from time to time. It is not like the West has not been shortchanged by the Centre at times and can't take a little ribbing on that from time to time.
A lot of people in the centre of Canada are what I might call SIABs.
Sat, 2017-11-25 15:51
#27
^^
Journal De Montreal? That's funny, because Quebecor's erstwhile properties in Alberta used to tell us how Quebeckers are all a bunch of parasites who suck hard-working Albertans dry. Gee, do you think that company might have an agenda or something?
Sat, 2017-11-25 15:57
#28
As a resident of the Salish Sea I consider Notley an Eastern bastard who wants to impose her will on us just like the Eastern bastards in TO and Montreal have since we were stupid enough to join Confederation. Our oligarchies used to be exclusively Central Canadian but in this millenium they opened the doors wide enough to let in the Calgary oiligachary.
Notley shows she has no respect for the people of my province or reconciliation with the First Nations who oppose her pipeline. Who knows she may actually be a bastard because the man we thought was her father is likely rolling in his grave watching his daughter hobnobbing with the enemy and advancing their agenda.
Sat, 2017-11-25 16:06
#29
alan smithee
^^
Journal De Montreal? That's funny, because Quebecor's erstwhile properties in Alberta used to tell us how Quebeckers are all a bunch of parasites who suck hard-working Albertans dry. Gee, do you think that company might have an agenda or something?
I never said they DON'T have an agenda. They are a right wing rag and Quebecor plays all sides of the fence with a right wing twist.
You can't answer my question. Is the title f this thread misleading? You're dishonest.
Sat, 2017-11-25 16:02
#30
alan smithee
As a resident of the Salish Sea I consider Notley an Eastern bastard who wants to impose her will on us just like the Eastern bastards in TO and Montreal have since we were stupid enough to join Confederation.
Finally a comment I can agree swith. Believe me,plenty of us wish you didn't join this stupid Confederacy.
I don't believe there should be a Confederacy at all. We'd all be better off as independent states.
Sat, 2017-11-25 16:21
#31
Smithee wrote:
They are a right wing rag and Quebecor plays all sides of the fence with a right wing twist.
So, then why are you quoting them as an authority on what people in Alberta think?
Seriously, I could make a better argument than you're making for "Alberta hates Quebec".
Is the title f this thread misleading?
Not really, because it doesn't imply anything about what the context of the remarks were. If it had said something like "In speech on pipeline wars, Notley calls easterners 'eastern bastards''", it might lead one to think that she was using the phrase to criticize their views on pipelines. But, with no context whatsoever, the onus is on the reader to click the link to find out what she meant.
Personally, when I saw the headline, I guessed she WAS using it to talk about pipelines, but in a friendly, jocular sort of way, eg. "Don't worry, I'll get those eastern bastards to come around to our position". But even with that in my head, I confirmed the context before posting.
Sat, 2017-11-25 16:49
#32
alan smithee
Smithee wrote:
They are a right wing rag and Quebecor plays all sides of the fence with a right wing twist.
So, then why are you quoting them as an authority on what people in Alberta think?
Seriously, I could make a better argument than you're making for "Alberta hates Quebec".
Is the title f this thread misleading?
Not really, because it doesn't imply anything about what the context of the remarks were. If it had said something like "In speech on pipeline wars, Notley calls easterners 'eastern bastards''", it might lead one to think that she was using the phrase to criticize their views on pipelines. But, with no context whatsoever, the onus is on the reader to click the link to find out what she meant.
Personally, when I saw the headline, I guessed she WAS using it to talk about pipelines, but in a friendly, jocular sort of way, eg. "Don't worry, I'll get those eastern bastards to come around to our position". But even with that in my head, I confirmed the context before posting.
Very well. But riddle me this. If it had been a thread titled ' Couillard wins big with western bastards remark' ,what would your first instinct be? And would you be totally flip about it and get a chuckle?
As for the idea of Alberta hating Quebec,I didn't need the Journal to realize that. That has been my experience with that province. They think Quebec is too liberal and Quebec thinks they are too conservative. I refused a job over there because Alberta indeed is way too conservative for me to co-exist there.
There is a clear divide in this country. It's too large of a country. Regions can't relate with the cities and the cities can't relate with the regions. In regards of who and where is progressive and not,it's the big cities that are progressive. All of them held back by the rural regions. In many ways,provinces can't be governed properly because of the different realities between cities and small towns.
I've said Confederacy is a failure but the provinces themselves are too. There should be different rules for cities and for small towns. They can bathe in their backwater and we can get on with a progressive society.
Anyway,onward and upward.
Sat, 2017-11-25 16:55
#33
If it had been a thread titled ' Couillard wins big with western bastards remark' ,what would your first instinct be?
I'm not sure. With Notley, I assumed(correctly) that it was a joking reference to the old bumper sticker. But "western bastards" isn't an old political catchphrase like "eastern bastards" is, so I wouldn't really have any idea about why Couillard was saying that.
And, unlike with Notley, I'm not that familiar with Couillard and his general style. If I saw a headline saying "Kathleen Wynne scores big with 'western bastards' remark'", I think I'd assume that she meant it in a funny way, not as a serious attack on western Canada. Based on what I've seen of her style.
Sat, 2017-11-25 17:31
#34
I don't believe there should be a Confederacy at all. We'd all be better off as independent states.
"Don't tread on me!"
If it had been a thread titled ' Couillard wins big with western bastards remark' ,what would your first instinct be?
I know you were throwing down to someone else, but since you asked: my first thought would be "welcome to fucking Canada, eh?"
Sat, 2017-11-25 17:36
#35
I don't believe there should be a Confederacy at all. We'd all be better off as independent states."Don't tread on me!"
Well, actually, according to a long-standing article on wikipedia, this was the flag of the Republic Of Canada, founded by one of your former mayors...
Sat, 2017-11-25 17:45
#36
alan smithee
I don't believe there should be a Confederacy at all. We'd all be better off as independent states."Don't tread on me!"
Don't impose an American cliché on me,mmkay.
I'm not the first one to lament the Confederacy. I suggest you scroll up a few posts to #28. But since I'm everyone's favourite whipping boy,haha very clever,here's a cookie.
If it had been a thread titled ' Couillard wins big with western bastards remark' ,what would your first instinct be?I know you were throwing down to someone else, but since you asked: my first thought would be "welcome to fucking Canada, eh?"
On second thought,maybe you should have minded your own business after all.
Sat, 2017-11-25 18:08
#37
This is indeed great news for working people.
NDP plans big changes to Workers' Compensation Board
Sources say the changes will be massive. We have few details, but the NDP will be tipping the balance inside the Workers’ Compensation Board so that it’s much more employee friendly.
http://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/graham-thomson-ndp-planning-big...
Sat, 2017-11-25 18:13
#38
On second thought,maybe you should have minded your own business after all.
Ah. "My" own business, presumably rather than "your" business.
This is a discussion board, Alan. I didn't read your diary.
Sat, 2017-11-25 18:28
#39
alan smithee
On second thought,maybe you should have minded your own business after all.Ah. "My" own business, presumably rather than "your" business.
This is a discussion board, Alan. I didn't read your diary.
The problem is that you probably didn't know the origins of the argument I was engaged with.
Seeing that everyone else doesn't get why the title of the thread is misleading,what do you think?
And am I really off the mark when I say the West hates the East? Regardless if I quoted the Journal de Montreal. And why should I care? You're from Toronto,do you find that to be true? Have you also read that explicitly posted here over the years?
So excuse me for being so sensitive. Especially when it's coming from a fellow Easterner.
Sat, 2017-11-25 18:39
#40
Especially when it's coming from a fellow Easterner.
If I died tomorrow, and babble got to collectively decide what would be carved on my headstone, I'd expect -- and be OK with! - "he was never a team player".
Sat, 2017-11-25 19:40
#41
VOTD:
Here's the history behind it. I'm not even a sport fan, but everyone who lives here has heard this story:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjo_Bowl
And since it's a free for all, they only invaded the prairies and eventually started a war here in order to bring B.C. into confederation, so all things considered, I think there are a lot of people here who wish that had never happened either. We weren't the real prize after all, just a place to run a railway through.
Except that would probably mean that we'd all be dealing with Trump right now.
Sat, 2017-11-25 19:43
#42
alan smithee
Upper and Lower Canada would have existed and remained a British Colony. No Trump for us.
Sat, 2017-11-25 19:47
#43
I don't live in upper or lower Canada, alan. This used to be Rupertsland, and in 1870 it wasn't entirely clear what was going to happen here.
Sun, 2017-11-26 01:05
#44
Mon, 2017-11-27 00:09
#45
alan smithee wrote:
It's funny because if I called Albertans bastards,I'd face nothing but condemnation here at babble. Somehow the term 'eastern bastards' is authenticity. Weird and pathetic.
Just remember that everything in life is a matter of perspective. For BCers, everyone on the other side of the Rockies is an eastener.
Mon, 2017-11-27 01:56
#46
Pogo
Anyone driving a mountain road behind a flatlander, would understand the concept only too well.
Mon, 2017-11-27 11:02
#47
I took it as a joke and wondered why it warranted a thread of its own.
Mon, 2017-11-27 11:09
#48
I don't mind the thread topic, though I think it might belong in Alberta/BC rather than Canadian Politics, since it is mostly about the performance of the Alberta government.
Mon, 2017-11-27 21:27
#49
Rachel against the storm
In less than 18 months, Rachel Notley and her Alberta New Democrats will face the Alberta electorate. Jason Kenney and his "Unified Conservatives" are betting that the ANDP victory in 2015 was a fluke. Notley’s right-wing opposition believes the fossil-fuel economy will thrive if right-wing fossils are elected government.
Right now, the UniCons have a towering lead in the polls. If the election were held now, Notley likely would be back on the opposition benches, with a handful, or maybe two, of Edmonton-area NDP MLAs who survived their close encounter of the electoral kind.
She faces an electorate that habitually votes for the right federally and, except for 2015, provincially. Her right-wing opponents have spent the past two-and-half-years convincing Alberta voters that Notley New Democrats are wild-eyed, enviro left-wingnuts out to destroy people’s livelihood. She’s depicted as spending Alberta into the ground by pursuing absurd goals like solar and wind power in the land of oil and gas.
In order for the ANDP to win re-election, the ANDP must hold its incumbent urban seats, and win ones in Calgary held by MLAs elected as PCs. In these ridings, the key swing electorate are fiscally conservative voters who don't want to see gay kids commit suicide because of UniCon legislated school policies. For these voters, whom they vote for will be determined by who repulses them less: tax-and-spend socialists, or kid-killing homophobes.
Yes, non-Albertans, suiciding gay kids is the partisan cleavage issue in Alberta these days. Both the Kenney UniCons and Notley ANDP have doubled-down on their opposing positions on whether schoolteachers will be legislated to tell parents whether their children join ''gay straight alliance'' clubs in school. These clubs reduce suicide rates among gay teens in Alberta. Given the attitudes of many Alberta parents toward homosexuality, telling them their little Johnny or Jennie have joined such a club may not bode well for the young’un's continuing to shuffle their coil upon this mortal plane. Notley’s for gay teens staying alive, and the UniCons not so much.
Coupled with this, Notley is attempting to restructure the Alberta government and economy in the face of momentous change. The global economy is gradually but consistently shifting toward renewable energy sources and away from fossil fuels. The Alberta government’s response has been to emphasize petroleum feedstock upgrading, renewable energy, and economic diversification.
Over the past two-and-a-half-years, Notley has also sought to overcome the massive infrastructure and services deficit bequeathed to her. Ralph Klein and his cronies financed their flat tax and tax giveaways by short-changing Albertans on infrastructural expenditures for the past quarter century. Against right-wing opposition, Notley’s New Democrats have pursued a massive building program while sustaining spending on public programs.
The ANDP government has been cautious in many of its economic policy measures. It has been constrained by a host of limitations. These include the low-tax fiscal capacity of the provincial government, limitations of the provincial bureaucracy, decision-making bandwidth among senior politicians and political staff, the uncertain "electoral license" of Alberta voters, and above all, time. The actual extent of these limitations only become apparent as government tries to pursue initiatives. Notley’s approach is to reach for what she can achieve, not reach and fail.
Unfortunately, these efforts are financed by provincial deficits that cannot be fiscally sustained indefinitely. Notley and her government are accumulating deficits in a province that not too long ago loudly took pride in wiping out its provincial public debt. Given Alberta political culture, and the NDP's reputation everywhere, reassuring undecided and swing voters that New Democrats in Alberta are not completely profligate tax-and-spend socialists is essential to any hope of re-election.
Notley’s ambitious agenda needs revenue. But the only revenue source large enough is Alberta’s fossil fuel sector. As a consequence, every positive aspect of Notley’s agenda rests on her success in getting more bitumen to more markets, at least in the short-term.
Alberta producers face substantial resistance to transporting and finding markets for bitumen. This means sub-market value for producers and reduced royalties for government. Notley’s efforts to find social licenses for pipelines are blocked by environmentalists, other progressives, and fellow New Democrats everywhere outside Alberta.
The Alberta right gleefully trumpet every instance of this resistance as proof of Notley’s failure to protect Albertans. They highlight the intrinsic idiocy of progressives seeking "social license" from other progressives for economic action.
For many Alberta New Democrats, progressive opposition outside Alberta reinforces right-wing efforts inside to defeat Notley’s government. To them, it also looks like progressives elsewhere are ready to sacrifice them and Alberta to the right, in pursuit of their own political interests.
No sane person would have confidently expressed a high likelihood of Notley's New Democrats winning the 2015 election before the campaign was underway. The Notley ANDP were smart in limiting their platform commitments and initial actions. But they have still suffered from the characteristic limitations many new NDP governments face upon taking office. These limitations are a major reason why so few first time NDP premiers win re-election.
Like all NDP governments, the Notley New Democrats face difficult policy and political choices. They have to pursue policies that motivate their supporters, appeal to centrist voters, and do not mobilize their opponents. These goals are frequently at odds. Policies that seem too little, too late to supporters are often jarring to those who voted NDP for the first time and whose votes are needed again.
The Notley New Democrats are steering toward re-election in the face of powerful right-wing headwinds, and against a strong opponent. For them to have any prospect of winning, they must ''tack'' into the wind.
This means they sometimes adopt positions partially at odds with the immediate preferences of their supporters so they can overcome economic constraints. They also need to mollify and appeal to likely voters if they want any hope of re-election. The magnitude of these conflicting goals make re-election of NDP governments anywhere difficult.
These political and policy strategies resemble ''tacking'', the method mariners use to progress when headwinds oppose direct forward movement. They sail at an angle into the opposing wind while steering into the current carrying one forward. This is Notley’s approach to governing Alberta.
The resulting progress is never direct or rapid, and involves frequent course changes. It often seems contradictory and indecisive. But it does make progress, on the seas of water and politics. The alternative is to be driven by political headwinds into the political rocks and remain trapped there.
From the standpoint of Albertans who are not left-wing, the Notley government's actions have been staggeringly ambitious. They've sharply broken with the policies and past Alberta governments. For a province that has seen only four changes in party government, and has been governed from the right for most of its existence, having New Democrats in government is a staggering shock.
No matter who is in government, it is extremely unlikely Alberta will ever again see boom times and royalties like what the province reaped during the 1970s, or much of the 1990s and 2000s. Notley’s long-term goal is to shift Alberta's economy away from fossil fuel and to a diversified economy while protecting Alberta families and jobs from the worst aspects of the restructuring. She’s doing this, and succeeding.
Notley was educated at the University of Alberta, not Hogwart's. She has no magical wand or incantations that will zap away Alberta’s economic and environmental challenges. The alternative to her isn’t feel-good progressive political pixie dust. It’s Jason Kenney and the hard right of the UniCons.
If they are elected, Kenney and the UniCons promise another boom fuelled by Klein-style spending cuts, tax cuts, and royalty giveaways. Notley and the New Democrats are steering Alberta through the headwinds toward a sustainable future for all Albertans.
Tue, 2017-11-28 09:01
#50
I hate hearing Ontarions referred to as " Eastern Bastards." Very inacurrate. They are Upper Canadian Bastards.
Tue, 2017-11-28 15:42
#51
I hate hearing Ontarions referred to as " Eastern Bastards." Very inacurrate. They are Upper Canadian Bastards.
As an Upper Canadian Bastard, I have to agree.