Voting in byelection can send a message to government
By Lethbridge Herald on November 9, 2024.
Editor:
Is not voting a logical choice during a byelection?
I can certainly relate to the frustrations expressed by both Al Beeber in his column of Oct. 25 and in Rose-Marie Nyberg’s Letter to the Editor of Nov. 1. We may not be happy with both parties, but is not voting in the upcoming byelection the answer?
I must disagree.
Byelections provide a unique opportunity to send a strong and clear message to the current ruling party. A huge majority for the UCP candidate would send Premier Smith and the UCP a strong message that they are doing great, we love you, despite all of the problems with our medical care, lack of doctors, the possibility of losing the CPP etc., etc.
A huge majority for the Opposition candidate would send Danielle Smith and the UCP the clear message that things are not great and voters are not happy. Although it may send hope to the Opposition party in the interim, it doesn’t matter. This is not a general election.
There are three more years that the UCP has before the general election. They can do whatever they like. One more or less UCP or NDP MLA in the legislature will not make any difference.
The UCP has a majority regardless. Therefore:
1. Vote for the UCP to send the message that you are happy and you support the current situation.
2. Vote for the NDP candidate to send the UCP the message that you are not happy.
3 . Don’t vote to indicate voter apathy. You just don’t care. It doesn’t send any real message. Your vote can count! It can send an important message.
Mark Goettel
Lethbridge
14-13
Or deliberately spoil your ballot to send the message that you are unhappy and do not see a clear alternative. It’s not binary, just because you don’t agree with the UCP’s direction does not mean you automatically support the opposition.
Spoiling your ballot is just plain stupid and accomplishes nothing. Voting for the opposition is how you make your message known , which is why so many conservatives voted for the NDP in 2015 for Notley and will again next time. The conservatives I talk to are thoroughly fed up with the lies these Reformers continue to spread while they continue to waste our taxpayers money on their Reform Party friends and show our children and grandchildren no respect.
when the voter is confronting the usual, an ongoing forced choice whereby one is compelled to hold their nose to choose between sleaze and corruption, and/or ineptitude, one not only has the right to cross out their ballot – they have an utter duty to do as much. it is an affront to democracy to either always support the same party name no matter how awful they perform, or, to choose another, that also represents a party name with an awful history, just to replace the incumbent.
put another way, a monkey can easily be trained to draw an x in one of the circles.
what spoiling your ballot says is that one is not apathetic: one is fed up and savvy to the lies and graft and nepotism and ineptitude, and will no longer be suckered into legitmising crooked, cooked system, and one that has barely much in the way of democracy anymore.
So why do seniors working at the polling stations tell us that spoiled ballots are immediately thrown out and are not counted so do nothing to tell anyone that you aren’t happy with them?
that is another of faults that undermine our democracy. spoiled ballots should and must be documented.
that noted, the spoiled ballot says at least three things: as voter turnout is counted, the spoiled ballot demonstrates voter participation, and not apathy; the spoiled ballot says one has too little agreement with any of the candidates/parties, and will not simply/dumbly default to the least worst option; the spoiled ballot, most importantly, says one is excercising their right – their duty – to no longer legitimise what has become too much an illegimitate democracy.
having a vote does not mean one has a democracy: the ussr held regular elections when it was an utterly totalitarian construct, as does “modern” china.
Well they aren’t so why suggest that it is a good idea when it is useless.
your reference – ‘well they aren’t…’ – is unclear to me. that aside, i have provided several reasons as to why rejecting one’s ballot at the polls is excellent democracy. you have no response to any of those points?
exactly!
despite all of the problems with our medical care, lack of doctors, the possibility of losing the CPP etc., etc.
Typical nonsense from the echo chamber. Problems with free health care are everywhere, five million Canadians without Doctors but Danielle Smith is the problem, losing the CPP. Read this and you may change your mind.
https://financesofthenation.ca/2021/05/29/andrew-coyne-the-problem-with-the-cpp-investment-board/
For the fiscal year 2023, CPP, 570 billion in assets, net income 8 billion, net return 1.3 %, say it again 1.3%. Percentage value-added above reference portfolios, one year 1.3%, 0.8% over five years. Some zoo animals could have done better,
he study finds that anyone born after 1955 (retiring in 2021 or later) will receive a modest return on their contributions of 3.0% or less. Any CPP-eligible Canadian born after 1971 (retiring in 2037 or later) who worked full-time will receive an annual return of just 2.1% in retirement.
Losing your CPP is not a threat. What is the threat is that voters be given an opportunity to express their wishes in a referendum. A threat to you and the echo chamber. Have you ever wondered why Freeland won’t cough up the CPP numbers we have requested? The numbers are above. That is why.
Can you make yourself look any dumber than you continue to do? Do you want to lose your CCP and have an American Style Healthcare System rammed down your throat because that’s what these Reformers want to give you, If Poilievre is elected you an bet him and his pal Danielle Smith will help you achieve it. Lawyers warn us that getting control of our CCP will give her the opportunity to cancel our plan because we have been getting far more than we ever put into it, are you dumb enough to want to risk that?
good to agree with you again.
You can be these mindless seniors aren’t smart enough to understand how dangerous these Reformers are to their well being. Their mandate has always been to look after the rich by slashing royalties and corporate taxes and replace the lost revenue with privatization. Our family has already experienced the thrill of needing a bed in a nursing home. The public system had a waiting list of over 1,800 people so we were forced to take a private one at a cost of $7,000. per month plus $3,600. per month for a full time care giver. How many of these seniors could afford $10,700. per month for looking after a loved one?
not sure why the masses are so addicted to shooting themselves in the foot. however, the masses have demonstrated net stupidity and foolishness throughout our accounting of history on this planet (perhaps notwithstanding numerous the world over that prioritised the spiritual over the material).
I haven’t forgotten what a 86 year old former university professor from Germany taught me about people and politics in 2003. He stated that it’s a well know fact that 66% of people in any population anywhere in the world are easily fooled, easily tricked gullible fools believing anything you want them to and that’s exactly what these Reformers under Ralph Klein are relying on. That’s how dictators become so powerful and how jimmy jones got 918 people to commit suicide.
While Pierre Poilievre praised the convoy truckers in Ottawa only 27% of Canadians agreed with him and while proving there was nothing conservative about him he showed no concern for the $65 million debt they created for taxpayers. Like Danielle Smith wasting $75 million on children’s cold medicine by buying it from Turkey to try to out smart Trudeau. They have been proven dangerous and useless, yet she doesn’t care.The big question is why are Canadians willing to give Poilievre another chance at destroying our Public Health Care System when he tried to help Stephen Harper do so that got them kicked out and Trudeau elected. Are these 20% part of the 66% who are dumb enough to believe his lies?
A ten-year annualize rate of 10.9%
https://www.cppinvestments.com/newsroom/cpp-investments-ranks-among-worlds-best-with-10-year-returns/
The disinformation from the radical right is telling. As they muck around with ‘real’ returns, above ‘reference portfolios’ – all designed to deceive.
Further, it’s hard to believe you are peddling this as AimCo wallows in mismanagement …
So the CPP wallows in the same and you’re ok with that. At least the UCP is doing something about it while your Trudeau/Singh love affair does nothing. You peddle your info and here is some I am peddling from CPP Investments. You should read Coyne before you comment.
The picture you included above does not say what you think it does. In fact it shows CPP performs quite well if you actually read the carefully what it really says.
As of May 2024, CPP 10-year return is 9.2%. The numbers you quoted says CPP overperforms the reference portfolio by 1.3% over 1 year and 0.8% over 5 years. It is NOT 1.3% net gain, but 1.3% more than what you would get just following a passive approach of following the reference.
On the other hand, AIMCO is underperforming its reference. As of April 2024 it’s 10-year return is 7.3%.
All of these numbers are easily found. It clearly shows CPP significantly outperforms AIMCO. Even AIMCO’s own press release says it underperforms the benchmark…so it is the case that even zoo animals will do better than AIMCO just by buying the benchmark and not doing anything else.
And with the recent news…even UCP is acknowledging that AIMCO has performed poorly. They are using that as an excuse to fire the whole board.
Of course they are probably firing the board to take even more control of the pension money for pther reasons…but even they recognize that AIMCO has done poorly.
Isn’t that just what they are supposed to do? The end of your comment is speculation. Maybe the CPP board should get the can as well but that would require the LIB/NDP love affair to actually care about the high end salaries and under performance of the CPP
No, this is exactly what they are not supposed to do.
AIMCO was originally set up to be independent from political interference way way back. This was mostly respected until this government. The UCP has already interfered (e.g. forcing all teacher’s pension to be rolled into AIMCo to prop up the funds and end up getting way worse performance than what the teachers were getting), and this recently fired board was already not that independent from the current government.
The UCP are the ones that appointed many of the fired members…
There are a lot of opinions on a lot of different topics here, I am only going to address one topic the CPP. The Federal CPP is a lousy investment, with that said it is better than nothing. All pension plans never get a great return on investment they all range from 1-3 % per year, return over their lifetime. As a professional I always if possible tell my clients when they are about to retire to transfer the pensions into a LIRA. that is a locked in retirement account and have it managed. the returns will be at least 3 times better in a relatively safe portfolio. The returns in CPP and other pension funds are invested in safe investments that normally do not return a great profit. Also the management of these funds have very high management fees with them. This is why they suck, in order to get a 1.3% return for the CPP fund it would have to make at least a 6 percent return before all of the fees to get to that. If I could I would transfer all my CPP contributions to manage myself. For those who are not great at managing their own money and affairs in life it gives them something to help them in retirement, that is why CPP can not be transferred to be managed personally, it is a safeguard. It does punish those who can take care of themselves to the benefit of those who can not.
the problem is not “free” healhcare, as we pay for it one way or the other. the problem there is the same as with all else in our present system: graft, ineptitude, waste, corruption…all sustained by an absolute lack of oversight, enforcement and deterrence. this is the issue throughout our system.
if anyone thinks losing medicare is a good idea, a visit to the vet with one’s loving pet should prove just a pinch of the economic reality of private health. another reality is the by and large american experience, where even those with private insurance find themselves hooped into bankruptcy via the dreaded loopholes that serve insurance cos all too well.
-With the country down with 5 million that don’t have a family doctor what are the solutions?
you raise a great question, buck. there is much to consider, and most importantly, much has already been considered. health care, as with so many other pressing social issues in our land, has been extensively and expensively explored with a wonderful collection of volumes established…and confined to the usual dust heap; govts love to use commissions to make it seem they will find ways to serve the public good, only to never act on the findings. hence, another reason to reject one’s bogus ballot, striking an x throughout it.
all the concerns that brought about medicare – bless tommy douglas, and where are those bright lights these days, and why do we not find them in govt? – not still exist, they are ever the more pressing. rather than gut public health care, we need to dust off what has already been discovered via commission and get to work to save public health care.
all the negs – is this to say to hell with public healthcare? how about sharing the basis for one’s position, rather than being so simple as to just down vote.
There is nothing free in this life, it only refers to who is actually paying for it. in Alberta we have no health care premiums to pay on a monthly basis, that does not mean its free. Our tax dollars are paying for it all.
thank you for saying something and not just voting.
my first reply to buck a few entries above this one notes that, yes, public healthcare costs. my points are that pubic healthcare is preferable to private ( i note the usa experience for its ability to bankrupt even those that pay for insurance). i believe we can have excellent and affordable public health, but we need to apply findings from our expensive commissions, rather than shelve them.
During the Ralph Klein years we constantly heard the remarks “I only vote Conservative and Klein isn’t a Conservative he is a Reformer so I don’t vote”. Senior friends who worked at the polling stations stated that it was gullible seniors blindly supporting the word Conservative who were keeping Klein in power and guess what they have kept Reformer Danielle Smith in power once again, while they blindly ignore the damage she is doing, and show no respect for our children and grandchildren’s future and what Global Warming is doing to the planet and their future.
You can bet the firing of AMICO is the first step in stealing our Canada Pension Plan with the help of Reformer Pierre Poilievre when elected and these ignorant seniors had better wake up and realize how dangerous these two are. We expect Poilievre to also destroy our Public Heath Care System like he tried to help Stephen Harper do that got them kicked out and Trudeau elected in the first place. Why have you given them permission to do so?
That’s what you fools have done. Losing your CCP and having your healthcare costs risen to $800. to $1,000.per month each, like my American Relatives are doing doesn’t make you look very smart, does it? Good luck we think you will need it, don’t you?
The usual pile of assumptions here. What about the CPP. Should the board be fired there to0? The public health care system is already destroyed as there is no solution other than throwing money at it. As for climate change it a farce. Here is an article on the latest COP 29 jet fest.
https:joannenova.com.au/2024/11/the-un-climate-meeting-starts-with-some-fossil-fuels-deals-on-the-side. Read it and weep as to how we are all being taken by this fraud.
’Tis the times’ plague, when madmen lead the blind.
[Shakespeare]
Seeing as everything from AIMCO to the CPP, to climate change, to health care is up for topic, here is one to reign in the wackadoodle crowd, unless you prefer the impoverishment of our country and if you do you are anti Canadian and against growth of our GDP. But WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN. Let’s not be hypocrites
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-cop29-faces-credibility-challenge-as-climate-summit-begins-in-baku/
’Tis the times’ plague, when madmen lead the blind.
[Shakespeare]
SophieR, I prefer this latter quote, “Winners (John Middleton-Hope) keepers, losers (Rob Miyashiro) weepers!”
Yes. Clever.
Your son told me you have like 10 accounts, now. And that you spend half the day plusing and minusing for Jesus and John. Do you think that will help him get elected (John, that is)?
shoot, i thought he was stumping for jesus. only, that would jesus in name only, not in love and grace.
Mark Goettal, you report what you preceive as “negative comments” respecting the UCP….. not knowing whether you live in Lethbridge or not, where the byelection is pending.
Yup, the NDP, they were the (at the time) who introduced the “Supervised Consumption Site” (SCS) to our city! We who reside in the community and those who enterprise or visit, were greatly, negatively impacted by this.
Rob Miyashiro (the Lethbridge NDP candidate for Lethbridge West – who BTW was previous failed candidate for Lethbridge East AND a failed Federal (Liberal candidate) was a champion supporter of the SCS and the records at City Hall show this and his votes while he sat as a City Council member…it also shows his bully tactics towards fellow City Councillors in particular his inability to function as a member of our Municipal government. (Miyashiro does not even reside in the Lethbridge West constituency, so “no skin in the game”!
Of paramount issue in the Lethbridge West byelection are the candidates running and not necessarily the party they represent – perceived good or bad. The decision will boil down to THOSE WHO WILL VOTE!
The choice is crystal clear, John Middleton-Hope or Rob Miyashiro (no hope)!
See you at the polls.