Alberta election was closer than many people may realize

By Letter to the Editor on June 21, 2023.

Editor:

The election results were finalized last Thursday, and the recounts were finished. The result was UCP 49 seats, NDP 38. Since the UCP has to appoint a non-voting Speaker, for all legislation it will almost always be 48 UCP against 38 NDP.

It was closer than most people realize. Study these five UCP candidates who narrowly won and look at their margin of victory:

Calgary Bow: 613 votes

 Calgary Cross: 514 votes

 Calgary North West: 143 votes

 Calgary North: 129 votes

Calgary Lougheed: 66 votes

That means that because the UCP had 1465 perfectly placed votes, we are talking about Premier Smith’s cabinet instead of having a 43-43 legislative vote standoff for every bill. And if you factor in Lethbridge east, won by the UCP by 636 votes, 2101 votes kept the NDP out of power.

Observations:

The NDP strategy of not worrying about the popular vote and going for specific ridings almost won it for them.

They went from 24 seats to 38 and are now the largest Official Opposition in the history of Alberta.

No candidate acted liked a Trump Republican and claimed the election was stolen: not the UCP cabinet minister who lost by 25 votes, or the NDP candidate who lost by 66 votes.

In Calgary there are thousands of people who regret not voting.

Percentage of Albertans who voted: 59.5 per cent.

Point 4 is the most disturbing. While some in the UCP camp are quietly smug about winning the election, they too are aware of how close the election was. And among the NDP their frustration is wondering how they could have managed to get 2120 more non voters in strategic ridings to flip the election back to have the NDP in power.

Point 4 is where I have a personal stake. I am in the difficult process of trying to get a person out of an impoverished country dominated by machine gun toting tyrants. This person cannot vote, and should he stand up and ask for democracy, or for women’s rights, he would be in jail in 24 hours, no trial. Although Canada has myriad problems (environmental damage, a history of abuse of First Nations people, health care management and a storm of people with addiction problems) we are still, in a general sense, a democratic land of peace and prosperity.

He would love to live here so he could work, pay taxes and eventually vote and participate in shaping policy.

If you are too unconcerned to spend 20 minutes to vote you are disrespecting our country, and insulting people around the world who cannot vote because of your lazy arrogance.

Allan Wilson

Lethbridge