Election season on the horizon for Albertans?
By LH EDITORIAL BOARD on July 24, 2021.
Choosing the right moment to force a federal election is the ultimate in speculative political maneuvering, and Canadian politicians have been desperate to properly interpret these tea leaves since the days of Confederation.
More often than not, the political prognosticators fail to locate the pulse of the Canadian electorate, and more than a few campaigns have gone down in flames based on winsome predictions which fell well short of the mark.
These can be treacherous waters to traverse, but the good ship Liberal appears to be stoking up the boiler and heaping on the coal in anticipation of a possible federal election campaign in late summer or early fall.
Federal party leaders have been fanning out across the nation on various tours, a sure sign that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s election denials are not to be believed by more than just the great unwashed.
And it might just be prime time for the prime minister to roll the proverbial election dice. Angus Reid poll numbers from earlier this week showed the Liberals at 33 per cent, followed closely by the CPC at 31 per cent, with the NDP a distant 20, and the Bloc and Greens taking up the rear at seven and three per cent, respectively.
Not a gargantuan margin for the Liberals, to be sure, but with the CPC’s Erin O’Toole plummeting in personal popularity – according to the same poll, three in five Canadians say they have an unfavourable view of the party leader – those odds might be improving for the Liberals.
Removing the millstone of Andrew Scheer’s lacklustre leadership was held up as the panacea the CPC needed to challenge Trudeau’s polished image, but many observers are already saying O’Toole might not be up to the task.
Say what you will about Trudeau, he often seems to be at his best during election campaigns, and a little charisma can go a long way on the hustings when sizing yourself up against a stolid opposition leader like O’Toole. And a few months – or weeks – seems all too short a time to develop the trust and wherewithal needed to give Trudeau a true run for his money at the ballot box.
Minority Parliaments don’t usually last more than 24 months in Canada, and with roughly 21 under their current belt, the Liberals are running down the clock on the average duration.
Down to brass tacks, any upcoming election – should the pundits be accurate in their predictions – won’t be predicated on the Liberals riding marginally higher in the polls.
Ultimately, this potential contest will be throwing down the gauntlet based on the perceived weakness of Trudeau’s opponents and O’Toole’s failure to make significant inroads with the wider electorate.
Only time will tell if that speculative roll of the dice pays off if the Liberals force an election in 2021.
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Other numbers have the Liberals at about 35.3%, the Conservatives at 28.5%, the NDP at 19.3%…..and folks indicating that they like the leader of the NDP better than the leader of the Conservatives.
So, of course, the Liberals are going to call an election because they are “flirting with majority territory.”
I wonder why there’s no talk of uniting progressives, especially at a time when the conservative party has basically devolved into a backward-looking, narrow-minded tribe that truly hasn’t even wrapped its head around issues like the basic existence of homosexuality or women’s human rights, let alone pandemics and climate change….
If the Libtards get a majority this time we can say goodbye to our oil and gas industry in this province. The Libtards with Trudope at the helm will create a “have-not” province out of us! We have been hurting for sometime with a anti-Alberta authoritarian at the controls. One can only hope that he does not get the opportunity to finish the job his father set out to do…That is to bring the West to its knees, one can only hope!
Yet more words of wisdom….🤣
Laugh emoji here….
If you were anything other than a progressive moron I might be offended!
the west has been on its knees for many decades already. never learning from boom and bust, always voting for the same old sheiks and robber barons, so long as they said they was conservative…even if they so obviously were not, save for ultra narrow mindedness and intolerance. on their knees, johnny, have been the typical albertan, sucking away at the proverbial oil hose like the proverbial crack-ho, giving it all away to the proverbial dealers for a dose or two.
in the end, like an addict that never got straight, alberta got left with nothing. no wealth to show for their stupid recklessness; no diversity to the economy…and even less now given that our oil is largely unwanted…unless we are willing to drop to our knees again and give it away; and, like billions of spent needles everywhere, we are left holding the bag for the multibillions of dollars it will cost in clean up.
all this because our corrupted leaders had a lavish time lining the pockets of bent, oily scum so that they in turn would have their pockets lined even more than being rewarded handsomely at public trough. you know how it goes: no-work board of directors positions from big oil with great pay; “consulting” positions with great pay (crooked lobbyist)….
Poetic biff.
Please consider reading the following news article about a UCP election campaign strategy utilized in 2020. The current Federal Liberal’s do not exhibit a great deal of innovative /creative ideas other than how to raise taxes and buy the electorate off. Do you think they will utilize this as one of their campaign strategies? Please take a look at the original article. You may be shocked, dismayed and like me somewhat disgusted.
Sarah Rieger · CBC News · Posted: Oct 27, 2020 5:30 AM MT | Last Updated: October 27, 2020
UCP suggests soliciting donations from seniors by playing on ‘fear, anger’ during AGM session
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Doctor who works with seniors fears they could be taken advantage of
Sarah Rieger · CBC News · Posted: Oct 27, 2020 5:30 AM MT | Last Updated: October 27, 2020
This slide from the UCP’s virtual AGM on Oct. 24 suggests the target fundraising audience is over 70. A follow-up slide suggests playing on seniors’ emotions like fear and anger to solicit donations. (UCP Virtual AGM 2020)
The United Conservative Party is being accused of targeting a vulnerable population after it advised playing on seniors’ negative emotions during a fundraising strategy session at its annual general meeting.
The session, held virtually on Saturday, was titled Local Fundraising 101. It was hosted by vice-president of fundraising for the UCP, Sonia Kont, and party executive director Dustin van Vugt.
After the session, two slides from the presentation that focused on donors who send money by mail circulated online.
The first asks “Target audience?” and is accompanied by two captioned photos: “This is not your donor…” with a photo of a middle-aged man lighting a cigar on a $100 US bill, and “This is your donor!” with a photo of two smiling seniors.
At the bottom, the slide reads “The average [mail-out] donor is over 70 years old.”
The second slide offers advice on drafting a fundraising letter, from creating urgency, using a large font — “Remember, average donor is 70+. No small font.” — and using “simple language and emotion (i.e., fear, anger, greed, guilt.)”
No positive emotions are listed.
A slide from the UCP’s 2020 virtual AGM suggests using emotions like ‘fear, anger, greed, guilt’ to raise funds for the party. (UCP Virtual AGM 2020)
The median age in Alberta is 36.7, according to Statistics Canada. Please see The Letter below
Trevor Byers, a family doctor who is trained to work with elderly patients, said he was concerned to see the slides single out seniors as a target.
Just wondering if anyone else feels seniors were purposely and unfairly targeted. Some would call this a scam. Think the Liberals (or the PC’s) will do the same thing during this next election campaign?
Respectfully.