PC Alberta Leadership 2011

[Radley77]

With the upcoming election of the PC leadership, and the first ballot on September 17, 2011, I thought I would kick off a new thread to discuss. This last week I bought a PC membership for the first time in my life because I wanted to make sure I had a choice in the direction of the leadership of Alberta.

Who and why do you think would make the best leader of the PC party? I am looking forward to your comments!

[DizzyEdge]

Curious what people think of Alison Redford. I had heard the description of "social liberal, fiscal conservative" which as a vague description is the sort of person I can get behind.

[Ramsayfarian]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

Curious what people think of Alison Redford. I had heard the description of "social liberal, fiscal conservative" which as a vague description is the sort of person I can get behind.

So far she's the only one I think that shows any promise.

[suburb]

Mayor just tweeted this with regards to the campaign:

"Check out www.CitiesMatter.ca to learn where PC leader candidates sand on issues important to you! #yyc #pcldr #ableg"

[PoscStudent]

As a big geek I'm super jealous that Albertan's get to have two leadership races this month.

[Aegis]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

Curious what people think of Alison Redford. I had heard the description of "social liberal, fiscal conservative" which as a vague description is the sort of person I can get behind.

I was thinking of buying a membership and voting for her. We live in a "one-party state", so the only way to participate in the political process is to join the Party. It's sad but true.

I heard her on Rutherford, and I found her to be very sharp and aware of the issues. Too bad the host had nothing intelligent to ask her.

[DizzyEdge]

Resume seems quite interesting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Redford

[Radley77]

I am leaning towards Alison Redford currently. It's easy to get a PC membership. I got one so because I was worried of the risks of a poor leader for our provincial government. I'm glad to see Nenshi getting involved in the dialogue via www.citiesmatter.ca .

[Bigtime]

I haven't followed this race at all, but I do know that Alison Redford has Stephen Carter running her campaign. It will be interesting to see if he can go 2 in a row for getting candidates elected.

[Innersoul1]

I really really like Alison. I am familiar with her as she took over for my father-in-law as Minister of Justice/Attorney General. However, I had never met her until this summer at Stampede. I was in a box at the 'chucks for a law firm's function. She happened to be there. She talked to me for about 45 minutes. She was particularly interested on my thoughts on the current state and future of education in the province given that I am a teacher. I was impressed by her opinions along with her vision. She is very well spoken and thoughtful. Moreover, I was very impressed that she spoke with me for so long given that there were a number of more important people than me who were in that box.

Ted Morton honestly freaks me out. I have met him a number of times at political functions and he truly embodies the old boys club of the PC party.

[PoscStudent]

I think both Redford and Mar would be great as Premier, I was really impressed with Redford's answers on citiesmatter.ca. The website is a great idea and I actually may send the link to the Mayor of St. John's to suggest he do a similar thing in our provincial election, he has already mentioned wanting a new funding arrangement with the province so setting up something like this website would be a great way to let residence know where the leaders and parties stand.

[PoscStudent]

Double post.

[Calgarian]

Go Liberals?

[gantenbein]

Prefer Redford, but could also live with Mar. Morton is scary, and I wouldn't even say he embodies the old PC party (that would be a good thing, if we're talking Lougheed) -- more like its scary Reform-aligned wing, just as Harper's Cons have replaced a federal PC party that at least had moments of moderation and progressiveness.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

Go Liberals?

I could probably get behind a Liberal platform, but their name is poison in Alberta.

I'd like the Alberta party to get more of a profile, they seemed interesting.

[Knoots]

Originally Posted by Aegis

I was thinking of buying a membership and voting for her. We live in a "one-party state", so the only way to participate in the political process is to join the Party. It's sad but true.

Yes, absolutely buy a membership and vote. I bought one last week (never thought I would be a PC member - it may come back and haunt me like Nycole Turmel with the NDP!).

[Aegis]

Originally Posted by Knoots

Yes, absolutely buy a membership and vote. I bought one last week (never thought I would be a PC member - it may come back and haunt me like Nycole Turmel with the NDP!).

I supported Dinning in the last race. I'm not a regular PC, but as I said before, I don't mind buying a membership to add my vote to their leadership race. I wouldn't buy one any other time.

I'm not a fan of the ranked ballot voting system. It often allows for screwy results. For those that are unfamiliar with this system, when you vote you are required to rank your preferred candidates as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. Often, the vote is split between a few popular candidates (20-30% each), and people don't give a lot of thought to their second and third choice vote. Unless one candidate has a clear majority on the first round of voting, the next round of voting then is based on people's second choice. Statistically its rare that it goes to the third choice ballot, if there is one. The first ballot will be polarized such that several of the most popular candidates will not receive enough support to continue on to the second ballot. Often, the result is that many people agree on their second choice but not on the their first choice. This is precisely what happened with the last Alberta PC leadership vote in which Ed Stelmach was elected, and a similar result happened with the Liberal Party of Canada leadership race in which Stephane Dion was elected, though I'm not 100% sure if they used the ranked system or just a regular run-off voting system. In both cases, the winner is almost nobody's first choice, but many people's second choice. So, nobody is happy with the result.

I prefer a first-past-the-post selection system in which a clear winner is chosen, then the rest of the party can unite around them.

I'm disappointed that Stelmach was forced out. He's governed in a hostile political environment and almost exclusively during a recession. Oh, did I mention he isn't a drunk and can speak intelligently about some of the major issues at hand? He surrounded himself with people less capable than himself, (Liepert, Duckett, Evans, Morton) and never developed much of a realtionship with the media to allow him to develop the charisma necessary to appeal to "joe idiot voter."

[Bassic Lab]

Originally Posted by gantenbein

Prefer Redford, but could also live with Mar. Morton is scary, and I wouldn't even say he embodies the old PC party (that would be a good thing, if we're talking Lougheed) -- more like its scary Reform-aligned wing, just as Harper's Cons have replaced a federal PC party that at least had moments of moderation and progressiveness.

Mar has been positioning himself to the right of Morton in this race. If Morton scares you, then I'm not sure why Mar would ease your concerns.

[Aegis]

It amazes me that the local media isn't making more of this story.

http://www.calgarybeacon.com/2011/09...o-your-mother/

This is the opposite of being accountable. It's basically fraud (a deliberate misrepresentation), and shouldn't be tolerated.

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by Bassic Lab

Mar has been positioning himself to the right of Morton in this race. If Morton scares you, then I'm not sure why Mar would ease your concerns.

Uh, because Morton is a raging homophobic bigot and Mar supported same-sex marriage?

Because Morton has the support of Rob Anders?