Wildrose Country

It's probably nothing.

We're calling it from Ontario first. At 10:05, we in Ontario have declared it will be a Wildrose MAJORITY.

My assigned polling station in SE Calgary was quiet - got there after work. However the woman there had to use the extra strong ruler to stuff my ballots in.

CTV was rationalizing that since WR is the putative leader, then high turnout is good for the the PCs.

They never quit.

I got the cbc coverage on. They are showing the Liberal 'headquarters' in Edmonton. Maybe,it's just a bad camera angle,but I can see about a dozen people watching a 24" TV. It looks like a strip bar.

They are upbeat though,hwhe.

NP Dave, I thought you were casting a spell.

Am praying that Ontario is right and the spell works.

Not liking the direction of early results trickling in. PC leading in 21, WR in 13.

I think more than a few"Progressives" will need to take heed of Ron Swanson's advice from Thursday:

"Have you ever considered there's an upside in not being a government parasite, sucking the lifeblood from honest hardworking people. You will have to now be a productive member of society, like a man.

CBC Vancouver has announced on their news cast after the hockey game that this is the tightest election race ever in Alberta.

Do they know something we ought to know? And how would they know that?

CBC has PCs leading in 45 seats, the WRP in 20

By the time I post this Redford will be in majority territory, even though its early.

Looks like the rural areas went PC bigtime.

A lot of pollsters are going to scratching their heads.

WT...F??
Damn.

Less than 2% of polls reporting yet.

I have a sick feeling right now. It may be that I underestimated the fraction of people who would be scared of their own shadows if the government told them to be.

If this continues,chalk up a win for the media party.

It's a shame.

This reminds me of the Reform Party breakthrough in '94 (? - beer kicking in). It was good, great in fact. But not good enough. It's hard for voters who pay no attention to cast a vote for something that they're not familiar with no matter how much sense it makes. Hang in there Alberta.

A friend from Ontario (you really do have some here)

If the initial results hold, the story of the night is that Alberta is no longer conservative.

Now there's a headline for ya.

The National, even after the polls closed, did a piece contrasting the qualifications of the two main candidates, showing pictures of Redford with Joe Who? and Lyin' Brian, at the side of Nelson Mandela, and showing a photo of Afghan women voting (because she was there monitoring); this was contrasted with some terrible old pictures of Danielle during her service on the lamentable Calgary school board.

44 percent PC, 36% WR. The complete opposite of the numbers predicted by all the polls. Wildrose are being having trouble even in rural Alberta.

If this isn't prima facie evidence of massive voter fraud, what is?

55 PCs leading or elected...

At 10:50 none of these results mean anything yet. The polls which come in first are those where voting was light. People vote in large numbers to throw governments out, not vote them in. So meaningful results won't come in for about another hour.

Wtf?

wallyj,

I doubt the media holds much sway outside of Calgary and Edmonton.

If this holds I suspect the WR lead was an illusion from the start fuelled by poor sampling outside Calgary and Edmonto.

Some I know were voting PC because they figured they owed them for their jobs. A teacher and a propaganda writer for Alberta Health. Probably a lot more did the same. Here in Saskatchewan the Sask Party became the opposition before they kicked the NDP out.

I don't believe in fraud. Canada is not that far gone yet.

I do believe that there have been increasingly frequent failures of polling data in recent years.This would be the most dramatic. I think the polling companies' methodology no longer works in the modern age. Maybe they are no longer able to catch a representative sample, or people just intentionally lie to polsters... I dunno.

This result is so disheartening, if it holds up...

This doesn't make sense. How could everyone be wrong? Very strange

Disappointing - if the trend continues. However, one positive is that the credibility of the polling industries will be further eroded. BTW, Ezra should really stop making predictions. It's embarrassing.

Ouch!

Disappointed at early results. Waiting for full results before I can really say much - but still, this shows that polling means squat.

I wanted Warren Kinsella to be ranting tomorrow. Guess I'll have to wait for a few more years.

relax peeples.....not even one polling is at 50% reporting yet.Don't forget,all the media here in AB is leftarded.

I disagree Bart F,the media favoured the Pc's. They can and do sway the electorate.

Lougheed goes with Redford,huge coverage. Colleen Klein joins the Wild Rose,crickets.

How many out there have heard about the Pc financial irregularities that are being investigated ?
Compare that to the coverage that the politically incorrect remarks made by the Wild Rose candidates.

Control the media,control the vote. Sad,but true.

one positive is that the credibility of the polling industries will be further eroded.

Well, aside from Nanos, anyway!

Depressing results so far. I worked with Redford when she was a project manager for Agriteam Canada; she couldn't plan or manage a budget then and it doesn't seem she's got any better in the interim. I hope those who've voted PC are happy when (assuming the initial results hold) she introduces a provincial sales tax.

Awww. I thought sda got results. But of course it's the media's fault.

The media and fools like you.

Seen a lot of results roll in over the years. This is not going to turn around. The polls closed over an hour ago.

Don't think WR did something that lost it at any point. It was never there. Lots of crappy sampling in the rural areas particularly.

After 41 years there is just too much residual inertia.

Looks like PCs are the new Liberals, and WR are the new Conservatives.

So much for polling!

SPF,time for a break,perhaps a long one.

So disappointed.

Oh well.

Satellite down. Major snowstorm in central Ontario. Relying on this comment board to keep me updated. However, something seems fishy. Every polling firm can't be this wrong. Has there ever been an election where they got 102% of the vote out?

Speaking of the media - I'm watching Global here in the GTA and I think Tom Kent is so happy he has a boner.

WTF I am hearing reports that the socialist lawyer is winning a majority ???????

What has happened?

I'm glad I voted. I saw too many NDP signs popping up on lawns in my downtown Edmonton neighbourhood. Indeed, when I went to the polling station, there seemed to be a lot of prospective voters milling around wearing outlandish designer eyeglasses and smelling of hand lotion.

Oh well...I will still get up and go to work tommorow...I'll also be eyeing work in Saskatchewan.

Nothing to see here folks...just move along.

And the winner of Kate's free book is ?????

I am really close if you reverse the numbers.

Wow 62-17. That's going to leave a mark.

Alberta. Frontier spirit my A$$. Another Canadian province confirms that they are constructed of useless cowards that need mommy government to hold their little hands. Head to Sask if you want to be free, Alberta is just as entitled and pathetic as Ont and Que.

I am pissed .

There was a sustained "Hate Wildrose" campaign with a lot of media buy in, it looks it swung a big enough percentage of the votes.

CBC are saying that Liberal vote has gone to the PCs, that makes the PCs an even more Liberal leaning party

Depressing indeed. The anti-oil socialist plant gets in - The Eco-fascists are happy.