I reached out to SDA regular Gord Tulk to share his thoughts about what occurred Tuesday in Alberta. He kindly shared the following:
- The Pollsters – They didn’t miss by their margin of error. The missed by the margin of Liar. It is scandalous how biased they were. One poll I saw in the final week said the gap was 8%. It was 22%. And there was no last-minute swing. The undecideds were low and there was no “Lake of Fire” reversal.
- There are still 100K to 200K ballots yet to be counted – to be done this weekend – so it is possible that a couple maybe even four more riding will flip to UCP.
- The UCP won because they had a pan-Albertan platform and talked about issues that affect all Albertans. The NDP constantly tried to divide the body politic through pandering to the issues of the fringe of the fringe.
- The only group that supported the NDP were those who were massively dependent on government activity. The correlation to the number of government employees in a riding and the level of mass transit usage is a perfect one. The takeaway is simple: Reduce the number of public sector employees and stop spending on public transit expansion and the NDP support levels will decline.
- There was a small cabal of people who got Kenney and the party to where it is today. Not least of whom was Dr. John Wiessenberger who I understand to be a long-time close friend of Stephen Harper and who was instrumental in the reforms if the immigration department. A great person and team with the results to show for it.
- Kenney and the UCP are what Albertans have been wanting to have in power for about fifty years but never got. The last couple years of Ernest Manning, then Strome, Lougheed, Getty, Klein (who was not conservative and who when he had the chance spent and hired as heavily as any Liberal), Stelmach, Redford, Prentice and Notley were all Red Tories or Socialist. The Wildrose was an offshoot of frustration with this.
And now they have THE MOST CONSERVATIVE leader and party to ever come to power at the provincial or federal level since Ernest Manning. - I have casually known and watched Jason Kenney for over 15 years:
- He is a Conservative’s Conservative. He is the real deal.
- He is the hardest working politician I know. It’s not even close. I don’t know if he even has any hobbies
- He may be prone to being authoritarian in his management style. Perhaps it was his upbringing.Many on the left especially thought Harper was a control freak. IMO he wasn’t – he let his ministers run their portfolios. They got to do any ribbon-cutting and announcing. And they were held accountable when something went wrong. What he was was a fierce controller of the parties messaging sometimes to the party’s detriment.I wonder if Kenney will give his ministers the kind of autonomy Harper did. I have no doubt that he will as fierce if not fiercer than Harper was on messaging.(this area is my biggest concern re: Kenney)
- He is a doer. When he was immigration minister he brought in massive change. He will not be idle. Though I do fear he may be a bit rash – too quick to act – like he was on TFAs and proposing limiting oil exports.
- Since the late Klein years, a succession of governments have added massively to government employee levels – probably north pf 200,000 (!). This in an era when technology should be reducing the need for staff. If the UCP cuts government employee levels by 100,000 (basically just the hiring done by Redford and Notley) and assuming the average cost of and employee is $100K (wages, benefits and facilities) they will save Albertans $10 billion annually. I wish them Godspeed.
- While I expect Kenney and the party to be very active right away, I do expect they practice some restraint until after the federal election so as to not be used as a club to prevent Andrew Scheer and the CPC from winning in October. After that? Regardless of who wins federally, the gloves come off and regardless of who is Prime Minister things will be uncomfortable for them.
- With this election we now have four provinces being led by capital “C” conservative parties – AB, SK, MB and ON. Combined they represent 22 out of 38 million Canadians. Constitutional change only requires 3 more provinces to agree. NL and NB will support most of what many would like to see done. Depending on the item – BC, PEI or NS could be enticed to sign on? (one can hope)Regardless, this block of provinces will become a powerful force going forward and I think all four are wanting to act…
- I and a lot of other Albertans are walking an inch taller today and feeling far lighter in spirit.
The work now begins to make Alberta Great Again and both directly and indirectly change the Canadian Confederation for the better.
Nice comment from Gord.
Notley’s economic record was so abysmal that even she didn’t run on it. The NDP hired 58,000 new government paid employees. Most Albertans are wondering what on earth are these people doing.
The work now begins to make Alberta Great Again
Nice to see Mr. Tulk adopt PRESIDENT Trump’s style and messaging.
joe when I did some research for the old Wildrose Party, which I gave to Dannielle Smith, the Alberta Health had over 50 pages of managers, superintendents VP’s and Presidents. After that all that info was locked down not accessible. So just imagine what it is now. 50 PAGES of management, yet workers and Doctors and Nurses take the brunt of everything. Government is the problem.
It’s just as possible, and given the margin of liar throughout the bureaucracy that as many as seven ridings will flip to the NDP! Gord the good said: “There are still 100K to 200K ballots yet to be counted – to be done this weekend – so it is possible that a couple maybe even four more riding will flip to UCP.”
The NDP have done everything they can to plant poison pills and no doubt we will soon hear how the Russians influenced this vote.
919,195 to 536,250.
The UCP got 1.7 times more votes than Red Rachel and the neo-Marxists.
But that’s still a lot of people who DO NOT believe in democracy when it doesn’t go in their favour.
Wow! That’s a LOT of … disenfranchised … voters, eh? Time to let foreign Chinese Nationals and convicted Felons to vote along with dead Canadians, eh?
/sarc.
You forgot 16 year old children. 🙂
Mostly Trough Feeders and I suspect a great many of th 20-30 crowd that still hasn’t figured it out or are already Teachers or some such.
I am however proud to say, that both my Adult daughters (25-28), who perviously Voted NDP (& Liberal Federally), and have seen what NDP socialism & Liberal Quasi Naziism is all about – & Voted UCP. They’ll most likely vote CPC in Oct. as well.
They understand that real “bread” is buttered by jobs and opportunity and not by the utter BS of Social Justice, Identity politics and opposing that which provides said jobs & opportunity.
Speaking of bread+butter … and youthful attitudes … there is another distinct characteristic of “youth” that fades away when age and reality erase their youthful stupidity. That thing is called: metabolism. I’ve noticed that young people take great glee in calling all us old folk: “fatties” “fat” “pigs”. This persists with stupid young people until about their mid 20’s … when Mr. metabolism hits em in the ass (literally). Then, they come to realize how little control they had over their own slender forms. Just another “awakening” that comes with age.
Dear Mr Metabolism. What you claim is only partially correct. The main causes of the fat ass syndrome is over eating and a lack of exercise. So push away from the table and get out and work up a sweat instead of finding excuses.
No doubt. My point was that the Youth have very little going for themselves when young (no bank accounts, no families, no jobs) … so they seize on the ONE advantage they have over their elders … the natural slenderness of youth. And when they get older, this “advantage” slips away … as does their youthful leftist politics.
Which is not to imply caloric intake and exercise of oldsters should be disregarded. At 18yo I worked hard labor for a summer on a hay-ranch in Oregon. Moving 3”-30’s and 4”-40’s in the HOT Southern Oregon sun. I was already a very fit 3-sport HS athlete. We ate 3 full meals/day with each days lunch looking like an annual Thanksgiving Feast. At the end of the summer, I weighed less than I had in 8th grade – despite gorging myself with calories. I returned home and could easily run “the rim trail” a 6+ mile dirt trail in the hills above a local reservoir in record time. However, my appetite remained at Ranch-level, without the DAILY 12hr exercise-work … and before I could turn-around, I had put on 20lb. So, yeah … caloric-exertion balance is … EVERYTHING. Even for the youtts
Re Notley’s green energy plan. During the coldest February in 20 plus years, Albertans noticed that the wonderful solar plant in Brooks was putting out ZERO power. Meanwhile our windmills were operating at 2% to 15% of capacity. Even the media noticed!
They also noticed their natural gas fuel bills. They saw that they paid more in carbon tax than they paid for the actual natural gas.
Then Notley said future carbon tax increases would just go to general revenue. Oops, it’s really a sales tax.
This April Albertans resoundingly said time to end the Notley Nightmare.
Sales Tax? More like the “Taxing the Necessities of Life Tax in Alberta”.
Like .gov “owns” you. You feel like a piece of .gov “property” these days?
Taxing the necessities of life is exactly what the Feds are doing with their lying term “price on pollution”. It’s no such thing, it’s a carbon tax and the fact they say we will get it back and more is another lie. If it isn’t a lie why is it worth putting people into stress mode? Will we be able to buy gas, feed our families and keep a roof over our heads?
Every time I see and hear Climate Barbie or Trudeau with their dumb ass talk on the subject they know nothing about I need a barf bag.
Agreed, every time I see or hear one of those imbeciles, Turdhole, Climate Babs I hear the same cult like language, “climate change is real” they say and “thats why we have to put a price on pollution”… utter bullshit talking points. What happened to “globull warming”..? I guess the “globull warming” meme no longer works so these dishonest thieves make up something else. Turdhole and Babs should be locked up in a looney bin where they can be treated for their obvious mental illness.
“The Wildrose was an offshoot of frustration with this.And now they have THE MOST CONSERVATIVE leader and party to ever come to power at the provincial or federal level since Ernest Manning.”~Gord Tulk
Wrong.
Wild Rose was not an offshoot. It was set to become the new government of Alberta before the United Conservative Party.
If Jason Kenney had been the CONSERVATIVE you claim him to be, he would have run for and won the Leadership of Wild Rose.
Instead he ran for and won the leadership of the progressives.
OZ I think the UCP forming was what had to happen. The Wildrose was sabotaged, I could see that from the inside. Maybe someday Dannielle Smith will reveal what really happened. The old PC party despite its name did have some staunch rural conservatives. They also had a core of old time Manning real conservatives.
What on this Planet could ENTICE the Leader of a Party and 7 of her top Folks to cross the Floor and join a PC Party that was under seige from every angle (for bloody good reason)…..when said Party (Wildrose), was LEADING IN THE Bloody POLLS @ 45%…???
Answer me that.??
WHO Stood to GAIN by splitting a Conservative VOTE…hmmm..?? Knowing full well the NDP were 100% ANTI-Oil – Anti Oil Sands..??
That there was a significant amount of $$,$$$,$$$ involved Is almost certain…hmm say $10+ million per..? A drop in the bucket for US Oil Based Trust Funds, Tom Steyer, Warren Buffet etc. and/or Saudi Interests…either of whom would gain no.??
This was massive Payola – Period.
Maybe Vivian should investigate THAT.. ?
Read my post about Wildrose and the lawyers and advisors that suddenly showed up and derailed the grass roots. The advisor/lawyers/coyotes suddenly built a wall between Smith and the grassroots. And no Danielle is not dirty, extremely honest, intelligent, just weak and naïve. Naïve when it came to street fighting politics. After the 1st Gen. Ass. I knew it was over. The Wildrose Revolution was over.
Despite the blow-out, Ms. Smith made the remark that the popular vote proved the NDP winning in 2015 was not an accident. Based on her remark – and her warming to capitalists driving SUV’s caused climate change BS back in 2014 – I believe she come along to thwart Wildrose.
Smith did a bunch of terrible stuff after the 1st election. Lousy campaigning, ditching key platform planks to appease phantom demographics. I was shocked but glad when she took the walk.
The wild rose was an offshoot. That it ultimately grew to rival the PCPA is a later fact.
Wild Rose was the official opposition party 2 terms in a row. Even after the Christmas Crossing disaster they not only formed the opposition but they even INCREASED their seat count. After Jim Prentice resigned from the SAFEST PC in the province Wild Rose took that seat in the By-Election. Wild Rose was set to be the next Alberta government.
I tend to agree. The merger was a mistake. An understandable mistake but a mistake nonetheless.
We’ll see shortly whether Kenney is the real deal, or an apple polisher. I’ll believe it when I see it.
The test is whether he is politically correct, or a bulldozer of the opposition and the sacred cows.
when will McTurd go and publically congratulate, and shake his hand, Kenney:-))))
What makes you think Kenney would want to shake Trudeau’s hand. Just the thought of what that hand has done to Gerald Butts would make me recoil.
How about this—Kenney can attend at Justin’s last meal. Will that do by way of peacemaking?
Being a Moslem and all I thought Justin would have used his left on Gerald.
How does one shake the hand of a licked dry finger bowl anyway…??
I’d be deathly afraid of catching some foreign disease from that piece of garbage.
7. Authoritarianism? No. What Kim Jong -Un does (viz. murder anybody who tries to tell him two plus two equals four) is authoritarianism. What Kenney does is called leadership.
He sets the priorities as comveyed by the people (get the pipelines built, taxes lowered, the commies out in Edmonton and the Grits out in Ottawa) and the ministers get on with it.
The ministers are not appointed to do whatever they damn well please.
I used the term authoritarian in reference to his management style – not his politics.
And ministers are not given license to do what they damn well please – the major things they want to do need approval of cabinet and sometimes caucus. Nowhere do I say or imply that the they have free reign to that extent.
What PMSH did do and what hope kenney will do is not micromanage them and take all of the PR wins for himself.
His politics are authoritarian. From oil production cuts at the point of a gun to enforcing hate speech at the border, Kenney’s authoritarian.
I agree with Oz.
His reaching out to Quebec with reassuring comments in his victory speech is something you would never see a Quebec premier elect do!
But it showed two things. Kenny can (pretend to) be amicable while proving that Quebec will never ever be, unless paid to. Now Kenny can be a nasty prick and say, “Hey listen, I tried. Everyone heard the man. So have it your way, asshole.”
Next up, that POS Horgan.
Buddy…BAMN…!!
That’s the Jason I know.
Not ever afraid to punch nor with venom…
Agreed, and Quebec’s premier took the bait and reiterated that there will be no oil pipelines. Although he did allow for natural gas lines. So the battle lines are set in that region of the country.
“Next up, that POS Horgan”… I hope Kenney cuts off the pipeline and doesn’t bluff, just do it… I’m out here in BC and this place is being slowly destroyed by one foreign funded NDP and Liberal politician after another, municipal and provincial … BC is not as corrupt as say Queerbek, they have decades of corruption on BC, but BC is coming up fast on the corruption scale… Chinese gangsters, foreign funded politicians and drug dealers run this once awesome place while the RCMP do nothing and without a Provincial police force anytime soon… Fuk Horgan and his Green Party enablers and their Media, build the damn pipeline or shut off the taps… make the idiots out here pay and soon, don’t eff around… we’re either a country or we’re not.
oh dear I sure hope so. The only concern I have with the large block of Provinces swinging “right” is that Federally the country often will move opposite.
Nothing I would like to see less would be another Trudeau as PM.
In his victory speech, Kenney spoke French. That was an insult to the majority of Albertans*.
Quebec not impressed with Alberta Premier-designate Jason Kenney’s pipeline plea
https://globalnews.ca/news/5176723/quebec-alberta-pipeline-kenney-legault/
From article: “Politicians at the National Assembly made it clear that they are not interested in what they perceived as thinly veiled threats about Alberta’s contributions to the equalization payments”
Gord Tulk
9. While I expect Kenney and the party to be very active right away, I do expect they practice some restraint until after the federal election so as to not be used as a club to prevent Andrew Scheer and the CPC from winning in October.
THWACK! That was Quebec smacking Kenney upside the head. Way to go, Kenney. Keep on speaking French.
*(yes, Ankle Biters, there are French Albertans)
I thought it quite clever, actually.
French politicians generally assume they can call for Ottawa to screw Alberta in French all they like, because they assume the English can’t understand French.
Umfortunately for them, Kenney does understand French.
I tend to agree. The “smack upside the head” is now ample ammo to refuse any compromise on Equalization, or any other issue that Quebec brings to the table.
Kenny was fishing and got a bite. As planned.
PO’d, exactly right.
Kenney will keep trying to get Quebecers on board. This will annoy many of the readers here, but in my opinion it is the right strategy. Every rebuff from Quebec politicians increases the number of Albertans who will support firmer actions.
Turdeau wants to run against the irrational, country wrecking Kenney. Why give him that venue? Turdeau is showing his incompetence and stupidity. Kenney must not give Turdeau an escape before October.
Walk softly and carry a big stick.
Kenney’s first order of business is to get his government organized.
Second order, clean out the greens from all the deputy minister and other senior government positions.
Something to remember is that there are people from all over Canada who depend on Alberta oil patch for their livelihood. Large numbers of people own homes where it is cheap and commute. Lots from Quebec. That is who he was talking to.
And those are the people who need to step up in their home provinces to allow the economy to flourish.
PO’d….Bingo.!
No Pipeline..?? No “m0nny”….
Fk yaz – Been my attitude since 1981.
Exactly.
Kenney’s overture to Quebec reminds me of what JFK offered to the Soviets in his inauguration speech.
The response he got works in his favour. He can now say that he tried to be friendly, but the Quebec provincial government turned him down. It told us that, to paraphrase what George Wallace said at his inauguration, Alberta’s sole purpose in Confederation was to be “Quebec’s cash cow today, Quebec’s cash cow tomorrow, Quebec’s cash cow forever”.
“French politicians generally assume they can call for Ottawa to screw Alberta in French all they like, because they assume the English can’t understand French.”
Er, no. While most “English-Canadians” (whatever that’s supposed to mean these days) don’t speak French, plenty of them are quite capable of understanding it to some degree.
So much for your conspiracy theory.
By the way, all the “French politicians” are over in France.
I know quite well plenty of anglophones understand French. (I do.)
In the urban folklore of French Quebec, however, all non-francophones remain Westmount Rhodesians who consider speaking French beneath them. (Even in rural Alberta.) French Quebec politicians with the sense to know better still pander to that.
(Yes I know there’s a difference between Quebec and France. The French from France detest the English even more.)
“By the way, all the “French politicians” are over in France.”
That’d be why the KeyBakeWas call their provincial legislature the “National Assembly”. Uh huh.
Get a clue.
“In his victory speech, Kenney spoke French.”
Next time he will speak to them in a language they can all understand.
(Yes, ankle biters, there are french Albertans) No there are not… I would suspect the number of people from France living in Alberta to be infinitesimally small, if at all… you probably meant Peeairs “special class” of french talkers from Queerbek who have nothing to do with France… french talkers are paid very well to be french talkers in Alberta so whats the problem. People from Queerbek are not french, just like people from Vietnam or Rawanda aren’t french either, they just speak a sort of creole french, in Queerbek they speak, Horsefrench… so I guess you could accurately say there are Horsefrench talking Albertans. Oh yeah, fuk Queerbek.
I met Jason Kenney at a small conservative event while he was in cabinet and I agree he is the real deal.
Kenney was one of Harper’s more effective and competent ministers. The media hated him then so he should have no delusions about the coverage he’ll receive.
I actually liked his statement about ‘climate change’ during his victory speech. That comment was aimed directly at the media. He was pointing out that yes, the climate changes as it has done since the earth formed.
In other words never allow the media to define and explain your position on anything.
Gord is way out to lunch on Klein. Ralph Klein took a Province with Billions in debt, slashed spending an created surpluses with oil prices at one point as low as 8 dollars a barrel. He gave Albertans a total of around 40B in surplus’s. One year alone he returned 18B in surplus. If Kenney is half the man Klein was we will be very fortunate the rest I will let slide for now. Except this, Kenney’s speeches all reference and line up with the Alberta Separatist message of the last 40 years. His message was couched in modern terms without the cussin and rough and tumble of the street. He made it acceptable for Albertans, and they lapped it up. Make no mistake a revolution happened, but professional pundits have not got that message yet but they will. The Nation of Alberta was born in the hearts and minds of Albertans. I hope he does not take advice from the wolf in sheeps clothing Harper the Coyote. Harper was liar, and he pissed his pants when it came time to do the right thing. He was a Conservative FAILURE. Consulting Harper would be like asking the advice of a man about marital matters who has been divorced 3 or 4 times. Not smart. Keep the coyotes away from the campfire Kenney and listen to the people. watched the same thing with Dannielle Smith, the lawyer and professional adviser coyotes surrounded her and the Wildrose and sabotaged the movement. I saw that from the inside. And she was not strong enough to shake them off, I often suspected they were plants purposely installed to end the movement. Ralph Klein was the best Alberta ever had, and they did not know it. Easy to slander a dead man, but he was a giant.
Wrong. It was Steve west and Jim dinning who did the cutting dirty work.
When Klein was looking to get into politics he was torn between running as a liberal or a PC. He chose the latter because it offers him the best chance of winning.
Once the budget was balanced and then a flood of revenues from higher oil and particularly natural gas prices started he rapidly escalated spending to become the highest per capita spending province. And all of the conservatives in the party drifted away leaving reds like Stelmach and Redford and others to spend away.
It was Klein’s conduct that led to the formation of the wildrose.
Bullshit Gord, you contradict yourself, see above. Ralph made all the final decisions and gave the direction. Met the man personally more than once and corresponded with him as well. And Dinning and West worked for Klein or did you forget that Gord. And yes late in his tenure he was swayed by the Progressives to spend, but some had to be done, Alberta was growing so fast kids were in trailers etc, The growth caused a lot of the spending. So wrong again Gord. Economy grew so fast under Klein the population growth out stripped the infrastructure.
I have to agree wih watcher the TALKER..
I was here.
Got here ’76 from YVR, 341k in Calgary then.
I worked in the patch (still do)
I’ve seen the growth and the pains it caused.
Ralph Klein was by leagues and bounds the BEST premier we ever had…Kenney may exceed that..I truly hope so. He’s a no BS – straight up Conservative guy who knows what he’s doing. I support him 100%.
Spare us the swearing- it doesn’t help your argument and makes you sound like a reactionary crank.
You do nothing to refute the facts I state.
Yes Klein was the “boss” but the bond rating agencies and the markets were his boss. (Just as they were Paul martins boss when he was finance minister.
He wasn’t a conservative. Never was. He even admitted that he wanted to know which way the parade was headed and then step in front of it to “lead”.
He was a populist. Fine. But he wasn’t the conservative that Albertan’s wanted and as soon as he revealed his spots he was turfed out not long after.
Further it is relevant to note that the Wildrose movement began four years before Klein was voted out by his own party.
Spare us the sermon Gord. I will talk as I like until Kate says shut up. Bullshit is Bullshit. And you got called and did not like it. And how was he not a Conservative. He took a Province BILLIONS and Billions in debt. And at 8 dollar a barrel oil cut spending, paid off all the debt and handed back around 40B in surplus. The Province grew so fast nobody in Ft. Mac had a place to live, people were living in their vehicles and working, I was in Ft. Mac I seen it. Where were you. My Bullshit call on your calling Klein not a Conservative stands. You are out to lunch on that one Gord. I am Albertan and watched and was affected by it all everyday as well as my family. So Bullshit on that big western story Gord.
So watcher I will put you down as a crank. AGAIN you do nothing to refute the facts I presented. The correlatation between debt and the price of oil and NG during the Klien years is very close so that too goes against your argument.
Colby Cosh summarized this well: Klein was not an intellectual and the PCs ran left of the Liberals. Klein’s smartest cabinet members were fiscal cutters so he was most influenced by them. Klein was not that good and we got VERY lucky.
I always though it was Rod Love who was the master behind the puppet. When he left, Klein went a little yompy.
The decline began before Love left.
I will put you down Gord as a man with a huge ego. Who can never admit when he is wrong. I have read many of your musings over the years Gord, agreed with many of them.
On this one you are wrong dead wrong. Was Ralph perfect hell no.
Let’s hear your definition of a Conservative then oh great wise one. Tell me who other than Ralph Klein paid off many Billions in debt, cut spending on Government deeply, had 8 dollars a barrel oil and many years below 20 dollars a barrel. And then handed back over 40B in surplus.
You can’t give me one name of a Premier or PM in Canadian history who ever did this, can you.
And when the growth outstripped the infrastructure he had to spend. Was it all wise spending I am sure some was misspent.
No on this you are wrong, And I may be a crank in your opinion for calling bullshit on the Ralph Klein story, your version anyway. Very easy to slander a dead man. Your ego and opinion of yourself is so big you can’t accept that you are wrong. I may be a crank, but you have a swelled head. Now Have A Nice Day.
AGAIN no refutation of the facts I presented.
Paul Martin and Chretien cut the federal deficit – does that make them conservative?
How about the fiscally circumspect Tommy Douglas?
Klein wasn’t a conservative any more than Donald Trump is. He was centre right to the degree that He considered running as a liberal.
Still not man enough to say you got it wrong on Ralph. Chretien and Martin cut the deficit because the IMF stepped on their toes, that is why Canada’s Strategic 1000 tonnes of Gold got sold off at 250 an oz. plus stole 54B from the UI fund belonging to the workers of Canada and the employers of Canada then had it OK by a crooked SCOC. Not the same thing Gord. Oh well I know what kind of man you are now anyway. Go kiss your hand.
Watcher you’ve already soiled your bed with a few of us here.
I say your both wrong on the phrase “Martin/Cruton cut the deficit”, they merely off loaded federal costs to the Provinces. Prove me wrong if you can but I’m pretty sure in both cases they increase Federal spending while off loading costs. Mere financial trickery.
Watcher needs to change his name to Talker or something.
Also, someone needs to teach him to use that nifty invention: the paragraph.
Get back to work
Ouch!
ha ha ha
It would be interesting to see the demographics of the Calgary ridings that are orange
When the hopefully extensive cuts in government employees takes place we’ll hear all about how we’re all gonna die and how vicious and uncaring it is and how it will result in complete destruction of all government services because Kenney is cutting their numbers by ___%.
Remind the media and the other hysterical fools that cutting 58,000 government employees will take us back to the dark and terrible days of……..four years ago.
You know, back when the cattle were all dying and children had no shoes and we all lived in stone age squalor because we were short 58,000 ‘public servants’. /s
Actually was even worse, this one shows only a 7% separation.
Strategic Insights: UCP (45%), NDP (38%), AP (8%), Lib (4%), Other (6%) – Poll conducted April 8-10th
Good points Gord Tulk
Kenney is a classical liberal.
Lougheed was a progressive.
PMSH did allow his cab ministers latitude. Ask Rona Ambrose. He removed her from cabinet when she demonstrated she was in over her head.
When she returned she was a better politician and leader.
The Wild Rose were largely rural Conservatives who almost wrested power. They broke away from the PC’s who were dominated by progressives (read ndp). In retrospect we should be cheering the mistakes of Jim Prentice and Danielle Smith.
I am cautious about the future here. The defeat of the ndp does not mean they are gone. They are aligned with many factions that are determined to undermine Conservatives. Kenney will have an uphill battle the entire way. Nothing will come easy.
Kenney might be the smartest politician the country has produced certainly the equal of PMSH. I know the SDA crowd doesn’t like the phrase ‘politics is the art of the possible’, but we have seen it in action with Kenney from his arrival back in Alberta with a vision to unite the right. He did it against all odds every step of the way. Will make mistakes? For certain but this is our chance to make a correction that has gone on in this country since the 60’s.
Well Stated.
AB. Agreed politics is the art of the possible. Many conservatives want say five things. If a politician e.g. Kenney doesn’t give them all five, then they will abandon Kenney, and vote for someone else. Net result? They often get none of the five things they want.
Great analysis Gord despite some disagreement on Ralph Klein’s legacy and the Wildrose debacle.
I just found this article in the Energy Now newsletter that discusses the reaction of BC and Quebec.
https://energynow.ca/2019/04/legault-congratulates-kenney-but-says-quebec-wont-accept-a-new-oil-pipeline/?source=de&wtv
Q&A with People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier
You want pipelines? We have the solution. Andrew Scheer doesn’t have a solution.
We will use the Constitution, we’ll impose a pipeline if necessary on Quebec and on B.C., we’ll use the Constitution S. 92. (10) to build that infrastructure. The federal government used the Constitution more than 300 times since Confederation to build national infrastructure, so it’s a decision that must be taken by the federal government, not the Quebec government. This week the premier of Quebec, my premier, said there is no social consensus in Quebec for a pipeline, but sorry that population in Quebec knows that it’s safer to transport oil and gas by pipelines than by trains and it’s safer for the population and it’s safer for the environment. They remember what we had in Lac Megantic, a huge tragedy seven years ago. I’m, ready to do that fight and to explain the position to Quebecers and Canadian and at the end, it will be good for the prosperity for our country these pipelines and it will be good also for the unity of our country.
Look what happened in Alberta last week. It was good news, Jason Kenney has been elected. I’m very happy with that, but he said we need a referendum, he wants a referendum on that, they cannot decide anything. It’s Ottawa that has the power to do that and I’m telling Alberta and western Canadians that if you really want the pipelines, we’re the only party who will have the courage to use the Constitution, and yes, if necessary impress a pipeline on different provinces or First Nations.
https://www.brandonsun.com/local/qa-with-peoples-party-of-canada-leader-maxime-bernier-508736802.html
Saying what Bernier is saying while out of power guarantees that he will remain out of power.
It is indisputable that the feds have not just the constitutional right to put the pipelines through, – they have the constitutional DUTY to do it. Once in power i will expect there will be massive pressure from the party and several provinces on Scheer and the caucus to do what Bernier is saying. And ONCE IN POWER is when Scheer should do it.
You will be disappointed by Scheer….
He’s a Globalist Puppet and always will be.
He will rename the carbon tax to another name and not build one pipeline period.
The Conservative party is ruled not by you but by the elite corrupt Globalist.
Scheer a UN Puppet Politician…
Go Max Go
Splitting the Vote? Nope! People’s Party is Gathering the Vote
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m_fmD-NYChA
Maybe not:
https://business.financialpost.com/opinion/surprise-most-quebecers-want-alberta-oil-despite-what-their-dirty-energy-premier-says
Scheer is never doing it.
Even better, you could also add the Eagle Spirit Energy pipeline to the National Interest override. Whoever argued against it could be labelled a racist. Use the left’s tactics against themselves while helping some Natives get out from under the brutal heel of poverty.
Remarkable how that effort has escaped the MSM lately, eh? It’s like they don’t exist, or they dropped into a hole..
Buddy,
Great point on Eagle Spirit.
I was surprised that Notley used the ancient UK connection. She said she would be the “ROYAL Opposition” the media dropped that clip.
Alberta should look at the South Dakota system of Government….The day to day operation is run by the elected General Manager…..The Elected Parliament only met ~4 times a year or when required….. ALL those civil servants in Edmonton are Eliminated…..Canadian Government is bloated beyond reason…..10X normal
BTW: Obstruction of Justice may describe the Jody memo to all DOJ lawyers setting out conditions they MUST take with regard to Treaty land title issues… Must not question the veracity of verbal Indian facts…
If that is not corrupting Justice….Nothing is
• Royal Opposition? Notley probably meant Oil Opposition and her insiders knew the joke.
• Also: Re: Gord Tulk item 7 # 2:
If Premier-elect Jason Kenney has no known hobbies:
Hope he doesn’t take up playing the piano.
• Re: the submission by SDA contributor, that Kenney ought to lay off all of Notley’s hangers on:
Yes, 100% ASAP – and let them feel what it was like for all those competent, highly educated and trained workers who got the pink slip in the PATCH.
• Should Kenney ever be piano playing in public, it would be because he didn’t do point #3 here-in, soon enough.
• Hope Kenney can recognize any snakes and sabotaging early on and put those out from his environment.
• As per Global’s Dawna Friesen’s broadcast last evening: all the female Premiers of Canada have now all been voted out:
That was un-PC, some would say. I would say that that is now a good thing. It is just what Canada needs at this time in history. Enough with Commie-Socialists. We need people with real BAWBAGS!
• PS: Women : don’t have a bird – I still have free speech, last I looked.
My apologies if I may have offended anyone.
• Like Mr Tulk said: wishing Premier-elect and the UCP s “Godspeed.”
Nancy – don’t know about you, but there are several women MP’s whose performances having me thinking they could be up to the job of PM. Also a couple of men. But then I’m old-fashioned enough to want competence in my government, rather than any other factor.
Frances: Yes competence in government is key. Less government is more. There are probably many who would be good leaders, problem is, in our system they are chosen amongst themselves rather than chosen by the people through a Convention of Delegates. Remember that old system? It was infinitely better, IMHO.
Appreciate your analysis, Gord.
Regarding Harper trying to control the messaging of his party….
It was a logical and necessary response to the media vitriol and desire to twist and misrepresent anything that came out of a conservative’s mouth.
Was it necessary? We will not know, as we do not know what the media would have fed on if the MPs had been allowed to speak more. It may be that the UCP MLAs are more aware of the media’s animosity (how could they not be?) and will manage themselves accordingly. But I do not blame Harper for wanting to keep a tight control on messaging, and I would understand the need If Premier Kenney does the same. Loved his work as immigration minister, BTW.
Agreed.
An inch taller?…i feel about 10ft tall frankly…haha
Thank you kindly for the post Gord.
My pleasure. And thanks to Robert for asking to contribute – I’m greatly flattered.
Thanks Gord for your very concise thoughtfully detailed post on exactly who is now Alberta’s new premier. I don’t know you at all personally but everything you’ve written I agree with 100% and to some degree experienced. I’ve been close to but never met Jason Kenney personally (I have heard many of his speeches and town halls). I maybe got within 10ft of a handshake a couple of times but I do know his campaign manager and know him to be an extremely smart high energy guy of strong character. Kenney becoming premier now is no accident. It was needed not only to save Alberta but also Canada. I can see where Albertans gain that inch in height. It happens from lifting your head up.
Gord Tulk the biggest red tory partisan hack. The Progressive Conservatives are back and I don’t expect much to change. The old PC crony and malaise will start about 1 week after they’re sworn in.
535,000 people at least voted NDP. These are same people who supported Redford and Stelmach. Kenney is going to do nothing but drift left to this opposition. He’s already shown he’s willing to marginalize anyone with any kinda conservative opinion.
If you’re reducing those voters that means you’re absorbing them and we’re back where we started.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am the farthest thing from a Red Tory. I have battled against them most of my adult life.
Let’s see what happens re: how Kenney performs. I would add that the past evidence is on my side.
As for the return of PC carpetbaggers to the UCP and now power. There is no doubt there is some of that. I think the Party will stand for none of it – that if that became common practice the Party will fracture just as the PCPA did.
As for marginalizing “any kinda conservative opinion” that simply isn’t true. Fiscally Kenney has taken very conservative stands. What he won’t stand for is SoCon cranks jeopardizing getting Alberta back on its feet. If you disagree – do cite your examples and let’s see which of the two categories those examples fit into…
“As for the return of PC carpetbaggers to the UCP and now power. There is no doubt there is some of that. I think the Party will stand for none of it – that if that became common practice the Party will fracture just as the PCPA did. ”
I hope you’re right about that, Gord. In Ontario the PC caucus is chock full of ovine opportunists who have zero commitment to small c conservatism or libertarian ideas. And The Great Yellow Hope – Doublecross Doug Ford – has already proved that he is just another Trawna boy.
Gord Tulk said: “The last couple years of Ernest Manning, then Strome, Lougheed, Getty, Klein (who was not conservative and who when he had the chance spent and hired as heavily as any Liberal), Stelmach, Redford, Prentice and Notley were all Red Tories or Socialist.”
And yet, somehow, even though EVERY SINGLE Progressive Conservative leader preceding Jason Kenney as Progressive Conservative leader were “Red Tory or Socialist”, Jason Kenney breaks the mold and is a genuine conservative. Puleeze.
If Kenney is so conservative, why didn’t he run for leadership of Wild Rose?
wiki on Jason Kenney
“He left university without graduating to begin work for the Saskatchewan Liberal Party. He was “very involved in the young Liberals” as a young man, and in 1988 served as executive assistant to Ralph Goodale, who at the time was leader of the party.”
You think the SoCons were they one who jeopardized Alberta’s prosperity? No, Tulk, it was Red Tories like you who did.
Jason Kenney was a federal minister when Danielle smith won the leadership. And was still an no when jean became leader.
Then when the pcs – who were bankrupt- had a leadership run he ran with the express purpose of unifying the right which he – with lots of help – did.
“he ran with the express purpose of unifying the right which he – with lots of help – did.”
The Right didn’t need uniting. Wild Rose was the Right. The Progressives WEREN’T the Right. You said so yourself.
*6. “Lougheed, Getty, Klein (who was not conservative and who when he had the chance spent and hired as heavily as any Liberal), Stelmach, Redford, Prentice and Notley were all Red Tories or Socialist.”~Gord Tulk
You sure trip over your own talking points a lot, Tulk.
The Progressives needed to go to the Dustbin of History, which was where they were headed with all haste.
The Progressives had been reduced to 3rd party status. Wild Rose was set to become the next government.
What Red Tories like you and Kenney did was to make the same mistake Stephen Harper did. You brought the Progressives into a fresh new Right wing party.
You set the stage for it’s internal demise.
Thanks Gord,good comment.
Those Polls fascinate me,they are the tool of voter fraud, we saw the way the US media shaped those polls to facilitate result changes after the vote and in 2016 where Hillary was “unstoppable”.
It appeared to me that our media party was coordinating with the NDP/Liberal party to enable some elections Canada vote grabbing, I will be very interested in how the “vote from anywhere” numbers break.
Absolutely correct about tools of voter fraud John. In the 90’s while working as a research analyst for the provincial government, l took a 3 day Stats Canada course on Survey Design and Interpretation. Hint…surveys are polls. We did exercises where you could reword questions in a way that would give a different result. I have implored people ever since to ignore ALL polls, it’s called thinking for yourself!
I really do think that some kind of regulation is required – perhaps a disclaimer should be mandatory where the polling firm’s past track record has to be cited in any article that quotes them.
For example: Next election anyone citing Strategic Insights would have to add in the same paragraph ” Strategic Insights in the previous election claimed the gap was 7% +/- 3%. The result was actually 22%.”
No thanks. Keep your compelled speech ideas for yourself.
Well said, believes regulation saves all, just what we need. Typical worship of status quo deep state systems. After all the peons have difficulty deciding on principals alone.
Good post Gord. I’ve always stated here that the last “conservative” government in Alberta was Harry Strom’s.
The challenge will be to appoint Ministers who won’t be afraid of the bureaucracies that they have inherited particularly when the partisan appointments will run much deeper than the top layers and their mandate is to cut. This is where the bureaucrats will likely try to maximize political damage by being allowed to engineering cuts. Conservatives are handicapped when it comes to reversing the damage done by outgoing leftist governments in that they are not only up against the bureaucracy but the media which is more overtly partisan than ever. The Spawn wasted little time before he erased much of Harper’s work. Thanks to his media pals, it went smoothly. Lets hope Kenney can do at least as well. Getting rid of the planted high profile green agents will be his easiest action.
Spending under Strom accelerated the spending increases last couple years under Ernest Manning’s weakening grasp
Given that conservatism is a continuum from barely indistinguishable from the NDP to the edges of libertarianism, compared to the redness of Peter Litmus, Strom was relatively conservative. I just remember that before I left Alberta, it seemed like every other venture in Oil and even forestry had Alberta Energy involved in ownership and that was under Lougheed’s reign.
By the time Harry Strom took over the SC government it was infiltrated by a lot of moonbats. It had been around too long. They were kicked out of office with justification.
The province moved left, considerably, with the election of Lougheed. The PC’s were loaded with ndp types. Nancy Betkowski who came along later is an example.
Ralph grabbed control but the left wing ousted him and the whole damn thing finally emploded. There were school teachers on the board of every PC riding association.
// The UCP won because they had a pan-Albertan platform and talked about issues that affect all Albertans. //
Let’s look at the 2015 results. If we combine the PC+Wildrose vote and use the new riding boundaries, PC+WR would have won 61 seats, the NDP would have won 25 and the Alberta Party would have won 1.
https://twitter.com/paulisci/status/1118511645766995969
Yes that’s true – it’s the method I used to predict 64 seats for the UCP.
But they did not take a hard line divisive approach which, while it might have pleased some SDA readers, would have squandered a lot of that support.
I am hopeful that Kenney will clean up the mess and get on with the business of running the province even if toes are stepped on. Actually I would enjoy seeing toes stepped on if it is deserved.
I will say that the UCP landslide was almost as gratifying as watching Dwayne Lingenfelter the Sask NDP leader lose his seat in 2011 and Cam Broten, also the NDP leader lose his seat in 2016.
Manitoba is not led by a “capital “C” conservative,” Brian Pallister was going to have his own carbon tax, and it wasn’t until after Ford was elected in Ontario, that he finally listened to the electorate, and killed his own plan. But he is better than the past NDP government.
So we have to keep his feet to the fire to keep him on track.
1971 was the dawn of a new political age in Alberta. Although the popular vote for the governing Socreds was only 3% less in the election of 1971 than it had been in its election victory of 1967, Liberal and NDP voters coalesced around the Progressive Conversatives, giving Peter Lougheed a victory that was lauded in the eastern establishment media. Alas, King Peter’s illustrious Alberta pedigree was used to hide his eastern establishment connections. He was a Power Corp. political protege whose task it had been to take out the populist local hicks and centralize Alberta’s new oil wealth into the hands of the right people.
Consequently, the political confrontations between Peter and Pierre were theatre. They both worked for the eastern establishment, and their grandstanding always ended with Peter giving Pierre everything he wanted. This included enshrining equalization payments in Pierre’s 1982 constitutional amendment. King Peter was a political imposter, as have been all the successors to his slimy crown.
Will Kenney be any different? Having observed him over the course of his long career in government and on its periphery, I agree he is a smart political operator. Smart enough to realize that some fiscal decisions are going to be forced upon him.
If the Province has been borrowing money to pay interest on existing debt, this is a perilous fiscal situation that cannot be long-lived in the absence of $150 bbl oil. If much of this debt has been incurred to pay for the salaries and retirements of government employees, a “conservative” will know where costs must be cut.
I expect once Kenney takes over we will hear that things are much worse than we were told they were in Joe Ceci’s Fantasyland. This is the venerable tradition of new administrations, but it is no doubt also true in Alberta’s present situation.
In the absence of a saviour, I wish Kenney all success in delivering on his promises, and I hope they were sincerely pledged. Unlike no other governing politician today, he has been given a massive popular mandate to change direction.
Was unable to reply to Gord’s comment re Chretien and Martin reducing deficit. Gord, they managed that by stealing $50 Billion from EI.
Re Kenny. He is he exact same as everyone else when it comes to the media, a massive pussy. Unlike Trump who will fight, Kenny wants bad press to just go away. Like Brian Jean, he would rather throw conservatives under the bus than stand and defend them. Because of that I see him as just another long term loser in the culture battle. He will exploit conservatives for votes but wont stand with them when attacked by a fraudulent media.
I hope he balls up , but I wont hold my breath.
I made no comment on the means those fiends took to get to the surplus but they did.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/multimedia/canada-s-deficits-and-surpluses-1963-to-2015-1.3042571
Wrong. Martin cut spending by 10% in a single year BEFORE INFLATION. He kicked ass in a way conservatives never will.
Not sure I agree with that. There were many factors. It’s true that Martin did improve the federal government’s balance sheet, but I certainly wouldn’t describe his performance as “kicking ass”. He was a slippery character, and much of his “kicking ass” was done by stealth.
Off the top of my head, I seem to recall that Martin
1) cut transfers to the provinces,
2) cut defence spending,
3) diddled UI, (I think it hadn’t been rebranded yet), and
4) reduced the inflation increase in departments’ incremental budgets (in other words, he reduced the amount of spending increases, and departmental spending did increase from one year to the next…)
I also seem to remember that revenue from the GST, (the tax that Mulroney and Michael Wilson said would be revenue neutral, and Chretien said he hated so much he would repeal), was pouring into the federal coffers beyond all expectations.
Overall, tax receipts also increased because the economy was growing, and exporters did well because of the currency abitrage.
Martin did however, increase spending on Tamiflu, which one of his many companies happened to own, in the throes of government hysterics about H1N1, the made-up medical crisis of the year.
Manning also gave Martin some political cover by hammering him everyday on “eliminate the deficit” (if anyone here remembers Double Exposure). The Canadian dollar was also getting hammered by the bond market and there was bad press from the IMF which warned that Canada’s debt to GDP was too high and getting higher.
To return to your theme of “kicking ass” (perhaps I should be faulted for taking your post seriously?), in Klein’s first election as PC leader he went head to head with Liberal leader Laurence Decore as they one-upped each other on the campaign trail. I remember it was “massive cuts” versus “huge cuts”. I can’t remember who was which. Klein won, and he did carry through with spending cuts on a scale that no other political administration has equalled, to my knowledge. There were a lot of cashiered government workers in Alberta. I don’t recollect Martin firing one single federal bureaucrat.
Well done.
All this banter reminds me of one of Ralph’s best quotes,
“You can slide a lot further on bull shit than gravel”!
There is a long history of western politicians betraying their constituents once in office. It’s not wise to put any new leader on to high a pedestal. You’d think we would learn.
Preston did it. And he was on a very high pedestal.
Good post Robert. We should note that Kenney has made no hard decision to turn off oil exports to B.C. Media reports stating this are false. He plans to declare the NDP written legislation into law and will act accordingly if Horgan continues in his attempts to harm Alberta.
Lots of people in Alberta feeling a bit hopeful for the first time in years. The days of Notley passively standing aside with Alberta laying in the fetal position while Trudeau, Horgan, the Greenshirts, U.S. interest groups, and the much of media kicks us in the face are over.
Only God know what degree of success Kenney will achieve. Common sense dictates that leverage is more effective than grovelling.
Anything will be an improvement. At the very very least there will be the self respect that comes from pushing pack against those who wish us ill.
Actually, it’s my understanding that he doesn’t have to actually turn off the taps, so to speak. He can just mandate what goes down the pipeline. If he pushes 100% dilbit, it’s all for export and none for the lower mainland.
“The days of Notley passively standing aside with Alberta laying in the fetal position while Trudeau, Horgan, the Greenshirts, U.S. interest groups, and the much of media kicks us in the face are over. ”
And yet Kenney speaks French and invites KeyBake to kick Alberta in the face. Which they immediately did.
Not really. Kenny was defining the Equalization fight, on his terms. Like fishing, play out some line to see what bites. Got his bite. Lining up his ducks. There will be more of that to come.
Quebec is anti Alberta oil because Power Corp. is invested into Total (previously known as Total Petroleum), as part of the Pargesa Group of companies that they own. Why would they allow competition from Canadian oil companies shipping western Canadian crude across Quebec and into their off shore markets, especially the EU? It isn’t about “dirty oil” at all.
Think about that when you read the labels of Quebec products sold out here. Think about the same things that BC exports into Alberta. Think Loblaws getting a nice $12 million to eco friend their fridges, while you pay full price on everything you buy. Then start thinking about exiting Canada, like through Valdez Alaska. It’s actually shorter by several DAYS to ship crude out of Valdez to Asia, instead of Vancouver, or even from Kitimat. McMurray isn’t all that far to Valdez and they are friendlier folks to deal with than BC or Quebec it seems They are even looking at this route. Only 2400 kms McMurray to Valdez. It’s 2500 kms to drive to Whitehorse from Calgary.
http://www.mining.com/the-northern-gateway-workaround-a-rail-line-connecting-alberta-and-alaska-43884/
I will disagree on his comment about “message control” under Harper, I was there and it got stupid and costly. to many MP became trained seals only barking what the PMO wanted them to say and only on command. That cost at least 2 seats here in Vancouver. Let your MP/MLA speak their minds both inwards and outwards and respond to local issues.
It was a great day for sanity. Paying attention BC ?? You’re next.
“He is a Conservative’s Conservative. He is the real deal.”
Meaningless wishcasting. Kenney explicitly ruled out real cuts during his campaign so you can forget about any real fiscal shrinkage. good to see Klein get torn down a bit though he campaigned to he LEFT of the Liberals at the time, who were actually very rightist.
For all the talk of the NDP’s massive defeat-and it was massive-they are now a permanent feature of Albertan politics. They lost with 3X as many votes as they usually get. The parallels to BC are uncanny: BC’s permanent conservative party was headed WACkey Bennet, BC’s biggest socialist until the NDP took over for a single term in the ’70s IIRC. They governed very left and it left the unions and other parasites with a taste for power and easy money. They never stopped working to get it back and they did in the early ’90s.
If the BC NDP can come back, so can Alberta’s. Make no mistake, Alberta’s conservative roots are very shallow and weak. The people will be grumpy about any real cuts to government they like free pogey as much as anyone.
Borrowing $100 billion over four years to maintain a vast army of government bureaucrats tends to guarantee a base of support for the statist party of the day. As I’ve said before, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suspect that at some point, fiscal realities will force hard decisions on many political jurisdictions in North America.
Thanks Gord Tulk.
My pleasure.
Kenney is going to be a big thorn in Trudeau’s ass. But he is going to be even harder on that useless smiling idiot Scheer. I don’t think Kenney respects Scheer. Kenney is going to kick him around like a soccer ball and then wipe his feet on him like a doormat. You watch.
“Kenney is going to kick him (Scheer-the-Steer) around like a soccer ball and then wipe his feet on him like a doormat.”
Ain’t gonna happen. Scheer and Kenney will be buds.
The best you can hope for is that a bit of Kenney’s huff and puff might rub off onto Andy “Tiger” Scheer.