River City Writer

I’ve been talking to a number of friends about the upcoming Alberta election, and one thing that seems to always come up in discussion of Canadian politics—at both the provincial and federal levels—is whether to vote for the party, or for the candidate.

I believe that most people vote for the party. If you want the Liberals to form the government, for example, you’re probably going to vote for the Liberal candidate in your riding, even if you think that the PC candidate will actually be better at representing his or her constituents.

I will admit that I usually vote for the party I want to see win the election, rather than the individual candidate. Based on the way that our first past the post political system works, it seems to make more sense to vote for a party, rather than an individual.

However, this year, I think I will be voting for a specific candidate in my riding. While I don’t necessarily want his party to win the election, I think that he will do a great job representing Edmonton-Centre. Evidently, so do a few high-profile Edmonton political figures. Their testimonials hold a lot of sway for me, so I think I’ll probably vote for this individual (who I’m not naming, because I’m trying to avoid endorsing any one candidate or party).

My question to you is, do you vote for the candidate, or for the party? Bonus points if you share the reasoning behind your voting method.

As you hopefully know by now, if you’re a resident of Edmonton, we’re having an election in this province on March 03, 2008. You probably also know the major parties in the province: the Progressive Conservatives, the Liberals, the New Democrats (NDP), the Green Party, and the Wildrose Alliance.

What you may not know is who the candidates in your riding are. Do all of the major parties have candidates in your riding?

If you’re searching for the answers to these questions, Daveberta has a complete list of the candidates in each of the provincial ridings, as well as links to the candidates’ web pages (when available).

Check out Dave’s list, and then follow the links to learn about the people you’re going to be voting for. Remember: an uninformed voter is worse than someone who stays home. If you’re going to vote, do your research.

As the provincial election campaign starts to get into full swing, the campaign ads are starting to hit the TV and radio waves. This morning, I heard an ad from Ed Stelmach espousing change on the radio.

Does this strike anyone else as a bit odd: the Conservative Party campaigning on a platform of change?

Ignoring the somewhat paradoxical nature of such a thing (i.e.: conservative change), the Tories are the governing party at the moment, and have been for 37 years. They are, by definition, the status quo.

Campaigning on a platform of change doesn’t really make sense when you’re already in power, especially if you think you’ve been doing a good job for the last 4 decades.

It seems to me that the PCs are trying to tap into the psyche of Albertans—48% of whom feel that we need a change of government (though, most of those 48% don’t see any of the other parties as a viable alternative to the Tories)—and claim that they are the party of change.

I can imagine the ad, “Do you want change? Well, don’t change the government. We’ve heard what you want, and we’re ready to change. Re-elect the Conservatives for change!”

Sorry Steady Eddie, if Albertans really want change, they aren’t going to vote for you. You’re just lucky that most Albertans seem to trust the Liberals and NDP even less than they trust you.

Todd Babiak’s latest blog post has made me a little bit depressed, mainly because it’s absolutely true. I haven’t really noticed any substantial quality of life improvements since this latest oil boom began. If anything, I’ve noticed a dip in my quality of life.

I recently had to move into a smaller apartment, because my rent was increased by 50%. At $975 a month, it was still below the average price for a 2-bedroom apartment in a central neighbourhood, but it’s more than I’m reasonably able to afford on my own.

While I am getting paid a bit better than I likely would be if I were doing the same job in, say, Saskatchewan or Newfoundland, my money doesn’t go as far, because most things cost substantially more. Every time we’re at the pub paying for our $7 pints, my girlfriend points out that beers are only a deuce and a half at most bars in her native Newfoundland.

This, of course, comes as the government tries to claim that the average Albertan enjoys an improved quality of life as a result of the oil money that’s flowing through the upper echelons of the population. From my point of view, it really hasn’t. For many people, in fact, it’s gotten worse.

On top of that, it kind of annoys me that the Tories seem to act as if they are somehow responsible for the existence of oil in the sand.

Yes, their policies are somewhat responsible for the money coming into the provincial coffers, but without that oil, would they be able to claim responsibility for the province’s successes in the same way? Given that Alberta would probably still be a have-not province if it weren’t for our oil, I suspect that the answer is no.

But, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Todd is wrong. Maybe the average Albertan really is enjoying untold prosperity as a result of the so-called Alberta Advantage. Am I wrong?

As you surely know by now, Ed Stelmach’s Tories called an election yesterday afternoon. Alberta will be going to the polls on March 3, 2008.

Because provincial politics obviously effect Edmonton—the capital of Alberta—I will likely be running a lot of political commentary over the coming weeks. If you have any opinions you’d like to get out to the public, let me know, and I’ll be more than happy to let you have a guest post.

In fact, I really hope that some of you will write guest posts for me. I obviously have my own political slant, and I’d like to try and keep the discussion from becoming biased toward my own personal views.

I’m sure that Daveberta will have a tonne of commentary about the election, so I highly recommend that you check his blog out (keeping in mind that he is an unabashed Liberal, and his blog is hardly politically-neutral).

If you know of any other Alberta political blogs that are perhaps less biased, or at least biased in the other direction, please send me the links, and I’ll make sure to mention them in a future post.

I’m moving to a new apartment today, and it may take the cable company a few days to transfer my services to the new apartment. Because of this, I may not be online until mid-week. If I can leech off of one of my neighbours’ wireless networks until my own services are reconnected, this won’t be an issue, but I don’t know if there are any networks that I’ll be able to connect with one the other side of the building.

So, it may take me a few days longer to get back to the regular publishing schedule here at River City Writer, but I have not forgotten about you, and I will be back to something resembling the old schedule in a few days.