On top of that, too many people in this province refuse to vote for anything called “Liberal” because of the National Energy Program. The irony of this, of course, is that a lot of these people weren’t even born when the NEP happened. They’ve simply heard enough bitching from the old timers that they, too, have become stubbornly opposed to the Liberal party (despite the fact that the provincial and federal parties are NOT the same thing).

I almost wonder if the Liberal party could simply change its name and do some other “re-branding” efforst over the next couple of years and, as a result of these changes, win more votes. I mean, it wouldn’t fool everyone, but a lot of people have surprisingly short memories, and would have no problem voting for the “new” party, even though they’d be the same party with new packaging.

As for the NDP, well, it’s unlikely that they’ll ever win an election in Alberta, especially with Brian Mason on the helm. At least to me, Mason seems to do nothing more than spout party rhetoric. It’s very easy to tell the government that a 10-year plan to end homelessness is 9 years too long. It’s quite another to actually offer suggestions on how to eliminate homelessness in just 1 year (something which I have never heard Mason offer, possibly because even he realizes the impossibleness of eliminating a problem as complex as homelessness in just 12 months).

I think another big contributing factor is simply voter apathy as a result of the good economy. Even though we know there are big issues that need to be tackled, the general feeling is that things are going well in the province and the motivation to change is pretty low. I think that if the unemployment rate was high, the economy was struggling, and teachers and nurses were losing jobs that you would see greater change happening. That would also be dependent upon there being a decent opposition party that had their “you know what” together.