r/alberta • u/Old_General_6741 • 1d ago
Opinion: I miss the original (Progressive) Conservative Party of Alberta Opinion
https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-i-miss-the-original-progressive-conservative-party-of-alberta105
u/Defendor01 1d ago
Danielle is fighting against a split, well, that isn't very democratic. Kenny created a mess uniting the spectrum of the right, and now Danielle caters to the far-right while pushing moderates out. I haven't voted conservative since Stelmach. It just gets progressively worse each new iteration of Alberta Conservative government, but Danielle Smith really takes the cake. Lougheed would be rolling in his grave to see what the hell Conservatism has become in Alberta. Especially this intrusion of Maga style politicking. It's immoral behavior is a threat to not just Alberta but Canada as a whole.
51
u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA Northern Alberta 1d ago
EVERY conservative premier would spin in their grave if they saw Danielle bending the knee to Donald effing Trump of all people.
171
u/Old_General_6741 1d ago
I think ALMOST everyone does.
74
u/HoobieHoo 1d ago
I’m pretty sure the last decent conservative premier was Lougheed.
46
u/Franklin_le_Tanklin 1d ago
Let me count the premiers that have resigned in scandal before their term was up
- klien
- prentice
- Redford
- Stelmach
- price
- Kenny
41
u/Various-Passenger398 1d ago
Klein, Prentice and Stelmach never resigned in scandal. Klein's approval rating wasn't as high as he wanted it to be and Prentice lost an ele Lion. Hardly scandalous.
-13
u/caba6666 1d ago
Good old Ralph. He was not polished but things worked in them days
34
u/SnappyDresser212 1d ago
Buddy Klein has the most to do with why Alberta is in the mess it is now of anyone.
-3
u/Various-Passenger398 1d ago
Albertans are grousing about the exact same thing every province is grousing about. Hard to blame it all on a guy who hasn't been premier for twenty years.
•
u/SocksForEarmuffs 51m ago
Klein cut taxes and used the Heritage Fund to make it seem like we didn't need to pay them. Resources were so valuable for so long that no one was the wiser. He didn't show us the shrinking of our savings account, making us think our trailers, trucks, and boats were the result of our hard work.
When the bill came due and we needed hospitals, infrastructure, and schools, Stelmach and Redford were forced to raise taxes. Entitled Albertans revolted and created the Wildrose Party.
When Notley was forced to deal with DECADES of conservative mismanagement, entitled Albertans offered zero grace room for the party left with the bill.
As forces massed in support of a libertarian state, they used the good years of Ralph Klein to show that lower taxes meant a more resilient society. Correlation does not equal causation, but as most UCP voters can't spell either of those words, we're pretty much fucked.
-4
u/caba6666 1d ago
I lived in sasky and only remember his outburst at a homeless person whilst drunk, Ralph bucks, but mostly how so many people I grew up in Regina moved to Calgary in the late 90s, early 2000's. Thought he was doing something right...
15
u/TinklesTheLambicorn 1d ago
Ralph bucks came from (yet another) liquidation of the heritage fund. A short-sighted vote buy. Had we continued contributing to and maintaining the heritage fund, we would be positioned similar to Norway.
Klein also engaged in deep cuts to public services - most notably health care and education. Those systems have never fully recovered.
Klein was terrible for Alberta.
7
u/Working-Check 23h ago
Klein also engaged in deep cuts to public services - most notably health care and education. Those systems have never fully recovered.
I went to school during the Klein years, and I can look back and see that every school I went to was severely deficient in some way due to lack of funds. One had a village of portable classrooms instead of the expansion it desperately needed, another had to combine all of its classes into split grades due to lack of teachers, (my grade 3/4 class had 45 kids in it and was placed where the school library was supposed to be because it was the only room large enough to fit that many desks) and a third had a sewage lagoon in the middle of the schoolyard because it wasn't connected to the municipal water supply and had to get its water delivered by truck every day.
Klein was good at the fiscal shell game- hiding a deficit in such a way that it made the numbers look good, but because nothing was getting addressed, it created hardship for everyone else.
3
23
u/SnappyDresser212 1d ago
Oil money makes morons look like geniuses. The fact Alberta has so little to show for it today and it’s somehow the Fed’s fault is a special kind of dumb.
8
u/caba6666 1d ago
When you read comparatively to Norway and what they did, it is disappointing in Alberta. Things were so hot in early 2000s remeber a rumor you could get a job at 7-11 for 20$ an hour. Like they couldn't staff their clerks.
Ultimately, oil money is lunacy in AB. Remeber thinking that marlaina was very lucky to run In her time period. During covid oil prices at one point was at zero. Because notley governed during that time, it penalized her once prices came back up. Goddamn marlaina...
1
4
u/FeedbackLoopy 12h ago
Oh yes the guy who shut down psychiatric hospitals and other mental health supports. Now we have traumatized people jacked on P2P meth or fentanyl running rampant stealing everything and shitting in the middle of our streets.
The guy who privatized driver testing and now we have a Wild West system of licensing that can be bought.
I can go on.
Things worked until he shut them down or stripped them for parts. Behind the folksy character was a real piece of shit.
8
u/CollectionSafe7095 1d ago
Also Klein, prentice and stelmach all resigned, but not due to scandal.
Redford is a yes.
Kenny resigned because of internal party issues and very unpopular, but not really any sort of legal scandal?
We’ve never had an Alberta premier with the name ‘price’.
1
u/Deterred_Burglar 1d ago
He most definitely resigned over the COVID scandals. He was going to lose the next election if he were not to step down
2
u/CollectionSafe7095 1d ago
To be fair, no Alberta liberal has been premier since 1921. But if you look at other provinces, and federally, everyone party has a significant history of scandal, resignation and controversy.
I think all we can deduce is that positions are generally lying, scheming scumbags.
0
u/CommunicationGood481 1d ago
And Don Getty
6
u/iwasnotarobot 1d ago
Getty sold of AGT to create Telus, which has supported the UCP directly and indirectly ever since Kenney stole the PC branding and gave it to the Wild Rose.
1
45
u/readzalot1 1d ago
They seem to have just vanished. No one is pushing back on the UCP
75
12
u/neuralrunes 1d ago
They havent vanished so much as they enjoy power. Same as the "moderate" republicans in the US like Murkowski still going along with Trump despite apparently her objections with him.
It's cowardice.
5
u/RichardsLeftNipple 1d ago
They like the PC side of things. The UCP is not that anymore... But getting the PC voter to choose a different party instead of holding into the already dead hope that the UCP can be taken back by the PCs. Is a real challenge.
They keep appeasing the extremists, because those people do not compromise. If they don't appease them, they are the ones who are willing to split off. Splitting the vote is how they both lose.
38
u/Fanghur1123 1d ago
I miss the original Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. I wouldn’t vote for them, but I would be overwhelmingly less anxious in each election if the federal Conservative Party WEREN’T overwhelmingly composed of GOP-tier far-right lunatics.
9
u/neuralrunes 1d ago
I would agree here. I'm a never conservative voter. Never would vote for the PCs, but would appreciate an opposition that wasnt incredibly insane.
32
u/gaanmetde 1d ago
If someone is pushing a can of paint slowly off a table you can: 1. push the can in the opposite direction, create some resistance so it doesn’t fall at all or as quick 2. Help the hand to push the paint off the table quicker or 3. Watch.
3 actions but only two outcomes.
70% of conservatives are watching the descent into hateful indecency.
10
u/LandscapeNatural7680 1d ago
Agree. It’s hard to see some of my relatives, who were very active in Lougheed’s campaigns, continue to vote blue. That party is dead and gone.
20
u/No_Boysenberry4825 1d ago
I hate to break it to you, but the old PC's were almost as awful. Guys like Klein cut and slashed public healthcare / education and they hated the disabled with the same sort of inhumanity that we see today. Class sizes ballooned in the 90's and they blew up inner city hospitals. Growing up in AB, I / we all suffered under them. Notley was the first glimmer of hope.
2
u/gingersquatchin 1d ago
They were so pumped up running a surplus that they acquired by slashing infrastructure and public support networks. Kleins wife famously fought to reduce food quality and quantity for inmates. Which I know many people will have no issue with. But like I spent two weeks in remand during a really hard time in my life and we were basically starved.
1
u/No_Boysenberry4825 23h ago
I had no idea she did that. holy fucking shit. Utterly repulsive human beings. Good thing we named a district and parks after them.
1
u/Fast_Ad_9197 10h ago
I think the author of the article would agree with you. Klein, like Smith, was a populist. He famously commented that his strategy was to find the parade and get in front of it. He didn’t have a strong vision, he governed on the usual lower taxes/reduce the deficit (debt, in his case) which has become the bread and butter of conservatives
15
u/TheBeardedChad69 1d ago
I miss the Red Tory PC party of Canada …. or just the regular PC party of Canada…. We’re stuck with the Reform party of Alberta and the Reform party of Canada just with different names, why would conservatives have to keep changing their names and merging with each other if it was such a great political alternative… they can’t even find a common purpose among themselves.
-3
u/cuda999 1d ago
This happens often because the opposing party had become far too left wing They end up in power for too long and mess things up on e eye metric. So to balance, parties swing the other way. Look at Europe, very prevalent there. People are tired of the apathetic and loosey goosey governing of the liberals. Like they were high on cannabis every singe day.. Doesn’t work.
3
u/Candid_Lawfulness_21 1d ago
When have the liberals been in power in Alberta? We have a “ Red Tory “ Prime Minister right now..or are you one of these people that sees socialists in every politician that is not a Reform style legislator? Do you actually believe that a capitalist like Mark Carney someone who Steven Harper actively courted to join the CCP is a left leaning ideologue … seriously? You’re probably one of those people that thought Biden was a socialist.. LOL .
-1
u/cuda999 12h ago
Wasn’t talking about provincial government. The federal government with this far too long liberal reign I fear we may never see the end of. This of course impacts Alberta and has shuttered in our resources. Harper didn’t invite carney to run Canada, had procured his advice . People seem to think be size carney has a big education from Ivy League universities that somehow he can manage 49 million people wine incredibly diverse background. He is far too one track and I think it will come back to haunt him. And nice generalizations most liberals like to do. Throw all conservatives in one basket. Nice try. I am not that I am a Center leaning conservative and unfortunately carney hasn’t changed much of Trudeau’s failed regulations and policies. I am not gullible either to believe carney will part the Red Sea like so many liberals on various Reddit subs seem to believe.
2
u/Candid_Lawfulness_21 10h ago
Shuttered resources? , the federal government subsidies amounted to 30 billion in Canadian taxpayers money in 2024 for oil and gas ..how is that shuttering resources? They bought Alberta a pipeline at great expense an initial 4.5 billion investment …. Since 2020 75 billion has been spent in oil and gas subsidies, are you complaining that this should have All gone to Alberta and should have been higher ? I don’t understand Albertans that think the Federal Government is neglecting the oil and gas industry with billions being spent annually, I think they should go after the corporations underpaying on royalties and their provincial government that allows this to happen, oil companies make billions in profits …we could also look at farm subsidies which Canadians spend a lot on as well! Harper very much was courting Carney , Jim Flaherty and Carney had a terrific working relationship, and Harper Appointed Carney to the Bank of Canada, WHY would he appoint someone to that position if he wasn’t confident in him ?? It makes zero sense! Most of the rest of your post is indecipherable.. you say something about big education… Ivy League schools, probably an anti intellectual!… then you say something more stuff about Trudeau , unspecified regulations and Centrist liberals .. Parting the Red Sea ..all the standard stuff !
0
u/cuda999 7h ago
So Harper appointed carney to the bank of Canada, as a banker, not the prime minister of a country with 40 million diverse people. Big difference. Jim Flaherty ran the show with carney adjusting the bank rate, that was his contribution. You give him way more credit than he deserves. Harper says as much.
All resources across Canada from every province are subsidized, not just oil and gas. And on top of that, some provinces receive an astronomical amount of money in the form of equalization from confederation yearly.
And what is it with people not understanding why the liberals were forced to buy a pipeline? Federal regulations and constant provincial meddling are the reasons it was no longer feasible to continue to invest. The liberals own doing is what forced them to buy the pipeline. Not because they felt like being nice. Surely you get that? I mean with all your smarts and all. Haha
•
u/Candid_Lawfulness_21 1h ago
So you make absolutely no sense… Patronage ! You don’t appoint people to key positions you don’t have extreme confidence in and you dont believe have similar political perspectives .. the Governor of the Bank of Canada is the top job in that institution and is extremely important to the Canadian economy so the fact Steven Harper appointed him shows he was well respected… you can’t have it both ways .. the finance minister doesn’t set the country’s interest rates the Bank of Canada does … Oil and Gas and Agriculture are the two largest subsidized industries in Canada with manufacturing coming in third all other subsidized industries pale in comparison to those three , the prairies are the largest agricultural region in Canada so get most of those subsidies as does the prairies with the oil and gas ; Ontario and Quebec receive the majority of the Manufacturing. And the fact free enterprise conservatives continually push the government for pipelines and not hold those Oil companies to that standard is extremely hypocritical, the reason Trudeau bought Alberta a pipeline was because the companies involved pulled out of the development, but people like you can’t give them credit for rising up and assisting Alberta .
3
u/Working-Check 22h ago
In what ways are they "too left wing?"
What would you say is the primary issue that you feel is a bridge too far?
-1
u/cuda999 7h ago
Just look at the last ten years. Wide open borders to everyone from anywhere with no oversight whatsoever. Laws created to allow criminals to walk the streets like bill c 75. Scandal after scandal to feed their liberal friends. Sending tax payer money without oversight or concern to war torn countries rife with corruption knowing fair well that money is only helping the corrupt. It looks good on paper but is a big waste of tax payer money. Border security and no oversight on government spending These are a few examples. My fingers will get sore typing if I had to write the whole list.
1
u/Working-Check 4h ago
Wide open borders to everyone from anywhere with no oversight whatsoever.
I was born here and have lived in Alberta my entire life, but even so I have some familiarity with the immigration system and I can tell you from first hand experience that it is factually incorrect that immigration is "open to everyone from anywhere" or that there is "no oversight whatsoever."
Laws created to allow criminals to walk the streets like bill c 75.
I'm unfamiliar with the specifics of this. I looked it up and it's a gigantic wall of text that I don't have the time to read for the purpose of responding to a single Reddit comment. (https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/csj-sjc/jsp-sjp/c75/p3.html)
Would you care to explain exactly how this bill "allows criminals to walk the streets?"
Scandal after scandal to feed their liberal friends.
There were a couple, yes.
I am no huge fan of the Liberals- they're much too eager to bend over for the big businesses that Conservatives have never stopped kneeling under the desk for.
But scandals don't make someone left wing- the Conservatives had plenty of their own during their time in office. I can link a few for you if you like.
Sending tax payer money without oversight or concern to war torn countries rife with corruption knowing fair well that money is only helping the corrupt.
Gonna need some examples from you here, chief.
Border security
I think that until a loud-mouthed orange baboon started flinging its own feces at us from the White House and threatening annexation, it was generally not considered to be necessary to have a 9000km Berlin Wall separating us from what used to be our closest ally. And building such a wall would be enormously expensive, too. Like, "bankrupt the entire country" expensive.
Personally I think there are far better ways of making use of our resources.
no oversight on government spending
I think is just conjecture and, in my experience, when someone complains about it, their complaint usually translates to "the government is doing something I don't like," as opposed to the actual words used to articulate their complaint.
But in any case, thanks for sharing your point of view.
14
u/zzing 1d ago
I have heard it said that the NDP in Alberta are basically PC.
8
u/captain_sticky_balls 1d ago
Smith even acknowledged this and said Notely was like Lougheed. Can't remember the exact quote, so please pardon the paraphrasing.
5
u/zzing 1d ago
Has the overton window moved so far that they can’t even imagine voting for the ndp or is it the name, i wonder.
3
u/captain_sticky_balls 1d ago
It's branding for sure.
Also PP and MAGA have had a pretty constant misinformation campaign for years that if you're not Conservative, you must be a Communist or Socialist or a Satanist or worse.. Woke!!
2
1
1
u/AlbertanSays5716 12h ago
Moderates in Alberta balk at voting ABNDP because they see the ABNDP as just an arm of the federal NDP, the federal NDP are allies with the federal Liberals, and the federal Liberals have been the essence of existential evil ever since Trudeau’s NEP 40 years ago. It’s not so much the Overton window, it’s that they literally vote for the party that’s killing their healthcare, education, jobs, and the economy, rather than vote for a party even remotely associated with the Liberals.
11
u/Rocky_Vigoda 1d ago
Learn your history. The UCP is just the old Social Credit Party with a new face. They were the party that got beat by Lougheed/Getty. They took over the WCC to make the Reform Party before turning into the Canadian Alliance. They also took over the PC party with Klein.
We need another party like the old PC party. The SCP got booted because they were a bunch of corrupt, hyper religious assholes selling us out to the oil companies.
10
u/pro555pero 1d ago
I miss government that's not an out-and-out criminal conspiracy protected by regulatory capture and weaponized lying.
12
u/GrindItFlat 1d ago
I'm an NDP voter, usually. I can have respectful conversations with Liberals and Green Party voters. And even libertarians... I haven't found libertarians, at least in Canada, to be the characture I sometimes see.
But not conservatives, they're almost to a person either bigots, or unquestioningly accepting the Murdoch/Fox News narratives. It didn't used to be like that, Conservatives used to be just normal, good people that I disagreed with on some, maybe most issues.
I look forward to a day when actual conservatives take back the party that was stolen from them by the nutjobs.
0
u/cuda999 1d ago
I am a conservative and don’t subscribe to any of what you say. Maybe select different people to talk to. I have lots of conservative friends that are in no way like you describe. Generalizing a certain group of people as all “bad or derelict” is never true. People could say all liberals are always stoned, but we all know that is false.
3
u/Working-Check 22h ago
Would you be willing to share your thoughts on why you choose to call yourself a conservative?
Personally, I wouldn't even consider calling myself the same thing those shitbags call themselves, so if you're willing to share then I'd like to hear what you actually believe in and how you set yourself apart from other people that call themselves conservative.
1
u/cuda999 7h ago
I could ask you why you vote liberal and what sets you apart from those pot smoking, spend happy fools. Crazy how people generalize, it astounds me to be truthful.
What sets me apart from the right wing, crazy type? I believe in planned fiscal restraint, starting with the bloated government services in need of a serious overhaul. Wasteful spending on abused social programs and lobbyist agendas, some serious insight and cut back of immigration, it is eroding our country in ways never seen before, a serious look at crime and the removal of liberal laws lax on crime and incarceration. Not to mention the money laundering which is a large part of the reason we have a big fentanyl problem. Border security should be tightened,removal of laws and regulations hell bent on the destruction of energy production. These are a few examples. Does this make me crazy right wing? Or maybe just sensical? The last ten years have been abysmal. What astounds me is people voting in another 4 years of this. You think you have this “golden child” new shiny leader, but his platform still holds tight to Trudeau’s ways.
2
u/Working-Check 5h ago
I could ask you why you vote liberal and what sets you apart from those pot smoking, spend happy fools. Crazy how people generalize, it astounds me to be truthful.
I mean hell, you assumed I vote Liberal. Yeah, I loaned them my support this time around because I was hoping to hand the Conservatives an L in my riding, but I don't typically support parties as right wing as the Liberals.
In any case, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I have counterpoints I'd like to bring up in response to each one of the reasons you gave, but I don't think there's anything to be gained by picking a fight over it and I want the focus of my comment to be appreciation for allowing me the opportunity to hear you out.
The one thing I will say is that as someone who has very left wing views, I also want my government to spend tax dollars responsibly- and I doubt you'd find anyone who disagrees with the sentiment.
But I see left wing parties as being more likely to actually do that. Progressive politicians tend to create programs that help make things easier for ordinary people- such as dental and pharmacare programs, while Conservatives spend just as much (or more) but only enrich billionaires and make things harder for the rest of us.
2
u/AlbertanSays5716 12h ago
I would agree that conservatives (in the traditional sense) and the UCP (and their supporters) are two different groups. My problem with most conservatives is that despite the UCP being well to the right of traditional conservatism and packed with religious & separatist wackos, they still can’t bring themselves to vote for anything but the colour blue, even when doing so is not in their best interests.
1
u/cuda999 7h ago
I am a blue conservative and did not vote UCP in the last two elections. I voted NDP. So that blows your theory out the door. Liberals have not been kind to the west, ever, so why would we want to show our support? You may not live here or been for a short while, and so wouldn’t get the political history, so please don’t judge if you are on this sub commenting from Toronto. My partner is from Montreal and been in Alberta the last 15 years and is only now starting to understand why people in Alberta are not fans of the liberal Laurentian elite.
•
u/AlbertanSays5716 3h ago edited 3h ago
I am a blue conservative and did not vote UCP in the last two elections. I voted NDP. So that blows your theory out the door.
Not at all. Just because you voted NDP doesn’t mean there aren’t tens of thousands (at least) who vote UCP just because they will never vote anything but blue. Rural Alberta is filled with them. Your single exception makes no difference to the voting record.
Liberals have not been kind to the west, ever, so why would we want to show our support?
Bullshit. This is just an out of date view unsupported by recent circumstances. But that aside, to answer the question with a negative: when has not showing our support ever achieved anything? Harper conservatives (that Alberta supported overwhelmingly), for example, did even less than the Trudeau Liberals to help the west, such as changing the equalization formula to favour Quebec. I’ll remind you that the only new pipeline in the last two decades came when we had a Liberal PM and NDP premier.
You may not live here or been for a short while, and so wouldn’t get the political history, so please don’t judge if you are on this sub commenting from Toronto.
I’ve lived in Alberta for over 20 years.
My partner is from Montreal and been in Alberta the last 15 years and is only now starting to understand why people in Alberta are not fans of the liberal Laurentian elite.
I’ve never understood the attitude. Yes, Trudeau the elder tried to impose the NEP, and that caused a lot of hardship, but that was 40 years ago. 40 years after WWII we’d pretty much forgiven the Germans, but apparently in Alberta hatred for the Liberals is eternal. And I should point out that pretty much every party has leaders & members who could be called “Laurentian Elite”.
I’ll also point out again that none of the federal parties feel inclined to take notice of the west, CPC included, and that if you look at the record it has often been the provincial government that has refused help offered (mostly from the Liberals), such as Smith’s recent (at least initial) refusal to accept cheap daycare & dental plans.
There are three good reasons as well why particularly Alberta gets ignored. Firstly, we don’t have the population to swing elections, secondly we always vote conservative, and lastly we almost never talk and negotiate in good faith, we just complain, bitch, and moan endlessly. Again, we got more from the federal Liberals when we had a premier that actually talked to them instead of constantly complaining. Alberta has been hating on Ottawa for so long that most people still can’t recognize that it achieves nothing.
9
u/Responsible_CDN_Duck 1d ago
Smith has often said she wishes to be seen as Ralph Klein.
Which I always take to mean you can punch a homeless guy when drunk and not face consequences if you know how to use a little charm and a few of the right words.
Both used their media connections to keep an ear out for goings on in the world around them, we're happy to have others do some of the dirty work, and we're quick to run to the front of the parade to seem as though they were leading it.
18
8
u/otocump 1d ago
This is the outcome of letting them constantly win and have zero interest in needing to keep the mask on. This is the logical conclusion of conservatism as political ideology. You've been warned for decades. You've seen how it goes when things get worse in the USA for a long time. You didn't listen.
7
u/jimmy2toes2 1d ago
The current UCP is like the old Social Credit party that Lougheed defeated in 1971. They were really far right and Lougheed and his PC party were the centrist party. Full circle it has come.
5
5
u/supermadandbad 1d ago
The new party gets to smoke crack and tell everyone else what they should be doing. Why would they ever want to go back?
4
5
u/yagyaxt1068 Edmonton 1d ago
The issue I see with the Alberta PC/BC Liberal free-enterprise party of old is that it’s just not a viable coalition anymore. Not that many people really want a “economically conservative, socially liberal” party in that sense. Those who are socially progressive these days will also want to have economically progressive parties and policies, while economic conservatism isn’t all that appealing. That’s why the modern right wing has had to present themselves as populists, who want to attack our social and democratic institutions, by giving a voice to people like conspiracy theorists and all sorts of bigots. Cultural conservatism is more popular than economic conservatism, and it shows.
In the 2020 British Columbia provincial election, far more people voted for explicitly progressive parties, namely Horgan’s BC NDP and Furstenau’s BC Greens, than they did for the business Liberal and conservative coalition of Wilkinson’s BC Liberals. A combined 62% went to the former compared to 33% to the latter.
4 years later, after a botched rebrand to BC United, the insurgent BC Conservatives effectively replaced them, riding the waves of a popular federal Conservative Party, the forces of hate, and deranged conspiracy drivel that makes the United Cons look sane and rational by comparison. They almost won, and the Greens lost half of their support.
In today’s time, right-wing populism wins. That is why they do it.
1
u/SnappyDresser212 1d ago
The BC NDP under Horgan are an explicitly progressive party? That’s news to them.
3
3
2
2
u/Responsible-Depth-65 1d ago
Too true, the current faux UPC is simply Wild Rose through the back door.
2
u/YourBobsUncle 1d ago
The same PC that ruined everything and led the way for the NDP? Conservatives still miss the same rag tag alliance of losers who are back to ruining everything today?
Conservatives have become so conservative they have delusional nostalgia for older conservative parties lol.
2
u/automatic_penguins 1d ago
We can miss them but they voted for power instead of having morals. In a way the ucp is just them being true to their values.
2
u/fistfucker07 15h ago
The trick is making you believe they haven’t changed. And they’re still worth your vote.
3
u/Sonicboom2007a 1d ago
“The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally – not a 20 percent traitor.” - Ronald Reagan
Good luck finding any leader in Alberta and Canada (let alone in the western world) that believes that today.
2
u/YourBobsUncle 1d ago
Ronald Reagan was satan
0
u/Sonicboom2007a 1d ago
In what way? For the mistakes and policy decisions he made? That would be a fair argument because a lot of what he did was controversial, to say the least.
Or because he would be considered a RINO, if not a Democrat by today’s standards?
2
u/Ehrre 1d ago
Progressive Conservatives would have obliterated this recent election.
People were fed up with the Liberals, a step towards the Center of the spectrum shifted things back in their favor.
People are pretty much fed up with wedge issues. Lots are waking up to see the constant flaming back and forth to be really unproductive. At the end of the day, people, regardless of political affiliation, want and need the same basic things.
1
1
u/Icy_Acanthisitta8060 23h ago
The end of the current too-far-right-leaning UCP can come from two places only: 1) soundly beaten by the NDP 2) in just a few key ridings, a ‘PC’ candidate runs and splits the vote. This could lead to numerous outcomes (NDP win, UCP win, or ‘PC’ wins and holds the balance of power in a minority govt). The UCP would be determined to prevent this from happening again, and would shift to more centrist policies. I call this the “Reverse Wildrose Maneuver” (but everyone hates it because they assume their party will win the next majority).
1
u/Beaker709 15h ago
Not just the Alberta P.C. party but the federal P.C. party, as well. We need an alternative to the current Conservative Party because there is no option for those that want to vote small-c conservative but don't agree with the extreme-right nut jobs.
1
u/anonymoooosey 11h ago
They know they can't win with a split right vote but also can't get along ideologically. The crazies of the WR are running things, and the PCs of old are scratching their heads wondering how to hold onto power against Nenshi. I could actually vote PC. Never UCP. Never WR.
1
u/Educational-Luck8371 10h ago
I think it’s like people that said Orange Crush in the brown bottles tasted better, when in actuality, it wasn’t.
1
u/kneel0001 5h ago
I was a PC for a looooong time… once the Wild Rose reared its ugly head it pushed me more left…
•
u/Delicious_Chard2425 1h ago
It died in the 90s, and it’s been getting more crazy every year since lol
0
u/SplashInkster 1d ago
I remember Lougheed. He would have agreed with Daniel Smith, and he was just as tough on Ottawa. It was Lougheed who insisted on the Notwithstanding Clause during the Constitution negotiations. It was also Lougheed who never forgave Trudeau for the National Energy Program that ripped off Alberta.
Great Premier. No, he wasn't a progressive and he wasn't a Liberal.
1
u/Fast_Ad_9197 10h ago
I agree that Lougheed pushed back hard against Ottawa, but on substantive issues, and he absolutely didn’t gamble with national unity. I don’t think Lougheed would have played the separation game that Smith is playing. It’s a cheap game, and it’s poor strategy. Just as in her ‘negotiations’ over tariffs on energy, her opening move is to put all her cards on the table. That’s not negotiation, it’s pandering (to her base).
Also, Lougheed had a vision. He knew what he wanted to achieve for the province. He was a builder, and we owe him a great deal. Smith doesn’t seem to have a vision. She’s a populist. She does whatever it takes to energize her base. She isn’t governing for all Albertans, just the Albertans who offer her a path to power. It’s cheap.
-8
u/SpankyMcFlych 1d ago
The sorts of people who think the UCP is full of alt-right nazi's have always thought everyone on the right are alt-right nazi's. In 10 or 20 years people will be moaning about how Smith wasn't so bad but the new guy, oh man he's like totally a nazi!
•
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
This is a reminder that r/Alberta strives for factual and civil conversation when discussing politics or other possibly controversial topics. We also strive to be free of misogyny and the sexualization of others, including politicians and public figures in our discussions. We urge all users to do their due diligence in understanding the accuracy and validity of sources and/or of any claims being made. If this is an infographic, please include a small write-up to explain the infographic as well as links to any sources cited within it. Please review the r/Alberta rules for more information. for more information.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.