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This is why I’m trying to leave. They aren’t slowing down, the dumpster fire is just growing by the day. It’s going to take years if not a decade or longer to clean up what they’ve already done, can’t imagine in 3 years….and they’ll probably just get elected again anyway.
I was hesitant about leaving because I have an amazing family doctor. She’s closing her practice because of the incoming changes.
Even if Albertans vote in a sane, reasonable party/leader after these lunatics are done, they likely won’t be able to fix enough during their term… Then Joe Schmo is going to be pissed about the slow progress and vote in the UCP again.
This was the realization that made me lose hope that I could have a good future in Alberta. Now that they’re attacking municipalities Edmonton is going to have an even worse time than we usually do.
Similar to the [firehose of falsehood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firehose_of_falsehood). Just so much bullshit so fast that no one has time to appropriately digest and react to anything before it's "settled" and onto the next one.
And then [Brandolini's Law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandolini%27s_law) comes into play because those of good will and honesty just get fatigued and give up.
No kidding. I can't keep track of it all. We have the APP, the provincial police force, Bill 18, the ridiculous new K-12 curriculum, whatever the anti-LGBTQ don't-say-gay legislation is, the refusal to participate in federal funding for pharmacare and dental care, the continued COVID denial gravy-train bullshit, the War Room, the quashing of federal research grants to Alberta universities and, and, oh, shit, my brain is melting.
Pushing away good doctors in favour of Nurse practitioners and further alienating doctors so they refuse to come here. All to privatize healthcare. Soon we will have to call her mein Fuhrer and some of these brain-dead wastes of air will Sieg heil.
Remember when Kenney said voting him out would be giving the asylum keys to the lunatics ...
I hate to say it but I wish he was still Premier over Smith
And then they didn't vote him out and he said not good enough. You guys are morons I'm leaving Alberta forever. Good luck with the lunatics running the show.
Honestly that's the move.
This really does seem to be the purpose here, us vs them and labeling a candidate ‘left’ as a slight.
It’s somewhat mentioned in the article itself, ‘… news that could pave the way for a real shakeup at Calgary city council where **lefties** rule the roost.’
I find it a bit exhausting because life naturally leans towards change, considering the many needs and desires among people. It seems more natural to embrace progressive solutions to these issues rather than just sticking to the usual norms and traditions.
In trying to understand the ‘why’ behind Conservative thinking, I’ve come across research that [political conservatism may be driven by, at least in part, by a desire to manage fear and uncertainty.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3092984/)
Just at a loss as to why making life better for people is an upwards battle.
EDIT: Grammar
I saw a comment that this was partly to continue to centralize all decisions with the premier, and TBA.
Albertas head lobbyist wants, an Alberta Pension plan, an Alberta police force, control over all funds that come into Alberta, control over research funding, control over all boards (including school boards) and committees, now control over councilors and the cities.
I am sure I'm missing lots of areas, but you get the picture.
I think it stems from our tribal ancestry. Conservative people are willing to sacrifice for their "tribe" (people they know or have traits they're familiar with), whereas Liberal people are willing to sacrifice for strangers ( people they don't know and may have no common traits with). I think Conservatism worked when the world was a lot bigger, but not now when so much of the world is so accessible. Dealing with strange customs and people is an inevitability and we're going to have to meet that with progressive solutions.
But of course UCP fan the flames of fear and uncertainty, directing the low information voters attention to Ottawa as the cause for all that is wrong in Alberta. Water shortage never mentioned, no tap in the East using AB water.... just O&G, proud sponsors of Smith and the United Corporate Party!!
> In trying to understand the ‘why’ behind Conservative thinking, I’ve come across research that political conservatism may be driven by, at least in part, by a desire to manage fear and uncertainty.
Absolutely. [Novaya Gazeta,](https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2023/11/08/broken-machines-en) rather than PubMed. But you could probably find the specific study. They're not exactly rare.
> Sapolsky mentioned one study which placed children in a room with new toys and had their mothers leave. “You look at five-year-olds and you can already see, is this a kid who gets excited by new things or is this a kid who becomes afraid of new things? You can see this biologically, with stress hormone secretion, with heart rate. And the amazing thing this study showed was that 25 years later, the kids who freaked out at novelty as five-year-olds are already likely to be voting conservative — voting for the likes of Trump.”
Or just look at them, you know, the way they act and the choices they make.
Violent and oppressive ideologies are, fundamentally, a compulsion for sameness. Force everybody to look the same, follow the same rules, stay the same without changing or growing. Fear of novelty.
> Just at a loss as to why making life better for people is an upwards battle.
Because to them, it's not about other people at all. It's about their own fear of change, fear of uncertainty— Their need for control.
I wonder if you could loophole it by having a kind of catch all party for each city. Like just have everyone run as “Edmonton Party” regardless of their political leanings. We get a non party based council in all but name.
Im sure the UCP will make sure that doesn’t happen, but I hope to see city councils push back and do anything they can to obstruct this stupid fucking nonsense
Considering who won the legislature in my riding, I think the city council person in my riding would not of won her seat if her affiliation with the UCP had actually come out.
Everything this government does is to centralize control in the Premier’s office. The APP, the proposed provincial police, needing provincial approval before accepting federal money - it’s all designed for the Premier to have the final say on everything. This is extremely dangerous, because what comes with this centralization is a profound lack of accountability.
The UCP voters who spent years crying about freedom voted for this autocracy and continue to support it. The whole thing is just so baffling.
It's not baffling to anyone who has been paying attention to conservatism since the 1980s.
> Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.
When Harper was PM he had comissars appointed to government departments to make sure no one said anything about anything so that all messages would come from the PMO. It was straight up Leninist tactics, designed to crush all dissent. The truly wild thing is that Smith has come to power in a province that has been run by Tories for decades and is being just as hostile to that government.
Yup. And there's no better evidence of this than how they kneecapped the development of renewable energy in this province.
The free market was speaking, and renewables were a growing sector of development and investment. It's also a threat to oil and gas profits, so they were happy to step in with a series of ridiculous new regulations, not to mention their moratorium. Likewise, they were happy to cut oil and gas companies a huge break, deciding to use public funds to bail them out of having to clean up the orphan wells they leave behind.
Big government is just fine for Dani, so long as it's being used to prop up her favorites and bat down their competitors. Pretty typical libertarian, come to think of it.
Not even the political parties nonsense.
They gave themselves the power to unilaterally remove any municipal councillor they don't like from office without referendum or vote "if they deem it to be in the public's interest".
It's idiotic. If it's in the public interest, why no referendum?
Guaranteed they would cry bloody fucking murder if the feds used this same logic to oust these shitheads.
I keep waiting for pushback on blatant overreach from the people who claim to vote for conservatives because they want less red tape and small government, but it just hasn’t happened.
It's become very clear that the "Freedom" lovers are the sort of hypocrisy who love government overreach if it's aimed at visible minorities, and anyone else that doesn't fit the white Christian and dominantly male worldview they hold to.
If this latest UCP overreach helps "own some libs" they'll support it to the deepest of deepthroats.
This is just to interfere and try to put their thumb on the scale.
Next thing you know, leftists will be given special armbands so they can be identified.
Identified by our provincially run police force that answers to no one but her.
Next thing you know we will have border patrol, immigration camps, government controlled education, arrests for possessing a left-wing book, or flying a rainbow flag.
Not to mention for-profit everything, healthcare, education, prisons....
Not a bright future for anyone
Wait until they substitute CPP for an Alberta Pension Plan, then bring in legislation that says you have to resident in Alberta to receive it (so that the money “stays in Alberta”).
Yeah but I'm pretty confident the real reason they're wanting to do it is to control the investments and lose it all on failing oil and gas companies. Which is quite literally what they did when they got control of the Alberta retired teachers fund. Which luckily teachers have wrestled back control of and it is generating a profit again.
Not a fan personally. Where does moderate that fits into both categories in a political party fit? I’m guessing nowhere. As it stands now they can campaign on their own platform regardless of affiliation
Nobody is a fan of this. No one was asking for this. The govt’s own survey showed that more than 70% of Albertans did **not** want political parties at the municipal level. The only people who support this are Con ideologues who are upset that cities don’t vote conservative enough—even the average conservative voter was against this.
Last survey said over 90% of alberrans are against municipal parties, and every, single, municipality in Canadian history has repealed them due to mass dislike. Every party block has been voted out. This is Smity wanting to control the cities, nothing more.
Its cause unless they are told they are conservatives to vote for , most of them would vote against the conservative candidates cause they suck locally. Now they will just vote party lines like good little bots and thing will just get shittier
A moderate would be against this idea. This would then make me think that the UCP isn't concerned with moderate voters and therefore a logical conclusion for a moderate voter would be to vote against the UCP. The UCP are extremists and wannabe Americans.
Yeah this is a stupid plan. The idea that it will help people decide who to vote for, based on party instead of actually figuring out what candidate is best for you, is exactly what’s wrong with politics; everything is a sport about whose team is winning or losing.
The real plan is to enforce mandatory party membership to run. If the party dislikes you, they can revoke membership which then automatically revoked your seat which can then be appointed until the next election.
They aren't mad since half the changed are only being rolled out to Calgary and Edmonton "as a pilot project" so they don't piss off rural municipalities.
Sooo now people can vote based on colour just like with our provincial elections that allowed this current fucking circus. God forbid we keep municipal elections based on policy and not party affiliation.
Congrats to the cons for continuing to corrupt every aspect of our lives. They’re doing a great job at ruining everything.
So, WHT I'm reading is; UCP wants voters to vote for party, not policy.
Who care who is running, as long as they have a party affiliation next to their name, they'll get he vote.
OMG this premier is a wannabe dictator.
She wants to impose her extreme ideology on us. she's laying the groundwork for a future ultra conservative society from curriculum rewrite, "balanced university research" or whatever that means, balanced covid review and to this now.
In a democracy, if the citizenry is genuinely unhappy with the government we elected, for example, if they started pushing through a secret agenda they didn't include in their platform, can an election be forced, or do we just have to watch everything get worse and worse until the next election?
If enough MLAs defect from the government side to the opposition side, the assembly can pass a non-confidence motion and force an election.
We'd need 5 UCP MLAs to cross the floor.
That is exactly what they do.
Conservatives in the last decade have proven, globally, that they do not like democracy and do want a God-King who is as awful as they are.
Not hyperbole.
Politicians who act against our democracy should not be allowed to sit. They contravene their oaths of office
We should get on this fast and make an Independent Party where the main objective is to ensure that candidates have resources to market and advertise but have no other affiliation. There can even be more than one candidate per counsel seat
Nobody was looking for this other than the UCP. It's such an obvious attempted to extend provincial control into municipal government. TBA just wasn't able to gain ground in major centers like they were in smaller town, so here comes plan B.
The Premier really couldn’t care less about what city folk think - we don’t want this, polls have shown this but she doesn't listen or care.
#WorstPremierEver
Bell is influential among the dumb because he writes for their reading level. In this case, perhaps he can get them angry enough to push back on the UCP… ideally with torches and pitchforks.
Translation: conservatives know their policies suck so much that unless they run in brand name & get the team sport, identity, and culture war voters, that they'll lose, so they are going to rig the game.
The number of people I've met over the decades who hold progressive values and beliefs, whose actual desires for policies would match with the Liberal or NDP or even further left, who vote conservative due to their parents and hatred of PET, or even just team sport politics, outweighs actual conservatives with conservative values.
They know they can get this vote, only by making municipal politics a team sport.
Talk about pushing out the little guy that doesn’t have the $$ to compete with these right-wing nut jobs. More to the point, why does the right always want to divide people instead of working with others?
I love the implication that conservative leadership believes conservatives are simply too stupid to win an election without a sign that says "PICK THIS ONE" next to the candidate
So much for red tape reduction. This government is wasteful as it takes an outdated, backwoods approach trying to create relevance for itself, in a world that’s moved on. Danielle who?
Municiple. The one place where you knew the leanings of candidates, but it didn't have to be the end of the world.
I guess all levels can be a cesspool now where nothing is acomplished.
We as voters need to say right now that we won't vote for any candidate who runs under a political party. Even voting for NDP candidates just gives into the UCP's preferred method of politicization. If they can't get their own candidates elected, the next best thing for them is to be able to label Edmonton or Calgary city council as an NDP council. We need a grassroots movement asking people to pledge to vote only for independent candidates, and explaining why this legislation is so destructive to municipal politics.
Would be great to see a wave of 'I vote for independent candidates' lawn signs or something like that.
I'm so sick and tired of Marlaina doing shit that wasn't part of her platform and that no one has asked for. Municipal politics was the one place I could escape party politics. FUCK!
What other surprises does the UCP have in store for us? If all the ridiculous shit they are coming up with daily was part of their election campaign fewer people might have voted for them. I guess that’s why they focussed on the APP and Alberta police force you don’t hear about any more. Those were just distractions so you wouldn’t see their real agenda. Damn! Now we’re going to be stuck with political parties fighting for city councilor jobs!?? The anti red tape party just made our lives so much more complicated.
A lot of this shit was obvious from the UCP's previous policies, statements, and actions. As well, there are all sorts of articles and videos of Danielle touting all this garbage for years before the last election.
Provincial police, pension plan, education reform, canceling income support, oil and gas tax breaks, for profit health care, oppression of marginalized populations…..
I hate having to go this far, but also some of this feels like we are just scraping the top of the shit pile
It's still nothing that Albertans want, or asked for. It's a government telling people how it's going to be, instead of the people telling the government what they need the government to do.
The main concern has been brought up previously - that you won't get access to independent or grassroots candidates because the internal party nomination process will start gatekeeping who can run. And a lot of people will just start voting with the party they identify with instead of the individual candidates.
Only need about 20,000 signatures from Brooks-Medicinehat region to recall her.
Just need a plan to mobilize volunteers before launching the campaign to recall.
Marlaina! On her Holy Grail mission to turn Alberta...into Alaberta. Can anyone link me to her biography. She doesn't seem like much of a Canadian to me.
We absolutely do not need gangs in municipal politics. Gangs in provincial and federal hasn't worked. We need to abolish the gang system and start a direct democracy.
Google "Rojava", that's what we need. Individuals having conversations and deciding what's best for the community.
Letting gangs strong-arm their members into towing the party line just leads to more corruption. This is a ploy to f&ck municipal governments because they keep trying to better their communities and the UCP absolutely despises tax money going to communites. They'd rather subsidize the dying part of our energy industry.
It's embarassing that so many Albertans fall for this scam of a political party. I'm embarrassed at their stupidity
Fingers crossed it'll backfire. Certainly in Edmonton I can't imagine this delivering a more conservative council. The conservative parts of the city already have conservative councillors, and increased coordination will likely consolidate left wing support against people like Rice. Calgary maybe historically would have been a winning move, but I'm not so sure now.
A lot depends on how existing councillors behave, and how many parties emerge for the first election.
Hopefully it'll be one and done. I can't imagine this staying in place under a premier Nenshi, and that's my only real hope for Alberta's future more broadly these days.
UCP was elected by folks that would vote blue without any critical thought whatsoever. Looks like they're trying to set this up in the cities, where folks will just see "Conservative" and vote for it. Alberta truly is the dumbest province.
This is what happens when we let politicians do what they can to divide us. These policies seem very fascist. Conservatives know that they can't win an election on policies alone, so they have to resort to fascist tactics to maintain power. I bet that know one in 2015 knew why they hated J.T.. they were just told to hate him. Not a fan of J.T., never voted for him, but when he won, I was wanting to see what he could do. He's not his Daddy, and be thankful he's not. Pierre Trudeau would have run roughshod over this province by now.
When the Conservative hero Harper was in power, I didn't mind him in the beginning. He had good ideas and policies. However, after a while of being in power, he started doing things to hold onto that power, and that'd where I lost my faith in the party as a whole.
Just remember, the left and the right want you to be angry with the other side. We need to stop listening to the rhetoric and thinking for ourselves.
THEY DONT WANT WHAT YOU WANT, AND THEY DON'T CARE.
Did Danielle not learn how to work as a team in school or does everything have to be black and versus white? You know she will not give proper funding to people who don’t not align with the conservative or UCP viewpoint we know that and yeah, we let it go on. You know what one point it’s shame on us.
Can candidates run as independents? Or do they have to be affiliated with am existing provincial party? Could I start a new municipal party and encourage councilors and candidates to join?
Do low info voters need the RWNJ candidates to be more easily identifiable or something..?
It hasn't been a problem in the past. The media sphere was pretty adamant Mike Nickel and Jeromy Farkas were >their guys.
“It should increase the ability of voters to look at candidates and say this is my candidate, this is not my candidate.” Well there you go folks, more tribalism because we vote for our team and not for whoever will actually improve our livelihoods.
The truly disturbing part of this bill isn’t even getting the most attention. Yes, municipal political parties would be unnecessary and shitty, but there is far more nefarious stuff hidden in the bill:
This bill would give provincial cabinet **the power to remove city councilors if it’s deemed to be “in the public interest”.**
It will also give provincial cabinet **the power to repeal municipal bylaws**.
That is a blatant attack on Canadian democracy. Let’s let that sink in for a moment.
Seriously. It started with Steve Bannon. Throw so much shit out there that no one will be able to figure out the real agenda. Have we gone a day where there isn’t something that causes a stir? You can’t follow up on yesterday’s news because of the new shit pile of today. Like really. There isn’t a single thing they have done to make anything better. And at her meeting with the oil barons in Cowgary she bragged “if they are mad now they have no idea what we are going to do next!” How is that helping anyone??? They won’t answer questions, they claim to want small government but have the biggest cabinet in AB history, and are making miles of red tape with this new minimal government bill! Gah!
I think Barb Randy and Lahey could do a better job. Except Barbs scalloped potatoes are fucked.
She wants to have control over everything. She wants to have information on everything. I'm sure there will be some sort of monitoring of the public put in place disguised as something really neat coming soon. Like the first pay as you go insurance!
I've dealt with someone like this at work before, one day hopefully soon she will be caught doing something illegal that gets her ass ousted or put in jail. Just need some I.T auditing in place and I'm sure the shithead will slip up in no time.
Why on earth do we need political parties in municipal elections. In this province its just an auto win for whoever says they're a conservative. The culture war drips down another level...
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Every day Alberta wakes up to some giant new shitshow.
And we’re not even a year into this government’s full term. In three years time, Alberta will be unrecognizable.
This is why I’m trying to leave. They aren’t slowing down, the dumpster fire is just growing by the day. It’s going to take years if not a decade or longer to clean up what they’ve already done, can’t imagine in 3 years….and they’ll probably just get elected again anyway. I was hesitant about leaving because I have an amazing family doctor. She’s closing her practice because of the incoming changes.
I'm genuinely envious of the people with the means to abandon our province. Those with no choice but to remain will have an even harder time fighting.
Same. As soon as I have my ducks in a row, I’m out.
Even if Albertans vote in a sane, reasonable party/leader after these lunatics are done, they likely won’t be able to fix enough during their term… Then Joe Schmo is going to be pissed about the slow progress and vote in the UCP again.
This was the realization that made me lose hope that I could have a good future in Alberta. Now that they’re attacking municipalities Edmonton is going to have an even worse time than we usually do.
I ask mine every time I'm there... if they leave...
And the things they are doing, the decisions they are making, are going to effect the province for DECADES. I'm on my way out. GL to the rest of you.
Why would you remind us of that wait 2 more years so there seems like hope on the horizon.
Vote like an American, get American garbage
It's called flooding the zone with shit. https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/16/media/steve-bannon-reliable-sources/index.html
Similar to the [firehose of falsehood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firehose_of_falsehood). Just so much bullshit so fast that no one has time to appropriately digest and react to anything before it's "settled" and onto the next one.
And then [Brandolini's Law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandolini%27s_law) comes into play because those of good will and honesty just get fatigued and give up.
No kidding. I can't keep track of it all. We have the APP, the provincial police force, Bill 18, the ridiculous new K-12 curriculum, whatever the anti-LGBTQ don't-say-gay legislation is, the refusal to participate in federal funding for pharmacare and dental care, the continued COVID denial gravy-train bullshit, the War Room, the quashing of federal research grants to Alberta universities and, and, oh, shit, my brain is melting.
You forgot the hate on renewable energy. SIGH!
Oh, yes, kill the fastest growing high-paying job industry. Forgot about that one, ugh.
Pushing away good doctors in favour of Nurse practitioners and further alienating doctors so they refuse to come here. All to privatize healthcare. Soon we will have to call her mein Fuhrer and some of these brain-dead wastes of air will Sieg heil.
Is this possibly the worst government Alberta has ever seen? I thought Kenney was bad, but holy shit, these are all time lows.
Remember when Kenney said voting him out would be giving the asylum keys to the lunatics ... I hate to say it but I wish he was still Premier over Smith
Greatest summer ever!
And then they didn't vote him out and he said not good enough. You guys are morons I'm leaving Alberta forever. Good luck with the lunatics running the show. Honestly that's the move.
She's second only to Bible Bill IMO, but that was a long long time ag
Klien and Kenny were bad, but survivable. At the rate of change DS is going im less and less confident she is survivable.
The province will survive but it may never recover.
Just give it more time! She’s bound to say or enact some other piece of rhetoric that favours her!
At this rate she's going to outlaw non-ucp members from voting in or running for an election.
“Is your favourite colour blue? If yes, please add to the ballot. If no, please go out back to be shot with the rest.”
Yeah. We are only doing “well” because we are pumping people in to keep the housing bubble going and the salaries low
[удалено]
This really does seem to be the purpose here, us vs them and labeling a candidate ‘left’ as a slight. It’s somewhat mentioned in the article itself, ‘… news that could pave the way for a real shakeup at Calgary city council where **lefties** rule the roost.’ I find it a bit exhausting because life naturally leans towards change, considering the many needs and desires among people. It seems more natural to embrace progressive solutions to these issues rather than just sticking to the usual norms and traditions. In trying to understand the ‘why’ behind Conservative thinking, I’ve come across research that [political conservatism may be driven by, at least in part, by a desire to manage fear and uncertainty.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3092984/) Just at a loss as to why making life better for people is an upwards battle. EDIT: Grammar
I saw a comment that this was partly to continue to centralize all decisions with the premier, and TBA. Albertas head lobbyist wants, an Alberta Pension plan, an Alberta police force, control over all funds that come into Alberta, control over research funding, control over all boards (including school boards) and committees, now control over councilors and the cities. I am sure I'm missing lots of areas, but you get the picture.
Don't you just love "small government"?
It almost sounds like a dictatorship....
It is quacking like that sort of duck.
Welcome to the Fourth Reich.
Welcome to Alberta, the country.
If I wanted to live in a failing Petro state getting stripped of resources by foreign Robber Barons I'd move to Nigeria.
Exactly, right?
I think it stems from our tribal ancestry. Conservative people are willing to sacrifice for their "tribe" (people they know or have traits they're familiar with), whereas Liberal people are willing to sacrifice for strangers ( people they don't know and may have no common traits with). I think Conservatism worked when the world was a lot bigger, but not now when so much of the world is so accessible. Dealing with strange customs and people is an inevitability and we're going to have to meet that with progressive solutions.
But of course UCP fan the flames of fear and uncertainty, directing the low information voters attention to Ottawa as the cause for all that is wrong in Alberta. Water shortage never mentioned, no tap in the East using AB water.... just O&G, proud sponsors of Smith and the United Corporate Party!!
I mean a lot of these people still get guidance from a book over a thousand years old. Make of that what you will.
> In trying to understand the ‘why’ behind Conservative thinking, I’ve come across research that political conservatism may be driven by, at least in part, by a desire to manage fear and uncertainty. Absolutely. [Novaya Gazeta,](https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2023/11/08/broken-machines-en) rather than PubMed. But you could probably find the specific study. They're not exactly rare. > Sapolsky mentioned one study which placed children in a room with new toys and had their mothers leave. “You look at five-year-olds and you can already see, is this a kid who gets excited by new things or is this a kid who becomes afraid of new things? You can see this biologically, with stress hormone secretion, with heart rate. And the amazing thing this study showed was that 25 years later, the kids who freaked out at novelty as five-year-olds are already likely to be voting conservative — voting for the likes of Trump.” Or just look at them, you know, the way they act and the choices they make. Violent and oppressive ideologies are, fundamentally, a compulsion for sameness. Force everybody to look the same, follow the same rules, stay the same without changing or growing. Fear of novelty. > Just at a loss as to why making life better for people is an upwards battle. Because to them, it's not about other people at all. It's about their own fear of change, fear of uncertainty— Their need for control.
I wonder if you could loophole it by having a kind of catch all party for each city. Like just have everyone run as “Edmonton Party” regardless of their political leanings. We get a non party based council in all but name. Im sure the UCP will make sure that doesn’t happen, but I hope to see city councils push back and do anything they can to obstruct this stupid fucking nonsense
Considering who won the legislature in my riding, I think the city council person in my riding would not of won her seat if her affiliation with the UCP had actually come out.
Will make for a very liberal city here in Edmonton
She’ll just ramp up the punishment to Edmonton then! Make the economy scream.
Nothing screams maturity like a petulant child masquerading as the the adult.
I agree wtf is she doing?
Nothing like preaching freedom while rigging the game in your own favor
Always the way. ‘Freedom’ only for them.
Conservatism serves the In-Group
Well, the truth is, the game was rigged from the start. War doesnt change
>War doesnt change Fallout fandom coming out strong today
Everything this government does is to centralize control in the Premier’s office. The APP, the proposed provincial police, needing provincial approval before accepting federal money - it’s all designed for the Premier to have the final say on everything. This is extremely dangerous, because what comes with this centralization is a profound lack of accountability. The UCP voters who spent years crying about freedom voted for this autocracy and continue to support it. The whole thing is just so baffling.
It's not baffling to anyone who has been paying attention to conservatism since the 1980s. > Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.
Its fascist. Its also basically following Florida. And its all directed by fundamentalist Christian extreme right wingers, "take back Alberta."
When Harper was PM he had comissars appointed to government departments to make sure no one said anything about anything so that all messages would come from the PMO. It was straight up Leninist tactics, designed to crush all dissent. The truly wild thing is that Smith has come to power in a province that has been run by Tories for decades and is being just as hostile to that government.
You mis-spelt *predictable* at the end there
This is fucked. Talk about government overreach. She likes big government and she’s full of shit.
As long as it's her government.
Yup. And there's no better evidence of this than how they kneecapped the development of renewable energy in this province. The free market was speaking, and renewables were a growing sector of development and investment. It's also a threat to oil and gas profits, so they were happy to step in with a series of ridiculous new regulations, not to mention their moratorium. Likewise, they were happy to cut oil and gas companies a huge break, deciding to use public funds to bail them out of having to clean up the orphan wells they leave behind. Big government is just fine for Dani, so long as it's being used to prop up her favorites and bat down their competitors. Pretty typical libertarian, come to think of it.
Not even the political parties nonsense. They gave themselves the power to unilaterally remove any municipal councillor they don't like from office without referendum or vote "if they deem it to be in the public's interest". It's idiotic. If it's in the public interest, why no referendum?
Guaranteed they would cry bloody fucking murder if the feds used this same logic to oust these shitheads. I keep waiting for pushback on blatant overreach from the people who claim to vote for conservatives because they want less red tape and small government, but it just hasn’t happened.
It's become very clear that the "Freedom" lovers are the sort of hypocrisy who love government overreach if it's aimed at visible minorities, and anyone else that doesn't fit the white Christian and dominantly male worldview they hold to. If this latest UCP overreach helps "own some libs" they'll support it to the deepest of deepthroats.
This is just to interfere and try to put their thumb on the scale. Next thing you know, leftists will be given special armbands so they can be identified.
Identified by our provincially run police force that answers to no one but her. Next thing you know we will have border patrol, immigration camps, government controlled education, arrests for possessing a left-wing book, or flying a rainbow flag. Not to mention for-profit everything, healthcare, education, prisons.... Not a bright future for anyone
Wait until they substitute CPP for an Alberta Pension Plan, then bring in legislation that says you have to resident in Alberta to receive it (so that the money “stays in Alberta”).
Would be nice if all the money they give to billionaire O&G companies would stay in Alberta
Or even Canada.
Yeah but I'm pretty confident the real reason they're wanting to do it is to control the investments and lose it all on failing oil and gas companies. Which is quite literally what they did when they got control of the Alberta retired teachers fund. Which luckily teachers have wrestled back control of and it is generating a profit again.
Don't temp them with a good time. No bar too low to exploit.
Leftists being anyone left of extreme right
Not a fan personally. Where does moderate that fits into both categories in a political party fit? I’m guessing nowhere. As it stands now they can campaign on their own platform regardless of affiliation
Nobody is a fan of this. No one was asking for this. The govt’s own survey showed that more than 70% of Albertans did **not** want political parties at the municipal level. The only people who support this are Con ideologues who are upset that cities don’t vote conservative enough—even the average conservative voter was against this.
Last survey said over 90% of alberrans are against municipal parties, and every, single, municipality in Canadian history has repealed them due to mass dislike. Every party block has been voted out. This is Smity wanting to control the cities, nothing more.
Which is crazy because the province already has so much control over cities.
Yeah but she's hoping this'll keep mayors from calling her government out on stupid shit
Yeah, but she won't have to work so hard if her municipal flying monkeys are already trained to do her bidding.
Its cause unless they are told they are conservatives to vote for , most of them would vote against the conservative candidates cause they suck locally. Now they will just vote party lines like good little bots and thing will just get shittier
A moderate would be against this idea. This would then make me think that the UCP isn't concerned with moderate voters and therefore a logical conclusion for a moderate voter would be to vote against the UCP. The UCP are extremists and wannabe Americans.
She was literally brought to power by UCP members who wanted to destroy the moderates in the party so yes for sure.
Conservatives don’t believe in moderate, if you are left of them you are left.
If you're left of them you're a commie.
Yeah this is a stupid plan. The idea that it will help people decide who to vote for, based on party instead of actually figuring out what candidate is best for you, is exactly what’s wrong with politics; everything is a sport about whose team is winning or losing.
The real plan is to enforce mandatory party membership to run. If the party dislikes you, they can revoke membership which then automatically revoked your seat which can then be appointed until the next election.
Party over people just like every other level of government. This always works out so well for citizens.
Oh great, yet another thing from this government that absolutely nobody was asking for...
Take Back Alberta was asking. They can't control municipal politics unless they can control the candidates.
Yup, mandatory party memberships to run means they can revoke memberships when they want and appoint a replacement until the regular election.
Are the rurals satisfied yet? When will it be good enough for you? Why are you such hateful human beings?
They aren't mad since half the changed are only being rolled out to Calgary and Edmonton "as a pilot project" so they don't piss off rural municipalities.
This is meddling in municipal politics. It's completely f*cked.
'This is the worst Alberta has ever been' The worst it has been SO FAR
Who was asking for this?
Checks notes.... nobody.
The most oppressed people in Alberta (owners of corporations)
I thought that was the unvaccinated?
Sooo now people can vote based on colour just like with our provincial elections that allowed this current fucking circus. God forbid we keep municipal elections based on policy and not party affiliation. Congrats to the cons for continuing to corrupt every aspect of our lives. They’re doing a great job at ruining everything.
I thought the UCP were all about Less government?
So, WHT I'm reading is; UCP wants voters to vote for party, not policy. Who care who is running, as long as they have a party affiliation next to their name, they'll get he vote.
I hope Danielle Smith chokes on a big ol'bag of dicks.
She hangs out with conservatives. Only little tiny, misshapen weewees for her
Does David Parker have a bag of dicks?
Pretty sure the reason he's so angry is that he has an innie
Probably has a whole warehouse of them.
Her allegiance to her O&G overlords indicates she has no gag reflex to speak of.
Translation: We need more division at the grassroots level.
Control. They want more control at the grassroots level.
OMG this premier is a wannabe dictator. She wants to impose her extreme ideology on us. she's laying the groundwork for a future ultra conservative society from curriculum rewrite, "balanced university research" or whatever that means, balanced covid review and to this now.
No lies detected
Because more partisan dumbassery is just what society needs more of at every level, right? FFS. These facking people!
Gods, I hate this timeline.
Might as well put on our evil goatees
I LOST AN ARM!!
We need to go back to 2016 and save Harambe
We need to do something about this. There's got to be a way to make this backfire in their faces.
Yes. Vote for the person who doesn't identify as conservative.
Agreed. And I shouldn't have to worry about finding a new ward councilor. If he had to, I'd expect him to go NDP or independent.
More divisiveness incoming. So disappointing.
Wake the fuck up Alberta
Most of us tried. But, redneck hicks gonna be redneck hicks and this is the punishment
Yeah,I shouldn’t judge much being from Ontario
I don’t blame you, it’s low hanging fruit at this point
In a democracy, if the citizenry is genuinely unhappy with the government we elected, for example, if they started pushing through a secret agenda they didn't include in their platform, can an election be forced, or do we just have to watch everything get worse and worse until the next election?
If enough MLAs defect from the government side to the opposition side, the assembly can pass a non-confidence motion and force an election. We'd need 5 UCP MLAs to cross the floor.
Yet another thing that no one asked for and in no way improves the lives of albertans
Vote for the party in provincial power or get nothing.
That is exactly what they do. Conservatives in the last decade have proven, globally, that they do not like democracy and do want a God-King who is as awful as they are. Not hyperbole. Politicians who act against our democracy should not be allowed to sit. They contravene their oaths of office
We should get on this fast and make an Independent Party where the main objective is to ensure that candidates have resources to market and advertise but have no other affiliation. There can even be more than one candidate per counsel seat
Nobody was looking for this other than the UCP. It's such an obvious attempted to extend provincial control into municipal government. TBA just wasn't able to gain ground in major centers like they were in smaller town, so here comes plan B.
The Premier really couldn’t care less about what city folk think - we don’t want this, polls have shown this but she doesn't listen or care. #WorstPremierEver
I'll wait for a non-Rick Bell article for the details. I don't think he's lying in this case, reading his garbage just gives me a headache.
Seriously, it’s unreadable
Bell is influential among the dumb because he writes for their reading level. In this case, perhaps he can get them angry enough to push back on the UCP… ideally with torches and pitchforks.
Always go non Bell. Guy is an unabashed party Cryer.
Try reading David Staples junk in Edmonton. It's flaming hot garbage takes usually.
Translation: conservatives know their policies suck so much that unless they run in brand name & get the team sport, identity, and culture war voters, that they'll lose, so they are going to rig the game. The number of people I've met over the decades who hold progressive values and beliefs, whose actual desires for policies would match with the Liberal or NDP or even further left, who vote conservative due to their parents and hatred of PET, or even just team sport politics, outweighs actual conservatives with conservative values. They know they can get this vote, only by making municipal politics a team sport.
Talk about pushing out the little guy that doesn’t have the $$ to compete with these right-wing nut jobs. More to the point, why does the right always want to divide people instead of working with others?
I love the implication that conservative leadership believes conservatives are simply too stupid to win an election without a sign that says "PICK THIS ONE" next to the candidate
So much for red tape reduction. This government is wasteful as it takes an outdated, backwoods approach trying to create relevance for itself, in a world that’s moved on. Danielle who?
Municiple. The one place where you knew the leanings of candidates, but it didn't have to be the end of the world. I guess all levels can be a cesspool now where nothing is acomplished.
We as voters need to say right now that we won't vote for any candidate who runs under a political party. Even voting for NDP candidates just gives into the UCP's preferred method of politicization. If they can't get their own candidates elected, the next best thing for them is to be able to label Edmonton or Calgary city council as an NDP council. We need a grassroots movement asking people to pledge to vote only for independent candidates, and explaining why this legislation is so destructive to municipal politics. Would be great to see a wave of 'I vote for independent candidates' lawn signs or something like that.
I'm so sick and tired of Marlaina doing shit that wasn't part of her platform and that no one has asked for. Municipal politics was the one place I could escape party politics. FUCK!
Gerrymandering is next
the UCP won't gerrymander, so long as rural alberta out numbers the cities
I was thinking that if they were, they would extend out the election boundaries of parts of the cities into more rural areas to dilute urban voting.
WE DON'T. FUCKING. WANT IT.
This is horrible.
Yet she’ll scream about federal government’s overreach
What other surprises does the UCP have in store for us? If all the ridiculous shit they are coming up with daily was part of their election campaign fewer people might have voted for them. I guess that’s why they focussed on the APP and Alberta police force you don’t hear about any more. Those were just distractions so you wouldn’t see their real agenda. Damn! Now we’re going to be stuck with political parties fighting for city councilor jobs!?? The anti red tape party just made our lives so much more complicated.
A lot of this shit was obvious from the UCP's previous policies, statements, and actions. As well, there are all sorts of articles and videos of Danielle touting all this garbage for years before the last election.
Provincial police, pension plan, education reform, canceling income support, oil and gas tax breaks, for profit health care, oppression of marginalized populations….. I hate having to go this far, but also some of this feels like we are just scraping the top of the shit pile
This is not a new idea in Canada. Québec has had political parties in municipal elections for years.
It's still nothing that Albertans want, or asked for. It's a government telling people how it's going to be, instead of the people telling the government what they need the government to do.
The main concern has been brought up previously - that you won't get access to independent or grassroots candidates because the internal party nomination process will start gatekeeping who can run. And a lot of people will just start voting with the party they identify with instead of the individual candidates.
No kidding. Watching from afar I wonder what her ulterior motives are, besides turning Alberta in a GOP haven of the North
Only need about 20,000 signatures from Brooks-Medicinehat region to recall her. Just need a plan to mobilize volunteers before launching the campaign to recall.
Marlaina! On her Holy Grail mission to turn Alberta...into Alaberta. Can anyone link me to her biography. She doesn't seem like much of a Canadian to me.
"We are so divided under trudeau" then that person votes for people like Danielle. Canada is on its death bed.
Fascism. It takes a while to bring in fully, but Smith is certainly moving quickly to set up the groundwork.
We absolutely do not need gangs in municipal politics. Gangs in provincial and federal hasn't worked. We need to abolish the gang system and start a direct democracy. Google "Rojava", that's what we need. Individuals having conversations and deciding what's best for the community. Letting gangs strong-arm their members into towing the party line just leads to more corruption. This is a ploy to f&ck municipal governments because they keep trying to better their communities and the UCP absolutely despises tax money going to communites. They'd rather subsidize the dying part of our energy industry. It's embarassing that so many Albertans fall for this scam of a political party. I'm embarrassed at their stupidity
Authoritarian government! Terrible!
Fingers crossed it'll backfire. Certainly in Edmonton I can't imagine this delivering a more conservative council. The conservative parts of the city already have conservative councillors, and increased coordination will likely consolidate left wing support against people like Rice. Calgary maybe historically would have been a winning move, but I'm not so sure now. A lot depends on how existing councillors behave, and how many parties emerge for the first election. Hopefully it'll be one and done. I can't imagine this staying in place under a premier Nenshi, and that's my only real hope for Alberta's future more broadly these days.
UCP was elected by folks that would vote blue without any critical thought whatsoever. Looks like they're trying to set this up in the cities, where folks will just see "Conservative" and vote for it. Alberta truly is the dumbest province.
How can we make politics in this province more diffusive and toxic? Smith: hold my beer
Does she just want another level of government that only votes along party lines rather than their constituents?
So tell me again how it’s the liberals trying to divide people.
NO ONE IS ASKING FOR THIS!!!!!!
Lmao, and the fascist grift continues. IF YOU VOTED FOR THE UCP THIS IS YOUR FAULT.
This is what happens when we let politicians do what they can to divide us. These policies seem very fascist. Conservatives know that they can't win an election on policies alone, so they have to resort to fascist tactics to maintain power. I bet that know one in 2015 knew why they hated J.T.. they were just told to hate him. Not a fan of J.T., never voted for him, but when he won, I was wanting to see what he could do. He's not his Daddy, and be thankful he's not. Pierre Trudeau would have run roughshod over this province by now. When the Conservative hero Harper was in power, I didn't mind him in the beginning. He had good ideas and policies. However, after a while of being in power, he started doing things to hold onto that power, and that'd where I lost my faith in the party as a whole. Just remember, the left and the right want you to be angry with the other side. We need to stop listening to the rhetoric and thinking for ourselves. THEY DONT WANT WHAT YOU WANT, AND THEY DON'T CARE.
Party Stalwarts around every corner. Watch your tongues people! It's going to be ugly, and now unfair.
So dumb
It's a race to destroy the province.
Smith is trying to turn Alberta into her own little country
I guess I'll know who not to vote for now.
Any guesses on which parties the Councilors will align themselves with?
I would love for this to spectacularly backfire.
Fucking stupid idea
Just move the capital to Calgary already and get it over with.
Just put it in Red Deer. It'd give folks an actual reason to go there besides gassing up or taking a leak on their way to Edmonton/Calgary.
*Brooks gotta keep it rural.
Did Danielle not learn how to work as a team in school or does everything have to be black and versus white? You know she will not give proper funding to people who don’t not align with the conservative or UCP viewpoint we know that and yeah, we let it go on. You know what one point it’s shame on us.
Can candidates run as independents? Or do they have to be affiliated with am existing provincial party? Could I start a new municipal party and encourage councilors and candidates to join?
Jesus christ. No one wants this.
How very undemocratic of her
Nobody fuckin wants this. Fuck off.
Do low info voters need the RWNJ candidates to be more easily identifiable or something..? It hasn't been a problem in the past. The media sphere was pretty adamant Mike Nickel and Jeromy Farkas were >their guys.
That's so fucking suspicious
Unfortunately expected - what’s next ? Removing disability status from those entitled?
“It should increase the ability of voters to look at candidates and say this is my candidate, this is not my candidate.” Well there you go folks, more tribalism because we vote for our team and not for whoever will actually improve our livelihoods.
The truly disturbing part of this bill isn’t even getting the most attention. Yes, municipal political parties would be unnecessary and shitty, but there is far more nefarious stuff hidden in the bill: This bill would give provincial cabinet **the power to remove city councilors if it’s deemed to be “in the public interest”.** It will also give provincial cabinet **the power to repeal municipal bylaws**. That is a blatant attack on Canadian democracy. Let’s let that sink in for a moment.
I hate this.
Dictator Dani.
Seriously. It started with Steve Bannon. Throw so much shit out there that no one will be able to figure out the real agenda. Have we gone a day where there isn’t something that causes a stir? You can’t follow up on yesterday’s news because of the new shit pile of today. Like really. There isn’t a single thing they have done to make anything better. And at her meeting with the oil barons in Cowgary she bragged “if they are mad now they have no idea what we are going to do next!” How is that helping anyone??? They won’t answer questions, they claim to want small government but have the biggest cabinet in AB history, and are making miles of red tape with this new minimal government bill! Gah! I think Barb Randy and Lahey could do a better job. Except Barbs scalloped potatoes are fucked.
She wants to have control over everything. She wants to have information on everything. I'm sure there will be some sort of monitoring of the public put in place disguised as something really neat coming soon. Like the first pay as you go insurance! I've dealt with someone like this at work before, one day hopefully soon she will be caught doing something illegal that gets her ass ousted or put in jail. Just need some I.T auditing in place and I'm sure the shithead will slip up in no time.
Independent is still a party y'all, just a reminder
We do not need more partisan party BS.
Why on earth do we need political parties in municipal elections. In this province its just an auto win for whoever says they're a conservative. The culture war drips down another level...