NationStates Jolt Archive

www.cbc.ca/albertavotes2004/ Now I know everyone expected him to win and in reality this is irrelevant but Klein is one of the most powerful people in the country, running the most economically successful province in the country and the place many people leave other provinces for. Personally, I took for granted the great fiscal management when I lived in Calgary and now that I live under a government that doesn't know how to spend a $1 without thinking of the unions or giving it to the crowns, I truly do appreciate how they managed to get rid of the debt and manage the oil properly. Whether you agree with his policies or not or are concerned about his personal issues, Ralph has been a pretty good premier.

www.cbc.ca/albertavotes2004/ Now I know everyone expected him to win and in reality this is irrelevant but Klein is one of the most powerful people in the country, running the most economically successful province in the country and the place many people leave other provinces for. Personally, I took for granted the great fiscal management when I lived in Calgary and now that I live under a government that doesn't know how to spend a $1 without thinking of the unions or giving it to the crowns, I truly do appreciate how they managed to get rid of the debt and manage the oil properly. Whether you agree with his policies or not or are concerned about his personal issues, Ralph has been a pretty good premier.

I was going to respond a little snarkily, but I figured that would just encourage you to support King Ralph, so here is why I think Ralph has been a terrible Premier:

1) Ralph is a populist, not a leader.

Ralph spends an average of 13 million dollars A YEAR on his public relation's department. http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/News/2004/10/01/650908.html
That's $13 million JUST TO MAKE HIM LOOK GOOD. And boy, does that PR machine every do its job. Ralph can get drunk, stumble into a homeless shelter and yell, "Get a job!" and not suffer from it...in fact, people felt sorry for him because he admitted he had a drinking problem. He can plagiarize an essay off the internet for a University course, pass it around the legislature, and when he gets caught people say, "Ah, isn't that nice that he's trying to better himself."

The fact is, Ralph appeals to the popular vote. He plays up his persona of being a 'regular guy you could drink a beer with'. He makes mistakes, JUST LIKE US. Do we really want a Premier that is just like us? Who out of ignorance, abuses people going through hard times, who drinks too much and who cheats in school? Do we want to appeal to the lowest common denominator of our society and choose 'a regular guy' to represent us? What happened to holding our politicians to a higher standard? Being 'just like us' makes him qualified to lead? In what way, exactly? Because he 'understands us'? Or because he knows which buttons to press to get a favourable reaction?

Klein has been a master at manipulating public opinion. When things start getting hot for him, he deflects the attention and blames Ottawa. When people protest, he shrugs, because they obviously didn't vote for him, so they don't deserve a voice. He calls public health advocates "left wing nuts"...like my 73-year old baba who was a staunch PC supporter until Bill 11. When deregulation doesn't run as smoothly as promised, he offers gas rebates, which no one seems to understand comes out of public funds... in essence, he pays us with our own money...and the timing was great for that...it came just before the last election.

Klein uses plays up our western alienation and appeals to us through a cleverly crafted 'common man' persona. For this reason, he is a populist.

When it comes time to set policy decisions, or make policies clear (like around election time), Klein drops the ball. When asked about his healthcare plan for Alberta, during the provincial debate, he says, "Alberta will have the best healthcare system in Canada." When it was pointed out that this is a GOAL, not a PLAN, Ralph smugly assures his liberal colleague that it IS TOO A PLAN. When pushed for details, he falls back on slogans, but fails to explain exactly how this 'best healthcare system in Canada' is going to be created...especially out of the ashes of a healthcare system he was instrumental in gutting. For this reason, he is not a leader. He does not lead, he prevaricates. He does not lead, he rabble rouses. He appeals to the lowest common denominator, and they love him for it. King Ralph is a cult of personality, not a government.

2) His fiscal management is all smoke and mirrors.

As for him 'paying off the debt', he did so at the expense of our healthcare, education and social systems. He closed hospitals, cut funding, and cried "inefficient" when the obvious result was increased waiting times and Medicare difficulties. He cut funds to school boards, and when class sizes increased and special programs (for children with learning or physical disabilities) dried up, he blamed it on the teachers. He introduced user fees for people on fixed incomes (seniors, the disabled) and makes wildly inaccurate claims about social program abuse (http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=cfe54ec3-1e08-4bdb-8672-836b2424886a&page=2), then offers privitisation as a 'solution' to a problem we all seem to forget, began with him. We are one of the richest provinces in the country, and WE can not afford the funds essential to maintaining our health, education and social systems? When you have bills to pay, you don't go and sell off your house, your car, your clothes and refrain from buying food...you cut out frivolities like dinners out, or country club memberships. Instead, Klein slashes budgets, all the while increasing his own, giving more tax breaks to companies (which comes out of the public purse, not his), sells off industries (like the proposed deal with Chinese giant Sinopec corp to give them rights to oil in Alberta), then stands with liquidated cash in hand, forgetting that those industries are GONE and will never make money for the province again. We don't own the house anymore...we're just renting.

And that surplus? Very nice. But do you think perhaps it will be put back from where it was cut out? Unlikely at best. It will be frittered away until it is gone, and Klein will continue to squeeze until he is out of power, and no longer has to deal with the repercussions of what he has done. Be assured, however, that he has enacted favourable legislation, and made the deals necessary to see himself into a profitable retirement in the private sector. Perhaps as the chairman of a private health-care corporation? Or of a private energy supplier?

Oh, and why are we paying such high prices for oil in a province that is swimming in the stuff? Oh yeah...it's Ottawa's fault.

Wow. Ouch. That stung.

But it feels so good...

Thanks for that rebuke, LOL

Alberta isn't my fave place, to be sure. Now I have a better idea why that is the case...

And I thought we had trouble with McGimpy.

www.cbc.ca/albertavotes2004/ Now I know everyone expected him to win and in reality this is irrelevant but Klein is one of the most powerful people in the country, running the most economically successful province in the country and the place many people leave other provinces for. Personally, I took for granted the great fiscal management when I lived in Calgary and now that I live under a government that doesn't know how to spend a $1 without thinking of the unions or giving it to the crowns, I truly do appreciate how they managed to get rid of the debt and manage the oil properly. Whether you agree with his policies or not or are concerned about his personal issues, Ralph has been a pretty good premier.
Correction: Klein likes to *think* that he's one of the most powerful people in the country. Other provinces could be just as economically successful if they cut funding to education, health, roads and their own employees. But that's not the way to run a government, if you ask me. Klein just got lucky with oil prices.

I live in Calgary and am a liberal, and to my joy the Liberal in my area won. It is nice the see the Klein and his PC's did not sweep all of alberta like they almost did last time.

I live in Calgary and am a liberal, and to my joy the Liberal in my area won. It is nice the see the Klein and his PC's did not sweep all of alberta like they almost did last time.
Congratulations.

I was pleased to see my riding return to NDP.

I only wish the left could have gotten together and only run one candidate in each riding (okay, okay, I know that the Liberals aren't really all that Left...but I'll take them over the PCs any day of the week!). The vote was really split in many of the ridings...is it just me or did this seem to be a really lackluster election? It seems like voter turnout was even more pathetically low than usual. I can't believe the number of excuses I heard on election day, "I can't vote because..." Bah. I don't want to hear you complaining later then.

Ralph Klein is a populist hick. :eek:

Ralph Klein is a populist hick. :eek:
He's not a hick, he's from the city. I'm a hick. I live in the country:) And I hate Ralph Klein.

Klein is one of the most powerful people in the country

How about using that power to get the knuckleheads (owners and players) in the NHL to start playing hockey again? Throw 'em all in the Edmonton Institution until they agree to get back on the ice.

He's not a hick, he's from the city. I'm a hick. I live in the country:) And I hate Ralph Klein.

LOL that's excellent Sinuhue

I'm just waiting for the original poster to come back and defend him/herself. Come on! I'm ready!

I have to live under Loren Calvert and the idiots in the NDP that run Saskatchewan, so any body seems better than them. And I hated the NDP to begin with, so this just gives me a legititmate reason to. Ralph was the type you either like or hated and obviously most of you hate him. I'll wait for a reply before I post anything more.

I have to live under Loren Calvert and the idiots in the NDP that run Saskatchewan, so any body seems better than them. And I hated the NDP to begin with, so this just gives me a legitimate reason to. Ralph was the type you either like or hated and obviously most of you hate him. I'll wait for a reply before I post anything more.

Well I sometimes feel that anyone would be better than Ralph, but then I reconsider. I do not go by the hackneyed adage of "better the devil you know than the one you don't", but the Alliance scares me much more than the PCs. When it comes right down to it, I have little faith in a system that elects representatives of a PARTY instead of representatives of a PEOPLE. You can have an excellent candidate in your riding, whose ideals match your own, and who seems like someone who will really listen to their constituents...but at crunch time, that person can not represent anything but the party line; the party Whip makes sure of that. I don't vote based on candidates, because no matter how likeable they may be, they represent the party they belong to, and are contained within that format. In this country, we are taught that our most important democratic power is the vote, and yet rarely more than 40% of eligible voters DO so. What also bothers me is that politicians get upset if we exercise our less publicized democratic powers: like protest, or even MEETING with our elected representative. We are told, "you get your chance, every four years to be heard," but we don't, because more than half of us don't bother to vote, and even the ones who do don't have a say in the government, because we've only participated in a party popularity contest.

How about some real democracy? Where the people are INVOLVED in the decision making instead of only being affected by it? How about candidates that represent ridings, not party lines? Or ministers that are actually TRAINED in the areas of their appointed ministries (seriously, how can we have ministers of education who have never taught)? Or referendums and adequate education campaigns about issues that will affect our country for decades to come (such as Free Trade agreements, or agreements to sell our water...)? Ah, the expense, you exclaim! Could it really be worse than the millions...no, billions of dollars the government wastes every year without adequate oversight? Shouldn't we start holding them a little more accountable?

One of the negatives of coming from a 'have' country is that we've never really had to fight for our economic or political security, and we take it for granted. We trust our government to take care of our best interests, yet we also accept that invariably, politicians lie and steal, and as long as they aren't too blatant about it, we don't complain. Even though we've only had this particular system for about 200 years, we think it will always be this way, and nothing we do will change it. What a great attitude to foster in your people! It ensures your safety as a politician to line your pockets, make no changes, and ride out your mandate on public money with nary a peep from your constituents. Yes, we have it pretty good, but we should also have the ability, beyond the vote, to make it better.

Thoughts?

You're right, no system of democracy truly does grasp the ideas but I like to think the Parlimentary System is one of the better ones. I was a big PC supporter when I lived in Alberta and now I'm a big Sask Party supporter in Saskatchewan but I like it when there is a good opposition made up of more than one party. In Sask, I had hoped the Liberals would win a seat or two but they got squat. I didn't like the Liberals only having 7 seats and the NDP 2 because it made everything boring. You knew that any bill they wanted passed would and things like that. I guess the only system that really gets (or tries to) is the way city council is run. People represent and area and not a party and I guess that allows for the views of the people to be heard through they elect. But of course, even that doesn't fully allow people's voices to be heard.

I just moved to saskatoon to go to university. I find it kind of odd that my tuition is almost 1.3 X what i was paying when I lived in manitoba(was conservative).

I just moved to saskatoon to go to university. I find it kind of odd that my tuition is almost 1.3 X what i was paying when I lived in manitoba(was conservative).




Thank good ol' Loren for that. Raised taxes we did because they thought they'd lose the election and leave the Sask Party to clean up the mess. Luckily, we re-elected them only to find out their true intentions. Only 3 more years till the next election and this time it won't be a two seat margin.

How about using that power to get the knuckleheads (owners and players) in the NHL to start playing hockey again? Throw 'em all in the Edmonton Institution until they agree to get back on the ice.
No! throw them in the Elsinore Institution and make them play hockey there...