albertas election- the ups and downs

so, right now, alberta is going through a pretty crazy experience. we have been a primarily conservative province, as of 2015, we had had a conservative premier for the last 40 years. wow. and that doesn't come as a real surprise, as our province has been built upon the success of our small business, and natural resources- mainly our oil fields. we also have a high population of Christians- research taken in 2013 revealed that over 60% of albertas population identified as Christian. and not only has our provincial leaders expressed our conservatism, so has our federal activity. over 85% of our members of parliament are conservative, while we have 1 NDP MP, and 3 liberal MP's. this has been the history of our province, and nobody expected the change that took place in 2015, when alberta elected

Rachel Notley, the NDP leader, to be our premier. but lets take a step back.

Jim Prentice was elected in 2014. he entered the legislature in the midst of an economic downturn, and a provincial recession. after one year, premier Prentice called for a spring election, on may 5th. an article written by the calgary herald in febuary, 2015, stated, 'Prentice has sniffed the air and found that Albertans are not that offended by the thought of a vote. He has convinced many that he needs a mandate to see us through the oil price crisis.' this new call to the ballots was surprising for albertans. however, many were upset with the leadership Prentice portrayed, and were ready for change. Peter Lougheed predicted this change years before the 2015 election, stating that, “The largest political change in decades ahead could be an adjustment from the dominance of one party; that will change as the province becomes more diversified and more newcomers get involved,”

there were two parties that ran in the 2015 election- the wildrose party, and the NDP. as a province, it was expected that true competition would be between these two parties. however, alberta was changing, and this election showed for that. Rachel Notley was elected on may 5th, and became the 17th premier, and second female leader of alberta.

however, Notley also entered the legislature, with the responsibility of getting albertans back on track, as they were still stuck in a provincial downturn. this was catastrophic. our primary source of income in alberta is our natural resources, and when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attempted to put through Bill C-69, an anti-pipeline law, Rachel Notley gave zero push back, and the bill was passed, leaving albertans desperate for help, as jobs continued to disappear, taxes were raised, and alberta was projected to be 100 billion dollars in debt, if the NDP served another term. as of february 2019, alberta obtained the fourth highest unemployment rates of the ten provinces in canada. in march of 2015, albertas unemployment rate was at 5.6%. by november 2016, it was at 9.1%, and now, it sits at 7.3%. calgary, the largest city in alberta, sits at an unemployment rate of 8.2%.

on march 18, 2019, Rachel Notley called for the election to be held on the 16th of april. this was a long awaited call for albertans. early in 2017, in preparation for Notley to call the election, Jason Kenney, a politician who served as an MP in parliment for calgary southeast, for nineteen years. four of which were for the conservatives. Kenney understood that albertas conservative vote could not be split between the two running conservative parties- the Wildrose Party, and the Progressive Conservative Party- so he sought to bring the parties together, and create one. he was successful, and on october 28th, 2017, Kenney was elected to be the leader of the new party; the United Conservative Party. however, another party emerged as the end of Notleys term approached. the Alberta Party. a party claiming to be the perfect mix, right in the middle, and 'a party for all of us!'. supposedly, they are a party that fits not as left as the NDP or Liberals, but not as right as the UCP, in an effort to convince albertans that they are the natural choice. im not gonna lie, thats a smart move. a lot of families in alberta are divided between oilfield jobs, and government jobs, so the idea that if the NDP or UCP gets into power, one parent will lose their job... i mean, the scare tactic is

real!

so, the real fight is between the Alberta Party, the NDP, and the UCP. im just going to lay out some of each parties underlying platforms, in the large areas...

United Conservative Party

The UCP's first goal is to repeal the carbon tax, which would be the largest tax cut in Alberta's history, as it is at 1.4 billion dollars currently. Their job creation plan is to 'cut red tape on job creators by 1/3 over four years to get Alberta working' and 'stand up for Alberta against Trudeau and foreign funded special interests that are trying to land lock our interests Fight for pipelines and a fair deal for Alberta, including a referendum on equalization payments' The UCP has a clear plan about what steps they are going to take, if they get into government.

The New Democratic Party

While the UCP focuses mainly on Alberta's economic development, Rachel Notley seems to have her mind set on getting involved in our lives. The NDP plan consists mainly of setting up government funded buildings, and while this has good intentions, it will result in much higher taxes. The NDP platform encourages a diverse economy and province, and better hospitals and schools. And while these are their goals, their platform consists of 'promises', rather then battle plans.

The Alberta Party

The Alberta Party has tons of goals going on. A quick look at their platform on their website, reveals a lot about the party. Their plans seem to be fairly well thought out for the most part, and it is true that their party is the exact mix of the UCP and NDP, however, it seems risky to me the amount of goals and plans they have for our province. If they are elected, they have four years to change the province to their liking, and they don't make it clear what their main goals are, and what they will try to do first. And as with the NDP's, their campaign is a ton of promises, with few laid out plans.

each party is very unique and different, and this election process has been an eye opener for all albertans. something that has caught my attention, however, is the extreme ridicule that each party has given the other! the NDP website's main focus is on Kenney, and his party, tearing apart his values, and ideas. an article written by macleans was literally titled, 'Notley tried to win the debate by making Kenney a loser. It didn’t work.' and while Notley has been extremely rude and disrespectful towards Kenney and his party, Kenney has been sending small jabs back, however, he has remained respectful; 'He carefully avoided even mentioning his key opponent by name; he referred to her as the premier', which is awesome. in my opinion, this is the kind of leader we need in alberta. not someone who tries to tear the opponent down with every chance they get, but one that states facts as they are, while still being respectful. Kenney did refer to Notley as 'the expert in killing jobs in downtown Calgary.', and while this may be 'offensive' or 'disrespectful', it is true, and maybe Notley deserves a little bit of that language, after her destruction of our province.

another aspect of this election that i find absolutely fascinating, is the involvement that albertans have demonstrated. while going to the advanced polls with my mom, i overheard that the number of people to vote early has double already since the last election... which is crazy, because that was on the first day of advanced polls! i absolutely love to see our community get involved in their government, and i cannot wait until i can take part in the election process! for now, i guess i'll have to stick to writing about whats goin' down, and how i feel about it haha.

xoxo

maya alejandra elizabeth casey