One month before Alberta’s Legislative Assembly reconvenes to deal with this year’s provincial budget, Leger Marketing has released a new survey of political party support in our province.
Progressive Conservative: 40%
Wildrose: 28%
NDP: 13%
Liberal: 12%
This is only one survey and all political polls should be taken with a grain of salt, but the results will be a tad discouraging for Alberta’s opposition parties. While the survey shows the governing PCs dropping in support from 44% in last year’s provincial election, the opposition Wildrose has dropped from 34% in the 2012 election and the two other opposition parties have only marginally increased their support.
According to the Calgary Herald, the survey of 900 Albertans was conducted January 14 to 20 as part of the PwC Business and Consumer Confidence Index. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
8 replies on “New poll shows Redford Tories in the lead.”
People on both sides of the PCs recognize that Alberta would be better off with a non-PC government; the opposition parties all share the common goal of making Alberta a better place, whereas the PCs are most concerned with maintaining their dynasty. So rather than attacking each other and strategically voting against one another, the opposition should work together to ensure that the PC party is not reelected in 2016.
At least if the Wildrose or Liberals were the leading party then there would be actual democracy happening in the legislature with free votes as opposed to all the PCs voting along party lines to uniquely direct our future.
That’s ahistorical, Alex. No party, once it forms government in Alberta or elsewhere in Canada, allows free votes on issues other than those with no impact on the budget. Even the United Farmers of Alberta, elected in 1921 partly because of their anti-partyism, which included support for free votes on everything, in practice acted as a top-down party organization.
Wild Rose is not a random collection of individuals anymore than any other party. It is a dour collection of slaves of Big Oil and ideological opponents of all the programs and policies that have characterized the post-war social welfare state which offered a half-way house between the uncontrolled capitalism that gave us the Great Depression and World War Two, on the one hand, and various forms of socialism on the other. It’s a continuation of the Ernest Manning version of Social Credit and Ralph Klein version of the PCs in Alberta. Neither gentleman was a democrat. Wildrose’s policies of privatizing medicare and destroying trade unions take us back to the ideological fascism of the 1930s.
The Liberals and NDs, by contrast, represent the post-war social compromise in which citizens have a right to medical care, education, housing, protection of the environment, including the work environment, etc. On their own, each of these is a small party and getting smaller. If they would work together, they could take their current support of one in four voters and start to expand. Many voters who feel betrayed by the PCs are sticking to them because Wildrose, at the moment, appears the only potential alternative government.
Woe to all of us if the two small l-liberal parties, along with the AP and the Greens, cannot work together to offer Albertans a moderate alternative to the corrupt Tories and the dinosaur Wildrose.
If only we all listened to Alvin, we’d have a progressive party with 18% in the polls!
Alvin, that is a remarkably pessimistic approach… Further, to suggest that the Wildrose as a party embodies the above is absurd. Do you really believe Wildrose MLAs wake up in the morning and say, “Today, I think I’ll destroy education and health care.” It’s absolutely ridiculous; it’s clear to me you’ve never even glanced at the Wildrose policy book.
Alvin is right. The Wildrose embodies all of these policies that are too ideological and extreme for 2013. Anyone but Wildrose!
To quote Alex: “Do you think WildRose MLAs wake up in the morning and say “Today, I think I’ll destroy education and health care. It’s absolutely ridiculous…”
Totally agree…most WildRose MLAs sleep well past noon.
It’s ironic the Left claims to be open-minded and compassionate. What I see here are closed-minded and hateful people. You should be ashamed and take hard looks at yourselves.
Finkel, co-operation is fine. Liberal means compassionate conservatism. Liberalism is still pro business. AP, Greens and ND’s are free to come and join the Liberals and under the Liberal flag, they can all work together. Partyless centrists are welcome, if they choose to put their emotional baggage at the door and grow up. Tory spoilers posing as Liberals and under mining the Liberal Party are not invited to be a part of co-operation.