Alberta 2019
April 16, 2019 9:45 PM Subscribe
In tonight's election, the province of Alberta—home to 4.3 million and 1 in 9 Canadians—rejected Premier Rachel Notley's New Democratic Party (NDP) in favor of Jason Kenney's United Conservative Party (UCP). Elected in more than 60 of 87 electoral districts (the NDP had 52), the UCP will form a majority government. Kenney's platform includes a re-emphasis on Alberta's oil industry, a 4% reduction in the corporate tax rate, a repeal of the carbon tax and the farm safety act, a reduction in the under-18 minimum wage, and a balanced budget by 2022. View the CBC's summary of party platforms via Twitter; and links to the NDP platform and the UCP platform.
Alberta has a long history of conservative governments, but the NDP broke that 44-year streak in the 2015 election (previously). Incoming premier Jason Kenney is a controversial figure; last week allegations surfaced that fraudulent emails were used to cast ballots for Kenney's party leadership. This is being investigated by the RCMP, which recently executed a search warrant at the office of a Calgary UCP candidate. Kenney has refused to dismiss candidates who have made homophobic remarks, such as Mark Smith (who has won his riding with 66% of the vote). The NDP presents: 5 people who think Jason Kenney is too extreme.
Notley (wiki) is the first premier of Alberta to not win a second election. She turns 55 on April 17. Notley has emphasized diversifying Alberta's economy away from oil and gas. ("What did Notley do for Alberta, anyway?" [Facebook])
Kenney (wiki), age 50, was a long-time cabinet minister under prime minister Stephen Harper. In 2017 he won the leadership of the UCP, a newly formed party that appears to have solved the 2015 "conservative vote split".
During Kenney's post-election speech, the crowd chanted "Build that pipe!". Kenney asked for a correction: "Folks, ... it's build those pipes!". He also mentioned "foreign-funded special interests" numerous times: "your days of pushing Albertans around with impunity just ended." Kenney's plea for an improvement in political discourse was met with comparatively weak applause.
Alberta has a long history of conservative governments, but the NDP broke that 44-year streak in the 2015 election (previously). Incoming premier Jason Kenney is a controversial figure; last week allegations surfaced that fraudulent emails were used to cast ballots for Kenney's party leadership. This is being investigated by the RCMP, which recently executed a search warrant at the office of a Calgary UCP candidate. Kenney has refused to dismiss candidates who have made homophobic remarks, such as Mark Smith (who has won his riding with 66% of the vote). The NDP presents: 5 people who think Jason Kenney is too extreme.
Notley (wiki) is the first premier of Alberta to not win a second election. She turns 55 on April 17. Notley has emphasized diversifying Alberta's economy away from oil and gas. ("What did Notley do for Alberta, anyway?" [Facebook])
Kenney (wiki), age 50, was a long-time cabinet minister under prime minister Stephen Harper. In 2017 he won the leadership of the UCP, a newly formed party that appears to have solved the 2015 "conservative vote split".
During Kenney's post-election speech, the crowd chanted "Build that pipe!". Kenney asked for a correction: "Folks, ... it's build those pipes!". He also mentioned "foreign-funded special interests" numerous times: "your days of pushing Albertans around with impunity just ended." Kenney's plea for an improvement in political discourse was met with comparatively weak applause.
This post was deleted for the following reason: Heya, looks like there's a Canadian election post from just a a few days ago that it might make more sense to add this to as a comment? -- cortex
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