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Baby, just give me one reason

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Baby, just give me one reason

Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean
Mar 13, 2023
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Baby, just give me one reason

womenofabpoli.substack.com

This Week in AB

It’s not me, it’s you

Women of ABpoli is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Twitter avatar for @heyhanham
Hannah Hamilton @heyhanham
Absolutely agree. The NDP comms & social media strategy is a failure and watching it struggle over and over is so disheartening. So many NDP voters say this. I don’t know why they aren’t listening.
Twitter avatar for @RKSAlberta
Pandemic at the Disco @RKSAlberta
Loathe her, but @ABDanielleSmith has honed her comms skills and is connecting with ABertans more effectively than the NDP; coupled with the gift of a raging economy and energy royalties she WILL form government again (if she's able to stay out of the lake of fire). #ableg 🤬😭 https://t.co/zTJw0sNYnL
4:32 PM ∙ Mar 11, 2023
146Likes15Retweets

The Alberta NDP communications strategy is on many lips but not for the right reasons. In response, there is genuine (I think) confusion over why this matters at all when the alternative is so awful as to not require any effort from the party to encourage anyone to make the “right” choice.

We need to back up a bit, though.

In 2015, hell froze over and Alberta — widely considered Canada’s most reliably conservative stronghold — elected an NDP government.

While kudos have to be given to the NDP strategists for not scaring off voters — a la Danielle Smith 2012 — they didn’t win because Albertans had a collective epiphany about their political identity. Sorry, not sorry.

I cannot put nearly enough emphasis on the following, from an NDP organizer on the doors in Calgary during the 2015 campaign:

People said they would vote for whomever was most likely to beat the Progressive Conservative candiate, whether it was the NDP or the Wildrose.

2015 had one issue — get rid of the entitled party — and Rachel Notley owned that narrative with an easy confidence that mirrored the outcome a majority of Albertans wanted in that election; an end to the PC dynasty.

In 2019, facing a “united” conservative opposition, the NDP increased their total vote count but were unable to convince a majority of Albertans that Jason Kenney would be worse than a sustained drop in global oil prices.

Or whether the Alberta government controls global oil prices, for that matter.

Yet, once again, there seems to be far too much consideration being given to “principles” and not enough attention to what Albertans are saying: give me a reason to vote for a party that is — to a proud citizen in the most reliably conservative stronghold in Canada — contrary to everything I think I know about myself.

Every party wants to believe it is the epitome of ideological purity — and they can, if they want to be perpetually in opposition.

In 2015, the NDP stepped into the PC’s shoes and governed accordingly — and the purists hated every minute of it.

Welcome to the real world.

Either lean into the expectations of the voters — like Smith is doing with 2015 Notley-ease — or don’t; but if the NDP cannot secure the centre, it is unlikely they will be offered a third chance.

Just saying.

Speaking of an election…

Twitter avatar for @planetjanetyyc
Janet Brown @planetjanetyyc
1993 Alberta election was about brutal cuts versus massive cuts. 2023 Alberta election will be about enormous spending versus colossal spending. #ABbudget2023
11:20 PM ∙ Feb 28, 2023
77Likes17Retweets

Everyone expected the NDP to spend massively when they were elected — they believe government can be a force for good, after all.

It didn’t matter that they cut spending.

It didn’t matter that they were the government with a “conservative disposition”.

People couldn’t help but see orange.

Now, they see green — lots and lots of green.

Albertans like big spending governments who claim fiscal conservatism — it makes them feel good about lots of spending they don’t have to pay for.

Essentially, Albertans are closet liberals who prefer to be known as conservatives.

We like to believe that when we have to personally cut back to make ends meet, our government does, too; and we respect hard times for others that benefit us.

My apologies if I offended anyone.

How about Chinese?

Twitter avatar for @Mitchell_AB
Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean @Mitchell_AB
Props to the journos who kept this story going by dropping just enough crumbs to get the PM to follow it right to the boiling cauldron. Amazeballs.
Twitter avatar for @acoyne
Andrew Coyne 🇺🇦 @acoyne
So: this isn’t about scraps of ambiguous intel. Or rogue CSIS officers. This is multiple reports form multiple sources — CSIS, PCO and NISCOP — produced at the highest levels and sent directly to the PMO. Specifically about PRC funding of candidates.
10:05 PM ∙ Mar 8, 2023
6Likes1Retweet

For anyone who followed the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 American election, allegations of Chinese interference in the 2021 Canadian election should get our adrenaline going.

We are one of the very few countries globally who are still considered a full democracy.

Our elections are widely considered to be both free and fair.

If — as seems to be the case — anyone attempts to exert influence over Canadian institutions, it deserves the most intense scrutiny.

It doesn’t matter if it was successful or not — let’s give it a Canadian theme and call it the Raybould-Wilson (or Madu-Smith) rule — attempted influence is worth as much scrutiny as successful influence.

Unless you’re a partisan, of course.

Final thoughts

Twitter avatar for @CGriwkowsky
Catherine Griwkowsky @CGriwkowsky
Alberta's first Daylight Saving Act of 1948 banned DST because Calgary and Edmonton (and I think a couple of others) held plebiscites in favour of DST, but rural Alberta did not like it, so there were actually different times depending on what municipality you were in.
Twitter avatar for @coreyhogan
Corey Hogan @coreyhogan
Serious Q: why is the use of daylight saving (or not) not a matter of federal jurisdiction, being in substance about measurement of time? Given one of the arguments for or against is always alignment with other jurisdictions, isn't it hard to argue it's a matter of local nature?
3:28 PM ∙ Mar 12, 2023
20Likes8Retweets
Twitter avatar for @heathercampbell
Heather Anne Campbell @heathercampbell
fucking terfs and homophobes and the rest all trying desperately to control their experience of reality on one section of planet earth during a tiny 70 year period. get a hobby
5:19 PM ∙ Mar 11, 2023
536Likes45Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mskelleyware
Kelley Ware @mskelleyware
A reminder that Google searches for "International Men's Day" always peak on March 8th.
3:42 PM ∙ Mar 8, 2023
43Likes10Retweets

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