Thread by @SteveRickettsSP

"Inside Jason Kenney's plan to kickstart Alberta's economy — and heal the province's divisions"

fascinating insight into Kenney's campaign approach and plans for AB.

edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/…

#ableg

"It may seem eccentric to stake the farm on a massive corporate tax cut... but Kenney believed he had an ace up his sleeve: The party’s internal polling on the issue was absolutely off the charts."

it's worrisome that this decision was based on popular opinion more than wisdom.

"The new government will be working off a “Mountain West” strategy....
For all the attention paid to the pipeline file, the UCP is also focused on highly mobile companies, like tech and banking firms, that could move their headquarters without blinking an eye"

intriguing...

“The political world on social media in Alberta is for some peculiar reason particularly nasty... it’s because the political left in this province is historically a relatively small minority & they will compensate with volume & anger on their self-publishing machine of Twitter.”

and the UCP's stupid memes? and vicious attacks by @UniteAlberta and by UCP operatives such as Blaise Boehmer?

“As far as I’m concerned, PressProgress is a de facto third-party advertiser. The NDP, if they can’t get mainstream media to pick up on their research, they just email it over to PressProgress to breathlessly write it up.”

and the lackies at the Sun who parrot UCP points?

“We voted for about as many bills as we voted against."

eh? i recall all-party support for a few bills, but i can't recall the #ucp supporting any major govt bills. does anyone have any analysis of this.

and of course a party can walk out of the Leg if it doesn't like a bill

"Kenney said he thinks a similar phenomenon occurs in Alberta politics, where the online activists are highly concerned with social issues, while the rest of the province is seized by economic issues."

leaders (as opposed to campaigners) focus on social *and* economic issues