I said it during the last federal election: the CPC could run a cactus here & it would likely get voted in. Conservative candidates didn't have to campaign here because they didn't have to earn anything. Trudeau barely visited because it was ROI-negative to come here. #cdnpoli
The other parties are essentially an afterthought here (sorry but it is true). The Conservative blue vote is so engrained here that it is working against us. Even when we had "our party" in power, they didn't have to work for Alberta. They had nothing to prove because "we won."
If equalization is broken, it has been broken for a long time & we had ministers in place that should have fixed it a long time ago. It's not like a Trudeau has been running the ship for the last 40 years. #cdnpoli
We had it good for a really long time. Many got used to boom times & thought that was the norm. It was all an illusion. We now grow at 1-2% & some think the sky is falling. Expectations never seemed to be adjusted to the new realities. #cdnpol
So how do we fix this whole situation? I don't know. It's not like Albertans are going to "protest vote" for any other party federally. Do we just sit around & spin our tires, thinking about how we need to get a deal like Quebec? I'm not sold it is going to work. #cdnpoli
I liken it to a game of poker. Quebec had a 2 & 10 off suit, bluffed & went all in while everyone folded so they won the pot. Alberta saw them do it, got the same hand, told everyone about it & now wants everyone to fold. Pretty easy to call the bluff unfortunately. #cdnpoli
Which takes us back to the question of "where do we go from here?" This is exactly why the separation crowd is smiling. We have some convenient enemies & as long as we are kept in a political state of "war", the discontent will just continue to fester. And then what? #TheEnd
