We see all over the inevitable outcome of continuing down the road of trying to tax, spend and borrow our way into prosperity. Huge governments all around the world are collapsing under their own weight. While Ontario is not as troubled as Greece and Alberta is not as bad as Ontario, we are all heading in the same direction.
Don Drummond’s report could easily substitute the name Alberta for Ontario and while the figures would differ the conclusions would be just as valid.
Nanny Redford and her big-government Tories released a feelgood budget loaded with unrealistic revenue projections and spending increases for all. There is utterly no sign of long term foresight in the budget. What we see is a collection of spending promises modelled solely with the goal of getting the Progressive Conservatives re-elected at any cost.
The Wildrose Party alternative budget was better and balanced though in my view still did not go far enough in an honest pursuit of spending restraint. Still by far the Wildrose is the best of the bunch coming into this election. I can’t even begin to think how much Redford would be blowing in tax dollars without the Wildrose pressure from the right.
Our political leadership is terrified of making tough decisions and honestly identifying where to cut.
We can look realistically at our future and get spending under control now or we can travel down the road Greece is on where austerity is forced upon you and you lose choice of where to cut.
The choice is ours for now but it won’t be forever.
There are many factors that went towards creating the charming, modest and somewhat opinionated person that I am today. Growing up and observing the fallout of the National Energy Program gave me a healthy dose of regionalism and watching Thatcher and Reagan work to try and save us from the consequences of policy based on the drug-addled attitudes of the sixties certainly helped shape my opinions on the political world.
There was one outright turning point in my thought and growth that stands out though. While in junior high we were required to read the short story Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut. The story is a futuristic portrayal of what may happen should we continue the pursuit of equality where it simply does not exist. It excellently displayed the futility of such pursuits and the damage to free society that will result. It began my course down political philosophy which is still of course evolving.
Kurt Vonnegut was not a right winger by any stretch of the imagination. He was an admirer of early socialist labor leaders and was always critical of Republican governments . Vonnegut did recognize one of the critical flaws in socialism though and wrote on it.
In the pursuit of equality, one finds that they can’t pull the non-productive up to the level of the productive thus socialists tend to turn to pulling down the productive to the lowest common denominator instead. This is referred to as “Crab mentality” and it is one of the most destructive trends we have.
The politics of envy run strong particularly when times are tough. We saw that in the vapid yelping of the “occupy” movement as they tried to separate and demonize a mythical 1% who they felt controlled the world. We see this as teacher’s unions fight every manner of testing of children and fight all forms of competition in schools. The every child gets a ribbon sentiment is nice but it damages children terribly when they encounter the real world and find out that we can’t always win.
Raj Sherman released his desperate provincial Liberal platform recently. In sprinting for low hanging fruit he has taken up the usual shallow stance of taxing the perceived rich. Despite numbers showing that people of higher income are already paying the vast majority of taxes in Canada, the lazy and envious want to drag these hard workers down even further.
The real outcome is secondary to the perception of equality.
Some years ago I was debating with a fellow on an internet forum about European health provision models. The discussion came to a point where it was proven that in some models by allowing people to pay out of pocket to jump the queue; the entire lineup gets shortened for all in the universal system. This fellow still was opposed to the possibility of utilizing these provision models. I doggedly kept on him and asked if he preferred that everybody waited and suffered longer as long as the suffering was equal. He floored me in his honestly when he said yes. This man’s envy could not let him abide by somebody getting faster treatment even if it meant faster treatment for everybody in the end. His attitude is shared by way too many people though many may not realize it or be as honest as this guy was about it.
The twisted ideals of equality and fairness when taken to extremes are incredibly destructive. The simplistic can be easily called out and led when a seductive case for dragging down the successful is made for the sake of political expediency.
It is a short story yet makes the point excellently. Again, I strongly suggest that folks take a moment to read Harrison Bergeron and more importantly think about the point it makes.
People are acting as if this sort of well is new or dangerous when it simply is neither of those things. Some are howling about air quality. Well, the local sewage manholes are emitting more foul and dangerous gas than a sweet oil well will. There are literally thousands of wells much closer to households in rural Alberta and people are not dropping like flies.
You bought a house on the edge of the city with a prison and a garbage dump for neighbors and you are complaining about a sweet oil well nearby? I bet most of the residents there derive their incomes from the energy industry. I am sure that complaints of the smells from neighboring livestock come in on a regular basis too.
To put things in perspective here are a couple shots of other wells.
The first picture is from Bradford PA and the well is literally over 100 years old. It is novel sitting in the drive though lineup while watching an active well operate 6 feet from you. May I suggest that the product from the McDonalds is more potentially harmful than the oil well. I spent a few months in Bradford a couple years ago. Besides that well and the Zippo factory, there is little else of note. Would you take that away from them?
The second picture is from Los Angeles where there are hundreds of local hazards that eclipse that posed by some wells in residential areas.
NIMBY syndrome never fails to rear it’s ugly head. Anti-energy people are whipping the residents of Northwest Calgary into a frenzy over what really is an utter non-issue. There are much more important things for growing communities to be focused on than completely safe oil wells being drilled in neighboring fields.
Oh and for those spreading fear because there is a slim chance that 1 pmm of hydrogen sulfide may possibly kinda sorta be present in the oil occasionally, keep in mind that our own flatulence carries as much H2S as this well could in the very unlikely event that it carries any. Yes, you are as dangerous as the Royal Oak oil well when you emit beer-farts.
Well the inevitable has happened. Many countries in the European Union are going broke due to decades of trying to tax, borrow and spend their way into prosperity. Sadly socialism does not die quietly and currently union led riots are tearing Greece apart as delusional citizens feel that protests and a deep sense of entitlement will somehow bring them resources that simply do not exist.
What part of broke do they not understand? The cupboard is bare and is becoming so in Ireland, Portugal, Italy and many other European states.
We can’t get on too high a horse here in Canada. As we encourage an ever-growing governments on all levels we on a collision course with the same situation as Europe. We just have not progressed deeply enough into the hole of entitlement and debt yet.
As rioters who depended on cradle to grave socialism take to the streets in Athens, please look at the pictures and remember them at the appropriate times.
When somebody tries to convince you that government debt is not a bad thing, remember Greece!
When government tries to convince you that a company is too big to fail,
Remember Greece!
If your government buys off public sector unions with unreasonable pension and wage concessions, before you go out to vote in the next election,
Remember Greece!
Before considering supporting a government promising massive spending increases
Remember Greece!
When people try to stunt economic development in the name of fanatical environmentalism and anti-capitalist ideology
Remember Greece!
Greece has kindly though unintentionally learned a lesson on our behalf and we would be pretty foolish not to heed it.
Will we look at hard realities now and bring our size and expectations of the state under control or will be go down the inevitable road to bankruptcy?
It is pretty depressing to see how many Greeks still don’t get it. Tearing your cities to the ground will not make resources appear where they simply don’t exist.
The trend of foreign environmental lobby groups meddling in Canadian affairs has been disturbing. The recent efforts of the Delaware based lobby group Avaaz (multi-million dollar company) in their campaign of misinformation about a project in Jasper national park was nothing less than repugnant in it’s venom and it’s complete lack of hesitation to use horsecrap to try and make their case.
Thankfully our federal government finally stepped in and approved the project pictured below for Jasper national park.
There is an existing parking lot in the parkway which will be utilized for this project. An incredible viewpoint will be created where people can look through a glass floor for a unique Rocky Mountain experience. Yes, a fee will be charged for a guided tour (welcome to the real world). Mountains of impact studies have been performed and it is clear that this project will have minimal environmental impact. It is just a bloody viewpoint folks.
The hyperbole, misinformation and hysteria from the environmentalists on this one was outstanding. I remember getting a message on facebook that warned of Harper privatizing our National Parks, how common people would not be able to afford to visit and how this was all being done by a nasty foreign company. All of the allegations were utter crap but sadly many people fall for shallow pap so the American lobby group indeed managed to get over 100k people to sign an online petition against the project.
I grew up in Banff. I attended high-school there and still often return to the area to visit. What really has me going on this one was the attempted demonization of Brewster Travel Canada. Brewster was portrayed as some evil company that was going to turn our national parks into some kind of fast food outlet.
Now let’s get some facts out there. The Brewster family and company has been operating in Canadian National Parks for well over 100 years! The Brewster family is still operating in the Bow Valley. The family and the company are a large part of the entire park history. To demonize and portray this group as a foreign monster is ludicrous. If any company should be moved to the head of the line in operations within Western National Parks is should indeed be Brewster.
Another fact: We already have to pay to enter national parks! There has been an admission fee for national parks for as long as I remember. The operations of companies within the park have nothing to do with this nor will their expansion of operations have any impact on park entry fees. This reality did not stop the environmentalists from spreading BS however.
Here is a fact: National parks are loaded with private businesses that make profits within the park!! Is fuel free in Banff? Are all of the hotels nationalized? Does the government mandate non-profit status for restaurants? Is it immoral to charge green fees on the golf courses? Commercial operations in national parks are nothing new at all. It is the services provided by private interests and the taxes that they pay that allow a broader number of people to experience the parks themselves. The environmentalist set tries to portray this as some sort of new trend of park privatization.
There is an extreme element out there that loathes humanity and feels that we have no place developing anything anywhere and they will oppose all development based on that principle. These groups will not hesitate to completely depart from reality and there are hundreds of millions of dollars to be made in the lobby groups that work for the environmentalist set. When we see a bunch insistent on spreading outright lies as we do with these environmentalists, I think it is pretty easy to decide which groups to disregard.
What are our national parks for if not to allow Canadians to experience them? Environmentally friendly viewpoints such as the one being built in Jasper are harmless and add to the experience of the park. Environmentalists like to pretend that there are only a few valleys in the entire Rocky Mountains and that humanity is impacting them all. Have a look at a road map of Western Canada. You will find that there are literally thousands of mountain valleys that are completely inaccessible. The highways that pass through the mountains are very few and utilize a tiny percentage of the undeveloped and protected lands of the mountains. Developments within national parks have increased scrutiny and environmental standards to be abided by.
Nobody wants to see ugly, uncontrolled and rampant development in our wilderness areas. That is why such development simply is not happening despite the fearmongering of extreme foreign environmentalist lobby groups.
Whether it is the Northern Gateway pipeline, or Castle area logging or small developments in national parks we seem to have a problem with environmentalists spreading BS and trying to stunt approval processes. Again, if deciding who to believe look to see who insists on breaking the rules and spreading the myths. You will find it generally is not the private business interests.
Thank you Harper for stepping in and getting the Jasper walkway going despite the hyperbolic opposition by environmental extremists. I hope you continue to cut through the crap and allow responsible development to continue in Canada.
In the early years of internet discussion, a wise fellow named Mike Godwin coined “Godwin’s Law” which stated:
“As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.”
I have seen the inevitability of such hyperbolic comparisons on every kind of discussion forum whether about cars, kittens or politics. This occurs in political discussion outside of the internet as well as we see with recent foolishness from Conservative MP Larry Miller in Owen Sound.
The flippant use of comparisons of contemporary actions or figures to Hitler, Nazi’s, Fascists and the Holocaust is not only offensive, but it desensitizes us all to one of the most horrific periods of human history.
Below I will list pictures to indicate where the use of terms such as Hitler, Nazi, Fascist and Holocaust may be appropriate in discussion. Please review these before considering using any of the aforementioned terms.
Above is a picture of Adolf Hitler. There is no other Adolf Hitler, there has been no other Adolf Hitler and there will not be another Adolf Hitler. There are other dictators and nasty people out there but none of them are Adolf Hitler so don’t compare the two.
Above is a picture of Benito Mussolini. Mussolini was a fascist leading a fascist party. There are currently no fascist parties nor fascist leaders in existence so do not try to compare such to current parties, their leaders or their supporters.
Above we see a picture of a bunch of Nazis. They are the only Nazis in human history. There are no Nazi parties or leaders in existence so don’t bother comparing current leaders, parties and supporters to such.
Yes, there are indeed some who identify as Nazi’s right now. They are neo-Nazis and really are loose collections of idiots that can’t be realistically compared to the true Nazi movement of the early 20th century.
Above is a picture from the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a large scale organized effort to eradicate an entire people based on their religion (as well as gays and Gypsies). That was genocide of which indeed there are unfortunately multiple examples of in human history.
Political discussion can be and often is heated. Hyperbole and cheap shots are often utilized (I use those methods myself) to varying effect. The use of the above comparisons though is simply lazy debate and is offensive.
Save a link to this page and forward it to the next person who uses any of the above terms in discussion. Sadly the chances of your needing to use that link are pretty close to 100% if you participate in political (or many other kinds) debate.
I am a full supporter of free speech. People are certainly free to use the above terms without legal intervention and they should be. We should call them out for the fools they are when they do so though.
It is hard to tell which does more damage to Calgary’s business environment; city council’s indecision when it comes to zoning decisions or when city council actually makes a decision on something and intervenes in projects. They both are damaging in general.
Last year I went to a meeting at my community association where an exasperated lawyer was trying to build his case to get the city to give him the green light to build a small office complex on Center street near 41 ave. He had bought some houses there under the assurances that he would have no trouble in getting his offices approved and he would be able to construct and move into his new facility. This was not to be so and the poor man was jerked around by the city system for a couple years. He has since put all those houses up for sale and one can see the line of realtor signs on Center north of the Tim Hortons there.
You see, there is an element of the hard left who have this long-term utopia in mind where Calgary would have LRT access to all portions of the city and that includes a proposal to run a train right up Center street. While there is no official plan on the books for this extension and certainly there is no money to build it, there are some members of city council who want to see this happen. What is happening now is that they are stalling all development on Centre Street North as they know that new development on Centre would hinder plans and expropriation of property should the city decide in a decade or so to put a line there. This is similar to the provincial legislation that essentially seizes and devalues private property in anticipation of expropriation rather than just buying it.
The outcome of this unofficial policy on Centre Street North is stark, ugly and obvious. Houses are run down and worthless as owners will not put in any dollars to maintain a place that they expect to be expropriated. Crack houses, massage parlours and general slums are blossoming along this stretch of zoning uncertainty and things will only get worse. Who in their right mind would buy property on Centre right now?
I can’t imagine how much that poor lawyer lost in his attempt to develop something nice and new in good faith. He still hasnt managed to sell those dumps that he purchased.
The impact spreads beyond Centre as well. We have seen a marked increase in general crime and vandalism in our neighborhood as the unsavory element drawn to the run-down houses walks to neighboring communities in hopes of stealing something for their next fix. This devalues houses for blocks around Centre and it is soley due to instability and indecision on the part of our ineffective city council.
What we have in city hall these days is an almost religious-like fervour against the concept of what some pejoratively call “sprawl”. This anti-business gang will stop at nothing to try and hinder city growth and this idiotic notion of buying land to stop retail development is a clear indicator of it.
Lets assume that the city wastes millions and millions of our dollars to buy this land in a gross dispay of market intervention. What will the consequences be? Well, our reputation as a good place to do business will sink further as instability in zoning is assured and the anti-development attitude of our council is more clearly exposed. The retail businesses that were considering that site will not simply vanish. What will be more likely to happen is that a larger new retail center will simply be developed farther West this causing people to commute even farther for their purchases. How green. Residential development will push even farther as it chases retail services and the dreaded “sprawl” will have expanded more.
Get real you fools! Calgary is a thriving and growing city. We are blessed with the open space surrounding us that allows us to grow and build good neighborhoods for our families. To those who really want to see the outcome of high density planning may I suggest a trip to Manhattan. There you will see obscenely expensive real-estate values due to lack of supply. That leads in turn of course to neighboring slums and ghettos that are totally unimaginable in cities like Calgary. Homeless and crime levels in densely packed cities are worlds worse than ours and much of the reason is density.
People are welcome to pursue whatever unrealistic utopia they like I guess. What is concerning though is that these blinded idealists have found their way onto city council.
Airdrie, Okotoks, Cochrane and Strathmore will continue to thrive and people will continue to develop outwards to avoid the congestion and discomfort that anti-“sprawl” measures will bring about. We will continue to grow as a city but our development will be an odd hybrid of sattelite cities and a dysfunctional downtown crowded with discarded rental bikes and empty busses.
Please Calgary can we elect a city council with a grain of common sense in 2013? We really need to break the trend.
There is a small but clearly influential subset of people who unfortunately and clearly have a strong impact in Calgary’s city council in that these endless, stupid, tax-funded ventures keep surfacing and actually getting approved. Step back a few feet folks and look at some of the aforementioned initiatives and try to think of how much positive impact they have on our tourist economy.
Even if those idiotic things do manage to draw a few people to Calgary, what kind of people are these and what kind of spending are we talking?
How much will we get out of a bunch of bike riding hippies who likely will try to squat in our parks anyway? Set aside an acre downwind of the city with a hotel built from hemp if they really need a destination. The smell of patchouli will drive away good tourists if we keep them around.
Calgary draws many visitors on it’s own merit as a city. I am sick and tired of these self-loathing fools who feel we must somehow try to transform Calgary into some sort of arts utopia while using models like Paris and Venice for a comparison.
It must be kept in mind that European cities have existed for millennia which has allowed them to slowly build and acquire their stunning architecture and art pieces. Calgary is barely over 100 years old.
It is Calgary’s youth as a city that is her strength. We have untouched prairie and mountain environments on our very doorstep and we have the energy and vigour that only a modern and fast growing city can demonstrate. Yes, our downtown is full of modern skyscrapers. Instead of whining about them, admire them. The Bow building is a striking building that represents our city and will remain in the memory of visitors. The river-spanning fingertrap while perhaps memorable is out of place and only detracts from our city.
Now, on to the Calgary Expo. This non-profit group worked hard and pulled off a coup in landing the entire principle cast from Star Trek the Next Generation at their coming show. In the world of Trekkies this is huge. Never has the cast of that entire show been reunited like this and I can assure you fanatical Star Trek fans are booking flights and hotels right now so they can participate in what will be an historical event in their fandom. The event will draw countless people and our city will gain prominent coverage in areas that we had not been very visible in before. The benefits from this event will last for years and we didn’t need to spend a pile of tax dollars or build any ugly new structures.
Now what kind of people will this event draw? As opposed to the Druh Farrell/Brian Pincott sort of affairs that draw hippies who draw tax dollars, the Calgary Expo will draw self-funding dorks and geeks.
Lets face it though, nerds are in these days. Look at the success of shows such as the Big Bang Theory and look at the status that folks such as Bill Gates have. Nerds make money and they spend money. When the dorks descend on Calgary motels will be packed, comic sales will explode, hypo-allergenic products will experience a run and escort agencies will not be able to get enough Wonder Woman outfits for their staff. From the exhibitors at the event itself to pretty much every other service industry in the city we will see a hike in business that weekend.
The Calgary Expo has happened every year and it has always been a benefit to the city. They have worked hard to build their profile and have earned the credibility required to draw the celebrities that they have for their show this year. They should be applauded and emulated.
Again, let’s quit pretending that Calgary is something that it is not and work on our strengths. We can and do draw other conventions and events and should focus on more of them. We have the service infrastructure and increased demand will only help it grow. People will come to Calgary for the event and will come back to Calgary in the future for everything else the city has to offer. Honesty and celebrating what we are is what will keep our tourism growing and yes I am speaking of the Calgary Stampede that the arts crowd bitches about every year too.
And hey, if I seem to be a little too hard on geeks let me state that I am one as well though not as stuck on comic books and fandom. I believe that the video of dueling economists below was robbed in not being nominated for a Grammy and would cross the world to see a live debate between Keynes and Hayek were they to be somehow raised from the grave. It is Superbowl Sunday and I am blogging. Geeks come in many forms.
I was not a fan of Mayor Bronconnier by any means. One thing I did have to respect with Bronco though was his ability to lead council and keep a semblance of order within city hall. Leadership means getting people to work together and Bronconnier had that knack even if I think he tended to lead them to foolish decisions. The Mayor indeed is simply one vote in a council of many. The Mayor though is responsible for setting the tone of council and ensuring that discussion is reasoned and productive. It is a tough job and a vital one. A person has to be both a team player and a leader.
Mayor Nenshi is quickly proving himself incapable of leading or playing with the team. While profoundly skilled at cutting ribbons and taking part in CBC specials, Nenshi has been an utter failure when it comes to keeping a degree of unity within Calgary City Council. The public spats and venom have been outstanding and I can’t even imagine what the tension is like behind closed doors.
Life has been something of a love-in for Nenshi since becoming Mayor. He was elected in a wave of almost reverential support by hipsters who still fawn over his every move. The CBC and Toronto latte-lapping crowd don’t even try to disguise their fawning over our Mayor. I guess it should not be shocking that it has gotten to Mr. Nenshi’s head more than a little.
While enjoying the political rock-star lifestyle however, Mayor Nenshi has clearly been neglecting his job of actually running the city of Calgary. Is it surprising that council is running amuk when the mayor is up late at every possible social event where a camera may be available or is speaking to adoring crowds at CBC functions in Toronto rather than dealing with the grind of city management?
In the same article linked above there are a couple quotes from Nenshi that tell the whole story as to why council is falling apart under Nenshi.
Mayor Nenshi in response to this issue:
” I would find it extraordinary if any member of council did not want to attend a meeting on how council can work together better. But if members of council are interested in a dysfunctional group that is not working well together, it is absolutely their prerogative.”
Good lord. One does not need to be a psychologist to see the problem here. You can almost hear Nenshi’s trademark condescending, grade one schoolteacher tone in the above statement.
These are elected officials that you continue to talk down to like that Nenshi not little kids. If they appear to be acting like kids, it is due to them having lost respect for the one who is supposed to give them direction. Quit blaming council for your own shortcomings Nenshi and you may get somewhere in leading them.
If Nenshi doesn’t have a serious change in attitude soon, we will see much more council division in the next year and a half. Perhaps the psychologist will recognize this and point it out as the Mayor certainly can’t see this.
Every election we see the same thing, the fringe parties and their exiguous but dedicated and vocal supporters begin making noise and demanding that their party be represented in the televised debates. It is understandable why these fringe groups want to participate. Many people remain undecided until the debate and use that broadcast as almost their sole means of making up their mind as they have an opportunity to see the leaders of the main parties demonstrate their ability (or lack of) to lead our province. It is because of this importance of the debates that a bar must be set though and we can’t have an important event like this cluttered with the leader of every tiny party in the province participating.
In 2004 it was the Alberta Alliance (now Wildrose) that was protesting and making noise demanding that Randy Thorsteinson be included in the debate. They even had some people waving signs outside of a TV station but to no avail. The broadcasters had set the bar by saying that a party needed an elected member in the legislature in order to participate in the debate. The Alberta Alliance had Edmonton MLA Gary Masyk who had recently crossed the floor to join the Alberta Alliance. The powers that be decided this was not good enough as Masyk had not been elected under the banner of the Alberta Alliance.
The Alberta Alliance was running candidates in all 83 constituencies in that election as well. That still was not enough to sway the broadcasters and the debate was held with only the PC, NDP and Liberal leaders in that election. Fair enough.
Now we come to the latest vocal complainants; the Alberta Party. While their presence on twitter is notable due to them having a handful of prolific posters in their ranks, their impact or even recognition among the Alberta electorate is simply insignificant. The fringe Alberta Party barely registers 1% in Alberta polls, has no member elected under their banner in the legislature, will be lucky to nominate even 30 candidates in the election and as far as can be seen is totally broke. Why on earth should their leader be allowed to take up 20% of the time at the very important debate?
The Alberta Party scored a tiny coup when embittered former Liberal MLA Dave Taylor broke his promise to sit as an independent and crossed the floor to join them. Taylor never got over the Liberal Party’s rejection of him when he ran for the leadership and joining the Alberta Party was his final way of giving the finger to the party that got him elected in the first place. It must be noted, Taylor does not have the gumption or courage to actually run under the Alberta Party banner. He will be taking off with his severance package as soon as the writ drops presumably to try and find another job in broadcasting. At least Masyk was willing to run for the Alberta Alliance after he crossed the floor.
It is pretty clearly established which parties are worth broadcasting to the province in a debate in the coming election. The PCs, Liberals, NDP and Wildrose parties all have members sitting in the legislature that were elected under their own party banner. They are all polling well above the statistical margin of error (no other parties are) and all are clearly in positions to be winning some seats at the least. Aside from the Liberals, all of them will be running significant numbers of candidates in the election. It will be important and interesting to see the leaders of these parties debate. That will not happen if every crackpot leader from the rest of the fringe parties takes part however.
A party can work it’s way from fringe status. What the Alberta Party supporters appear to overlook is that to do so takes years of very hard work. Paul Hinman was tireless as the leader of the Alberta Alliance party as well as many key supporters within the party. With countless meetings across the province, many policy revisions, news events and releases, recruitment of new and strong people and a receptive attitude to mergers and compromise, the party broke free from it’s fringe status and is the contender that we call the Wildrose today.
Essentially what I am saying to the parties at the fringe is if we could do it (get mainstream sized support), you can do it. Until then though, you simply don’t rank a seat at the debates.
Social media does provide for alternatives though. A community hall could be booked and a cage match debate could be held with the leaders of the Social Credit, Communist, Alberta, Evergreen and Separation parties that all want seats in the main debate. This circus could be live streamed and archived on YouTube. It could provide some welcome comic relief in what will doubtless be generally a serious election.
The word that springs to mind when I see fanatical fringe party supporters demanding things is “entitlement”. Face it guys, private broadcasters owe you nothing nor should they. Quit complaining and put your nose to the grindstone. Complaining will never break you free from fringe status but hard work might.
