Which just means you're not an older Albertan or a rural Albertan. WE keep voting conservative because we ARE conservative. And outside of the the two main cities, this province is radically conservative. Thats not gonna change.
Legit question: Why do you stay in AB if you hate it so much?
:) The UCP are very popular in AB. Smith is standing up for a lot of things that Albertans want, which is why we have voted conservative for the last 50 years except for that small window with Rachel Notleys NDP.
Well, you're not alone my friend. I have voted NDP at one point but Im definitely a small c conservative and generally vote Conservative. But good god, try presenting ANY kind of conservative viewpoint on social media and prepare to not only be called various insulting or downright evil names, but to be downvoted to oblivion. The hard fact is that social media leans left and sometimes FAR left. Im done with reddit, its turned into a cesspool and those who aren't leaning left are just hundreds of bots and shills. Im not spending time debating with a bot. At least the fediverse isn't popular enough or monetized to attract the platform destroying companies that have made reddit useless.
No, the reason that a volunteer army of 6000 was able to collect 456,000 signatures to STAY in Canada is exactly because Albertans are NOT apathetic. The only reason you even hear about the 'separatist movement' and the wingnut Republican Party of Alberta is because the press giving them oxygen. There is very LITTLE appetite for separation here. Disgruntlement about the way AB gets treated by the federal government, yes, but separation, no. Its already dead. They wont get enough signatures to cause a separation referendum and this silly movement will die once and for all.
I've lived here more than 40 years and I have yet to meet ONE person who thinks separation is a good idea. And Ive seen a site promoting it, but the whole site used AI "Albertans" to present its arguments - not a single real Albertan. No one will even admit to creating the site, and no one is willing to go on national media and say they are heading up this movement. Its bullshit from a few wingnuts who are pretending they have momentum. They dont.
I think its more likely the NDP just abstain enough that it passes. And apparently there is a member crossing the floor today from the Cons to the Libs so they only need a few abstentions to pass. I dont think the Cons will to abstain because of the optics.
Heres the hard truth. The public system CANNOT educate every child. It just cant.
My city has a specialized school for autistic kids. Theres one for blind kids. One for children who have extreme behavior disorders. One for pregnant girls. There are over 200 SPECIALTY schools that take specialized training, facilities and people with a passion for that particular specialty. Those kids NEED to be in specialized schools, they dont fit in the public school and there's no way the public school can afford the specialists (doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, therapists, social workers and teachers and aides) that they need.
Alleviate, not necessarily SOLVE the housing crisis. Thats a long term thing thats going to take time and a whole lot of changes.
Your lack of understanding is frustrating, especially since I know exactly what Im talking about.
Calgary rentals are most often NOT from new builds so the number newly built in Calgary is the least significant factor. They are mostly used homes or apartments that are BOUGHT and converted to rentals. That's where the surplus comes from - when you live in BC and can sell one house there for 1.8 million and come to Calgary and buy THREE 600,000 homes or a small apartment block and rent them out, its a smart financial move.
Im done with the gaslighting my friend. I manage a landlords group, I have 120 landlords in my group we discuss this stuff weekly.
Several things.
The gov was giving away 54 billion dollars with virtually no accountability in wage subsidies. AFTER the fact they tried to claw it back from the many who claim it illegitimately with very little success.
In total they gave out 360 billion which would be lovely if it actually went to where it was supposed to go, but we'll never know because there was very little accountability when the cheques started rolling. There are plenty of scams when they gov even pretends to care about our dollars but during covid, they just printed money for anyone who stuck out their hand.
They were also giving out money hand over fist for things like the ArriveScam app. 60 million disappeared for nothing.
They also give out 323 million for a pharmaceutical plant in Quebec that never even broke ground.
They also spent 1 billion on vaccines that went to waste, not used or expired.
They also spent 807 million on 27000 ventilators and only 500 of them were actually used, the rest were scrapped still in their packaging.
They were giving contracts to people like Randy Boissenault, who was a sitting MP who was grifting the gov with his 'not arms length' medical supply company run by 'the other Randy'
And while that was all going one, to top it off they were shoveling money out the door with the Green Slush Fund, for which the Auditor General found about $123 million in inappropriate contracts, $59 million in ineligible projects, and over $330 million in potential conflicts of interest. That's YOUR tax dollar going to the Liberals friends for "development" of nothing in particular. When Parliament ordered the Liberals to open the books and show us where the money went, they prorogued and shut down the House. Nothing suspicious about that.
To say that this government is incredibly wasteful and sloppy with our money is an understatement.
But somehow, magically, this is all going to turn around now that Carney's PM. Ok then, pardon me for not believing that. .
Yes there arent thousands of them. I had to hunt around and keep my eye open for a good deal for several months to find the ones I bought. But they do exist in centers much bigger than Elnora.
No those supply numbers are hard numbers. There were 402 MORE two bedroom apartments this year than last year, a 38% increase over last year. Calgary's population has gone up but only about 5%.
Thats an EXCESS SUPPLY of apartments because the number keeps rising. If people were snapping them up as fast as they were coming available that number would be steady or dropping and rents would be rising. They're NOT rising because there is excess supply and renters can shop around and negotiate on rent prices. which is why rents are 8 to 10% LESS than last year at this time even though there were still 100,000 people moving to Calgary.
Many out of province investors have flooded into Calgary in the last couple of years, which means many more rentals on the market as they snap up any housing they can find and turn them into rentals.
So your last statement is incorrect. Population has increased but rental supply has increased even more than the demand.
I have been a landlord in Calgary for over 40 years now and we've been through several excess demand and excess supply cycles because of our variable economy. We are obviously in an excess supply cycle.
I dont think most people saw it as a separation referendum. They saw it as a 'lets shut up those silly separatists cause we're Canadians now and forever.
The question, exactly as written, was "Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada?"
Im not worried about apathy. When our place in Canada was questioned, we came out in droves, far more than actually needed. That'll happen again when its time to vote.