Alberta Election 2012

On Monday we vote in a new provincial government.
Based on all I have heard (polls etc), we are finally going to change the government we've had for over 40 years; a conservative majority government.
There is still not guarantee that the  PCs (Progressive Conservatives) will totally lose power, but they are getting a run for their money from an even more right wing party; the Wild Rose - think along the lines of the U.S. Republican Tea Party.

Now to be fair, the PCs are more centralist (still right wing, but moderate). The parties on the left are: Liberal, NDP (New Democratic Party), and the Alberta Party.

Both the Wild Rose and Alberta Party are new to the political scene this election. Both parties have MLAs (members of legislative assembly) only because people crossed over from another party (PC to Wild Rose, Liberal to Alberta Party).

To give you an idea of the makeup of the Alberta Government, we have 83 MLAs to represent our entire province.
In our last election in March 2008 the following were elected:
72 PC
9 Liberal
2 NDP

Currently (until the election results on Monday) the Alberta Government is comprised as follows:
67 PC
8 Liberal
4 Wild Rose
2 NDP
1 Alberta Party
1 Independent

Based on the most recent poll listed here: http://www.electionalmanac.com/ea/alberta-seat-projections/ the projected make up of the Alberta Government would be about:
49 Wild Rose
33 PC
4 NDP
1 Liberal


This would result in a majority Wild Rose government.
Note: To have a majority government a party has to have 42 or more seats.


Now I'm not a conservative. In fact, according to CBC (Canadian Broadcast Corporation) VoteCompass (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/albertavotes2012/features/votecompass.html), I fall between Liberal and NDP (see pic at the top of this post)

I currently live in a riding where there is a Liberal MLA, he is however retiring. So I am now posed with an interesting question. Who do I vote for?

There is a movement to vote strategically to ensure there is more of an equal voice in the government. Their website (http://www.changealberta.ca/) indicates that the NDP candidate has the best chance to win.

I was at an all candidates forum last night (held at the nearby college). There are actually 6 candidates in this riding:
Alberta Party
EverGreen Party
Liberal
NDP
PC
Wild Rose

My impressions were that:
The Wild Rose candidate seemed to express herself a little inappropriately. She was the only one who was making faces at what the other candidates were saying, and in the beginning didn't want to stand to answer the question.
The PC candidate did not show up, he had a representative though, who stopped standing to answer questions half way through. And checked his mobile at least once during the forum. When the forum started the students hosting the event mentioned that they'd appreciate it if candidates did not have the phones on the table.
I am not going to comment on the EverGreen or Alberta Party candidates, mostly because I wasn't paying as close attention to them.
The Liberal candidate was definitely fired up, expressing her desire to ensure that the government stays accountable. Commenting on almost every audience question directed toward other candidates.
The NDP candidate seemed less impressive than the strategic voting website made him out to be. When he answered questions he had some humour, and had good responses. However he did not comment on any question directed towards other candidates. Including the last question directed to the Wild Rose which everyone else then commented on.

So this weekend I really have to think about who I want to vote for.
The Liberal candidate has the passion, is representative of the riding, and has already worked with the current MLA to understand the people.
The NDP candidate appears to have a chance of winning (the last I heard was that the NDP candidate was ahead of the Liberal candidate in the polls, but that was an automated message from the NDP. However the strategic voting site also has NDP as the best chance). He has a large number of signs around, is very personable from all I have heard.

. . . . .

I'll give an update on this on Monday night or Tuesday morning - when the results come in.