Saturday, March 01, 2008

Alberta Election: The Cause for Change

Much of the election campaign in Alberta has been dancing around the subject of change in our government. After 37 odd years of one party rule, the question has to be asked if Stelmach's PCs are even capable of the kind of change needed to rejuvenate a seemingly moribund government in Alberta.

Looking around a few choice Calgary ridings, we have some really interesting races.

In Calgary Shaw, we have John Roggeveen running against Cindy Ady - an MLA whose only claim to fame is undocumented committee work that she refuses to to be accountable for. While John Roggeveen might be a relative unknown, replacing Cindy Ady can't be anything other than an improvement.

Over in Calgary Fort, the Liberals have Carole Oliver and the NDP has Julie Hrdlicka running against long-time MLA Wayne Cao. Like now retired MLA Denis Herard, Cao is a long time bench warmer MLA for Ralph Klein. Cao's been around a long time, but like most long term MLAs, he has long ago forgotten the reasons why he stood for office in the first place. After dutifully obeying Ralph's orders for so many years, we have a choice between two women who are fresh, engaged and aware of the issues in this riding, or Wayne Cao who has been entrenched so long that he believes his interests _ARE_ the ridings.

That's just a small sampling of the choices in Calgary. As voters, we have options - we can choose to re-elect the incumbent party, and live with four years of mediocre representation and a continuation of the same myopic governance that has left the province gasping for air, or we can look at options from other parties that are energetic, interested and engaged - and willing to represent all of the citizens in a constituency, not just their cronies.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know why you think John Roggeveen could beat Cindy Ady in Calgary Shaw when he can not even get elected to his own Condominium Board of Directors !

MgS said...

How about asking yourself what's better for the riding - an MLA who has already demonstrated a sense of entitlement and arrogance or a new face. Right now, I pick new face.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to see your backup on this assertion. Why do you claim that he can't get elected to a condominium board of directors?

The last I checked, he was a family man, very involved within his community with a large family living in a house, not a condo.

It's time for a fresh new government - it's time for accountability and dedication to the needs of residents. I see the answer in John Roggeveen, not in Cindy (self-entitlted) Ady.

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