It’s stupid Election Time in Calgary Again

Pop Culture
It’s stupid Election Time in Calgary Again
By Hervé St-Louis
November 20, 2012 - 00:18

There’s a federal election in the Calgary Centre riding in downtown Calgary. That’s where I vote or I think I will because I have no clue who I’m going to vote for next week. In recent polls, the Conservatives are pegged at 35%, the Liberals at 30%, the Greens at %25 and the NDP at 13%. Long time Conservative Member of Parliament Lee Richardson whom I met a few times quit federal politics in the spring to join Alberta Premier Allison Redford’s team. I didn’t know Richardson was a Red Tory. I thought he was another one of Stephen Harper’s born again right wing fundamentalist nut job.

Anyway, the new Conservative puppet that landed the ballot for the Conservative is a die-heart right wing Wildrose Alliance nut job. Ok, in polite company, one says “libertarian.” Her name is Joan Crockatt – no, not Davey Crockett. Although, hearing her speak about porn on public television and how much of a backwater hillbilly she is, she has to be related to Davey. It turns out that the fake Ann Coulter wannabe pissed off local “progressive conservatives.” They’re throwing all of their support behind the local Liberal candidate Harvey Locke.

See, Red Tories are much like Blue Liberals. Ok, they are the same bloody thing. It’s just that one is more oxygenated than the other one. Don’t ask me which. I was set to vote for Locke – hey, he shares the same first name (Harvey is Hervé in English), he speaks fluent French – which is always a huge deal with me, and he likes nature. Yeah, he’s a big environmentalist. That’s always cool with me.

So I was set to vote for Locke, until Justin Trudeau wrote a silly op ed piece about how it’s alright for CNOOC a Chinese State enterprise to takeover Canadian company Nexen. Like many Canadians, I’m not comfortable with that. Should a state-owned Chinese company have full ownership of a vital company with assets in Canadian oil and gas? Apparently, the Conservatives will approve the deal, but I didn’t know that Trudeau, the flamboyant son of the late Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau who’s trying to get elected as the leader of the moribund federal Liberals had opinions of his own. He’s got great hair, but he’s not known as a man of ideas. I prefer Marc Garneau and if he doesn’t run Martha Hall Findlay. Trudeau is an actor who knows what to say and tries to channel the “hope” and “youth” vote. However, his pronouncement for the Chinese deal marks him as just another suit. At least Findlay, another Calgarian seems small business-friendly and Garneau was Canada’s first astronaut. You can’t beat that.

So I called Trudeau an idiot. I’m not the first one to do so. I also tweeted about it. It was really a deception for me that Trudeau had to open his mouth because Locke had my unconditional vote. But then something silly happened. Whoever staffs Locke’s Twitter account blocked me. A politician who’s second in the polls blocks a potential voter who said he liked him but wouldn’t vote for him. Locke’s team has totally failed the social media thing. Mr Locke. YOU DO NOT EVER BLOCK SOMEONE WHO SAID HE WAS ABOUT TO VOTE FOR YOU. Yeah, I changed my mind. I can. It’s my vote. But you do not block a voter, ever. I did not troll you. I was even reconsidering the whole thing, because I read more about the guy I thought I was gonna vote for, after I changed my vote – Green Party candidate Chris Turner.

A little known fact known about Albertans is that they like to preserve their environment and vote Green in higher numbers than Ontario or Québec residents. I voted Green in the past. Greens are like Liberals without all the history. Chris Turner, the Green candidate has a professional team managing his social media campaign. It’s effective. I’ve noticed it. It’s the same team that made me notice Mayor Nenshi years ago, and made me vote for him. They know how to operate a social media political game. I don’t mind the Greens. I was happy to give them my vote until I read this article in Rabble.ca a Canadian political blog. Apparently, one of the tricks of Turner’s team is to predict when pollster are knocking on people’s door, hum phone numbers, and getting people to answer positively about voting Green. That inflates their numbers and would explain recent polls that pegged the Greens so high up in the polls. I don’t like that. I feel manipulated. I don’t like cheap tricks. Yeah, it gets the job done, but I don’t like cynical politicians. So I’m not sure anymore who I’ll vote for.

Then, there’s the New Democratic Party. These socialist guys are nut jobs too, only on the left instead of the right. I don’t know Dan Meades but I do know that I can’t stand his boss, Thomas Mulcair. He’s like Stephen Harper, but on the left. So the NDP is definitely not getting my vote.

In fact, right now, it seems that no one will get my vote. I don’t know about any other party. It was a choice between the Liberals or the Greens but I have issues with each of them. I don’t like being treated as a troll by politicians. I’m a voter, I have a right to express my opinions on Twitter openly and call people idiot. A smart politician would have reached out to me instead of blocking me like a troll. As for the Greens, I don’t like people gaming the system to inflate their numbers.

I guess I’ll just spoil my vote. It’s a sad day for democracy in Calgary Centre.