texas north

A loyal reader from Ottawa intrigued me with his comment about Alberta. What's it like there?

Comments

  1. Anonymous3 December 2004 at 13:40

    Well, it's extremely conservative by Canadian standards.

    The Conservative party has won every provincial election for the last 38 years.

    The premier has threatened to invoke the notwithstanding clause (allowing a temporary override of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms) if gay marriage makes it into federal law.

    60% of Albertans (versus 20% of the rest of Canada) would have voted for Bush.

    However, to be fair Alberta would be considered centrist in Bush's America.

    It's all relative. Many left wing Americans are centrists in Canada. Canada's left wing would be considered the right wing in many European countries.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous3 December 2004 at 13:40

    Well, it's extremely conservative by Canadian standards.

    The Conservative party has won every provincial election for the last 38 years.

    The premier has threatened to invoke the notwithstanding clause (allowing a temporary override of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms) if gay marriage makes it into federal law.

    60% of Albertans (versus 20% of the rest of Canada) would have voted for Bush.

    However, to be fair Alberta would be considered centrist in Bush's America.

    It's all relative. Many left wing Americans are centrists in Canada. Canada's left wing would be considered the right wing in many European countries.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous3 December 2004 at 13:45

    It also has oil, cattle ranchers, and cowboy hats.

    --Kyle

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous3 December 2004 at 13:45

    It also has oil, cattle ranchers, and cowboy hats.

    --Kyle

    ReplyDelete
  5. laura k3 December 2004 at 14:04

    Thank you! That's an excellent description.

    You're so right, many liberal Americans would be middle-of-the-road in Canada. I look forward to being less on the fringe for once in my life.

    Believe it or not, I have to look at a map to see where Alberta is. My Canadian geography is not so good yet.

    ReplyDelete
  6. laura k3 December 2004 at 14:04

    Thank you! That's an excellent description.

    You're so right, many liberal Americans would be middle-of-the-road in Canada. I look forward to being less on the fringe for once in my life.

    Believe it or not, I have to look at a map to see where Alberta is. My Canadian geography is not so good yet.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous15 December 2004 at 13:28

    kindof a late response to this post but as an Albertan and a socialist leaning liberal I figured I should chime in... Alberta is a great province, people tend to be conservative except in the larger centres (Calgary, Edmonton, and even where I live Lethbridge) We have the lowest tax burden in the country with no sales tax, and the lowest income tax. We just had an election and it was one of the closest in recent memory with the Liberal party more then doubling there seats and the NDP doubling as well.

    We have the reputation of being the Texas of Canada but this is slowely changing as our population diversives (Alberta has the highest rate of influx of people of all the provinces) Our stigma of being having an oil and ranch based economy is changing with a large number of technology companies moving and starting up in Calgary. And there are enough progressive people to elect some members to parliament for the liberal party.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous15 December 2004 at 13:28

    kindof a late response to this post but as an Albertan and a socialist leaning liberal I figured I should chime in... Alberta is a great province, people tend to be conservative except in the larger centres (Calgary, Edmonton, and even where I live Lethbridge) We have the lowest tax burden in the country with no sales tax, and the lowest income tax. We just had an election and it was one of the closest in recent memory with the Liberal party more then doubling there seats and the NDP doubling as well.

    We have the reputation of being the Texas of Canada but this is slowely changing as our population diversives (Alberta has the highest rate of influx of people of all the provinces) Our stigma of being having an oil and ranch based economy is changing with a large number of technology companies moving and starting up in Calgary. And there are enough progressive people to elect some members to parliament for the liberal party.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous15 December 2004 at 13:39

    Well, of course I'm exaggerating a little. And I can sympathize about being painted with the same brush. I mean, I'm originally from New Brunswick. If you think Albertans are stigmatized, then how do you think us poor "lazy, welfare bum" maritimers feel.

    Still, it's easier to have low taxes when you're sitting on a gold mine (or in your case oil sands). It gave Alberta the boost it needed to allow it to diversify its economy and become the fastest growing province in the country. However, your neighbors in Regina and Saskatoon aren't doing nearly as well despite sharing similar values.

    --Kyle

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous15 December 2004 at 13:39

    Well, of course I'm exaggerating a little. And I can sympathize about being painted with the same brush. I mean, I'm originally from New Brunswick. If you think Albertans are stigmatized, then how do you think us poor "lazy, welfare bum" maritimers feel.

    Still, it's easier to have low taxes when you're sitting on a gold mine (or in your case oil sands). It gave Alberta the boost it needed to allow it to diversify its economy and become the fastest growing province in the country. However, your neighbors in Regina and Saskatoon aren't doing nearly as well despite sharing similar values.

    --Kyle

    ReplyDelete
  11. laura k16 December 2004 at 04:51

    Thanks for the different perspective on Alberta. I'll even chime in in defense of Texas: there are progressive-minded people everywhere. The majority tends to speak for the whole. And things change, but images don't update.

    I promise not to exclude Alberta in my Canadian travels. :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. laura k16 December 2004 at 04:51

    Thanks for the different perspective on Alberta. I'll even chime in in defense of Texas: there are progressive-minded people everywhere. The majority tends to speak for the whole. And things change, but images don't update.

    I promise not to exclude Alberta in my Canadian travels. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous16 December 2004 at 07:29

    The maritime provinces are the smallest in Canada. They have small economies, and the only large city is Halifax. People in other parts of Canada consider us moochers, since there's a lot of federal funding to compensate for the small tax base.

    --Kyle

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous16 December 2004 at 07:29

    The maritime provinces are the smallest in Canada. They have small economies, and the only large city is Halifax. People in other parts of Canada consider us moochers, since there's a lot of federal funding to compensate for the small tax base.

    --Kyle

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous16 December 2004 at 07:36

    Kyle,

    I hear you about the comments on Eastern Canada and we all have to remember that all generalizations are false (pun intended)... Good to hear u would travel here L-girl, but it is quite a ways from Toronto! Just wanted to make sure people didn't think we were a bunch of cowboys that spend too much time in the barn ;)

    Peter

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous16 December 2004 at 07:36

    Kyle,

    I hear you about the comments on Eastern Canada and we all have to remember that all generalizations are false (pun intended)... Good to hear u would travel here L-girl, but it is quite a ways from Toronto! Just wanted to make sure people didn't think we were a bunch of cowboys that spend too much time in the barn ;)

    Peter

    ReplyDelete
  17. laura k16 December 2004 at 11:05

    Travel is good. Travel to someplace far and different is better.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

blood for oil

Independent journalist Greg Palast writes : The Bush administration made plans for war and for Iraq's oil before the 9/11 attacks, sparking a policy battle between neo-cons and Big Oil, BBC's Newsnight has revealed. Two years ago today - when President George Bush announced US, British and Allied forces would begin to bomb Baghdad - protestors claimed the US had a secret plan for Iraq's oil once Saddam had been conquered. In fact there were two conflicting plans, setting off a hidden policy war between neo-conservatives at the Pentagon, on one side, versus a combination of "Big Oil" executives and US State Department "pragmatists." "Big Oil" appears to have won. The latest plan, obtained by Newsnight from the US State Department was, we learned, drafted with the help of American oil industry consultants. Insiders told Newsnight that planning began "within weeks" of Bush's first taking office in 2001, long before the September 11th...
Read more

the great weed of 2015?

You will not be surprised to learn that Allan and I own a lot of books. And CDs. And even LPs! Many, many hundreds of each. We have culled our collection a bit over the years, out of necessity, but living in houses for the past 10 years, we expanded again without much thought. Now here we are in an apartment. It's a large apartment, to be sure, but we no longer have extra rooms where we can stash as much stuff as we like. And neither of us wants to fill up every inch of wall and floor space with books and music.    Thus we are contemplating weeding our own library. And this is very strange.  Books are us. Or are they? When I was in my 20s, I wanted to own every book I'd ever read. I was one of those people who believed that my personal library was a statement about myself. I needed to proudly display my politics and my tastes through my bookshelves and records. I loved seeing other people's libraries, and loved when people perused mine. I can recall that when we found our...
Read more

the limits of empathy, part 2

When I was a kid, I used to fantasize about a magic potion that would change me into a different person. Not because I was trying to escape my own life, but so I could truly know what it was like to be someone else, from inside their skin. The potion would turn me into that other person for a set amount of time, then wear off and I'd be me again, but I'd remember everything I experienced and felt. I didn't dream of being specific people, just people essentially different from me, or with extremely different lives. A man. A black person. A coal miner. A rock star. Often these mental exercises revolved around someone who had suffered great hardship. A slave. An abducted child. I still do this to some extent - and you probably do, too - just without the hocus pocus. We imagine what it's like to be an Iraqi. Or a stranded tsunami survivor. While walking my dogs this morning, watching them sniff a bit of brick wall as if it contained the Secret Of Life, I remembered this chi...
Read more