Ed, Ed, Ed, chant triumphant Tories

Oh, brother.

Another exciting provincial election has come and gone, leaving "Steady Eddie" Stelmach at the helm of the province for another 4 years of PC bliss. Despite the lackluster election campaign (I didn't see one sign on a lawn, and remarkably few out and about town), Stelmach managed to clean up tidily, not only winning a majority mandate but even gaining seats from the last majority government which was won by none other than the legendary King Ralph.

Now, anyone who knows me, knows how I feel about Conservatives, progressive or otherwise. But I am in the wrong part of the country for that kind of attitude. The PCs have been reigning here undefeated since 1971. That is a long freaking time. Oddly, everyone in the running including our friend Ed was running on a platform of change. Seems to me that Albertans are quite satisfied with the status quo, so much so that much to my complete and utter satisfaction, they even completely shut out the Wildrose Alliance Party - a party that makes the Conservatives look downright leftist.

Interesting (?) Election Fact Round-up

• The PCs ran on a platform of spending. That's right - no tax cuts for the rich, no program cuts for the poor. Just a commitment to phase out the provincial healthcare premiums over the next few years. It was kind of like reading a Liberal platform, only it was blue and (hopefully) not all lies (thank you very much, Dalton McGuinty)
• The Liberals wanted to put a temporary cap of 10% a year on rent increases, and limit increases to once per year. Yes. A temporary cap of 10%. What is the cap now, you ask? Well, there isn't one. People have been faced with rents that have doubled and tripled with virtually no notice, and there isn't a damn thing they can do about it. Move out, and good luck trying to find another place that isn't priced out the ying yang. Of course, this was far too radical and leftist for the majority of Albertans. As far as I'm concerned, this isn't leftist enough to be on the Liberal platform.
• The NDPs managed to win 2 seats. This is down 50% from the last election. Nonetheless, I am proud of them for these 2 seats, and glad that at least in some of the province, people care about the environment. (see earlier rant on recycling)
• Being that this is the 11th consecutive majority government won by the Conservatives, they are the record holders for longest political dynasty in Canada. And I would imagine that with the way the economy is going here, it would take a pretty major faux-pas to unseat them anytime in the foreseeable future. At least these guys aren't evil reptilian kitten eaters from another planet. Oops, there I am thinking about my old friend Dalton again.
  
• As new residents, we were not allowed to vote. So thanks fellow Albertans, for electing the government that will spend my tax dollars for the next four years. Correction: thank you to the 40% who actually got off their butts to vote. Gah.