A group of New Democrats, Liberals, and Greens supporters uniting under the banner of the Alberta's Democratic Renewal Project have launched their website. I haven't been involved in this group, but a friend who has described it as being focused on uniting Liberals, New Democratic Party, Greens, and Independents to create an alternative coalition to the ruling PCs.
Being involved in Alberta politics can be pretty disheartening, frustrating, and alienating if you're not a member of the Progressive Conservative or Conservative parties, but I am easily refreshed when I see politically engaged Albertans looking beyond traditional party stripes to engage each other in dialogue about Alberta's future.
Monday, February 02, 2009
alberta's democratic renewal project.
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14 comments:
it is truly refreshing since any previous discussion groups ended up in the formation of a far right party, whereas this group is avoiding far right or left classification and setting their sights on - hold on now - centre politics where most of Alberta operates? holy toledo......
Haven't paid much attention to Alberta politics, other than for the brief time I was in Edmonton as a student. It's heartening to see non-right Albertans trying to get a coalition going, although when I read the title which includes "Democratic Renewal," I was hoping for something more substantive. You know, not just about electing a government which is an alternative to the Cons - which is good -, but also democratic renewal in the form of, say, electoral reform.
Oops. When to their site. Under Values one finds: "Elections where every vote counts. Reforms include proportional representation..."
'Tis good. :-)
after reading and pondering all the various discussion "groups" about where the political centre is going....I am left with the question why does no one raise the issue of the disproportionate rep that exists of rural vote to urban vote? talk renewal all we want, but a think tank like this MUST take on the issue of this outdated belief we are a rural economy!!
Calling what amounts to nothing more than an attempt at a united left coalition a "democratic renewal project" is disingenuous. As is not respecting the fact that the current government is a duly elected one.
It'd be nice and productive if this were a discussion about what can be done better rather than why it is apparently so horrible out there (even though it isn't).
People aren't stupid; stop treating them that way. That'd be a start.
TJK: Of course the Past-PC candidate for Edmonton Strathcona is going to dismiss this. Instead of promoting division in Alberta by dismissing this group of Albertans, why not accept that there are actual Albertans with grievances against the current form of politics in Alberta?
I completely accept that. So either form a coalition group dedicated to getting elected or form an all-encompassing group to look at and provide what they think would improve the political process in Alberta. This is neither.
If they'd help raise the discourse, I'd be much more encouraged for both their sake electorally and our sake in terms of being pushed to do better.
I'm certainly not "promoting division" Mr. Anon. Just stating that I think the messaging of the group's name is disingenuous.
I also wasn't dismissive.
The site is a farce. I congratulated on taking the initiative and this was his response:
Alvin Finkel to me
show details 3:33 PM (57 minutes ago)
Reply
Hello Alberta Centrist. I'm going to have to decline your request to join our forum. If you read the mission statement, you will readily see that we are trying to create unity among opposition forces, not to try and form yet another political party in Alberta. I'm going to decline your request to be part of our forum group.
Sincerely,
Alvin Finkel,
Moderator,
DRP Forum
We need to keep the NDP right where they are anyways. We need a party on the right, and left, to marginalize. It smelled of NDP from it's homepage
Even more reason to believe that the establishment of the Liberals and NDP are losing control of their party members.
Alvin Finkel was one of the six people who voted in favour of a merger with the Liberals at the last NDP convention. He never accepted the fact he lost and NDP members just aren't willing to go there.
I checked the site out and there were a grand total of eight names listed as members of the chat board. That's two more than Alvin recruited to go to the NDP convention, so I guess he's making progress.
While understandable, it's unfortunate that you have to register to even see the forums. I would guess that they're the most interesting content at the moment, and I'd like to be able to skim before I hand out my email address.
I'm sincerely interested in democratic renewal, and not interested in "democratic renewal which is actually a codeword for getting [insert party here] elected." It'd be nice to see which kind of renewal this actually is.
On a related note: I'd like to see what the DRP's working definition of "inclusive" is...
Alberta Centrist, if that smells of NDP to you then you should probably blow your nose, it clearly smells of a centrist cowpie.
No one who attended last year's NDP convention should assume that the vote on electoral cooperation was reflective of the membership's feelings. The whole agenda for that convention was a railroad job, with the Party leader given time to decry and shame anyone interested in cooperation just prior to the vote. Likewise, those who had come to speak for exploring cooperation were scuttled and only given time to speak (aka Gill McGowen of the AFL) after the vote was already cast.
I know many members mearly abstained, feeling that they would surely be "marked" if they voted for cooperation. Since then I have heard from several high ranking New Democrats that they know which six ppl voted for it, so it is clear that names were being taken.
The entire party structure over at the AB NDP is meant to ensure that Mason (and to a lesser extent Notley) continue to have their soapboxes and are assured of pensions. All the resources are used to protect those two seats with very VERY little thought or effort given to real growth. If anyone doubts that, they need only look at the strategy the NDP used in the last election and see what happened to their seats in Calder and Beverly.
Hey...the mentioned your name in the Calgary Herald today with respec to your involvement with this group. FYI...
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