Well, as much as it hurts to say... Congratulations Stephen.
boosterjuice said:
Give Klein some credit. Alberta is the most prosperous province.
I did post on this topic in the 218 Reasons Not to Vote Liberal thread, and it did not garner any response, but I will persist.
The ascendency of Klein in Alberta is tied with Oil, and that is indisputable. While he was mayor of Calgary a few decades back, he introduced measures that ensured downtown transportation infrastructure would not interfere with business (particularly oil, since at the time it was the only sector that showed significant growth). And while this seemed like a good idea at the time, the arrangement of roads, trains, and the stagnancy of oil institutions led to a proliferation of suburban residence that is now nearly unrivaled by any other city. For every job created in the oil patch, seven periphery jobs were created in the late 70's. Developers began to purchase plots and provide accommodation for the growing industry strain, and the city ballooned to the footprint of a behemoth (comparable to New York and other metropolitan centres, with a fraction of the population). Suburban sprawl, in North America as a whole, then sparked more growth in the oil industry, as commuters needed to travel large distances in order to gain access to the poorly planned downtown core. Prosperity in oil was definitely encouraged by Klein's stance on industry, but the future economy of the province was put in jeopardy by the inefficient and short-sighted organization of people and dwellings. Now we are having to put limitations on development permits in Calgary (by adding a municipal 3500 dollar levee) because the low density, high traffic city that Klein built is completely unsustainable.
A burgeoning oil economy is the case on the provincial scale as well, seeing as the only industry that has seen re-investment from Klein, in a significant proportion, is Black Gold. Tourism, sports, and natural amenities (like Jasper National Park and the ski resorts) are only secondary industries that would starve without the prosperity of Oil. Klein has made cuts on education and infrastructure to an effect that the quality of life for new citizens (and old) will continue to decrease, as cities expand and demand for peripheral services increase. More people in Calgary will be forced to live far away from where they work (as downtown real estate is at its all-time high), and they will be forced to spend more on basic social necessities (like transport and energy) in order to compensate for both the financial and civic planning inadequacies of the Klein government.
Indeed, things look great now... but the legacy of the Conservative reign will be very bleak if trends continue and our resources are mismanaged in the pursuit of an unsustainable goal: putting faith in a depleting commodity.
Considering Klein is one of the major Conservative precedents for Oil and energy management, my optimism for growth in a Conservative
Canada in other economic sectors for the long-term is quite small. And my criticisms thus far have been irrespective of the consummate moral legislation that the Conservatives bring forward during every election term that drag out tax paying dollars pursuing scapegoatism. It is likely that Stephen Harper will appoint Western Conservative Senators, and introduce legislation that favours the growth of Western industry, and the persistence of an upper-middle-class lifestyle that is a completely irresponsible waste of energy and service.
What the Liberals did with money mismanagement will be nothing compared to what will happen if the projections of the Conservative philosophy of economy are applied to Canada at full-scale. It seems the only human rights the Conservatives care about are those of Oil Executives.
This is coming from the son of an Oil Executive.
...
And boosterjuice, I would like to know how this logic follows...
boosterjuice said:
Many Canadians feel the need "lock up their uterus' ". If the Conservatives can actually show Canadians that they care more about fiscal responsibility/lower taxes, I think most Canadians might start to feel safe about their uterus and vote conservative.
Management of money and fiscal accountability is only one aspect of the political sphere, but how does a focus on deregulation imply that the Conservatives will not address their philosophies on Canadian lifestyles? I would like to hear how economy even becomes a factor in this instance.
Probably one of the most short-sighted, uninformed statements I've ever read. 
