Sunday, February 10, 2008

Alberta Greens claim "legitimate shot" in 2 rural ridings.

This is from 570News. There probably will not be too much coverage of the Greens so I thought I would post something! I wonder what a legitimate shot is?
Probably it means something like a one in a thousand chance! However they came second in one constituency last time so perhaps it is more like one in a hundred or even ten.Their policies are a mixed bag some tilting to the right and some to the left.

Alberta Greens claim 'legitimate shot' in 2 rural ridings in upcoming election
February 8, 2008 - 19:06 By: THE CANADIAN PRESS
CALGARY - Launching his party's 2008 election campaign from the couch of a cluttered inner-city apartment, Alberta Greens Leader George Read couldn't get more grassroots or low-budget if he tried.
But the fact that there's no buzzing war room, fancy tour buses, glossy pamphlets or other expensive advertising is clearly a source of pride for the Alberta born-and-raised Read.
And he boldly predicts that Green momentum and mounting concerns over the environment give his party a "legitimate shot" at winning at least two seats in the March 3 Alberta election.
"If you're wondering why the Green party's growing, it's because ordinary people are doing something," Read said Friday.
"They're going out and they're saying: 'You know what? That's wrong, I want it changed, how do I get it changed?' "
The party is holding campaign schools in Edmonton and Calgary this weekend and hopes to field candidates in more than 50 of the 83 ridings across Alberta.
Greens are running in each of Calgary's 23 ridings, including Read himself in Calgary North West, where he confesses to having a "long-shot" chance at winning.
The leader says Green popularity is strongest in rural Alberta, where concerns over land, air and water quality are paramount.
Whatever limited resources the party can muster are being thrown at two rural ridings where it believes there's a chance for a historic breakthrough. Currently there are no elected Green politicians in Canada above the municipal level.
Joe Anglin, a Massachusetts-born businessman who raised his profile by successfully rallying local landowners to fight a proposed power transmission line between Edmonton and Calgary, is running in Lacombe-Ponoka.
And Edwin Erikson is running again in Drayton Valley-Calmar, where he had the party's best showing in the 2004 election with a second-place finish.
When the Alberta New Democrats launched their Calgary campaign earlier this week, leader Brian Mason called the Greens "quite conservative" and predicted they would erode Liberal and Conservative support more than his own.
Mason also said votes are parked with the Greens as a safe harbour location during the campaign until "push comes to shove" on election day and they go to one of the three major parties.
Read tries to avoid getting pinned left or right on the political spectrum, saying instead that policy decisions are based on what makes sense for long-term sustainability.
To be fair, some ideas sound downright pro-business: Read advocates homeowners being able to generate solar power to sell on the provincial grid. And while he calls Alberta's controversial royalty review a "compromise on a compromise," he doesn't advocate reopening it, as the Alberta Liberals and NDP do.
But he also is a strong advocate of public health care and said a Green government would impose much stricter environmental legislation on the oilpatch.
"The people of Alberta are moving towards a green agenda, and I believe the politicians are behind."
But Peter McCormick, a political scientist at the University of Lethbridge, said the Greens have been slow to get candidates and launch their campaign, and that could quickly erode support.
"This election has not exactly snuck up on anybody - it's been marching down the street with the bells going off for quite a while," said McCormick.
"Green is the colour of the new century, clearly, and considering that, I'm surprised at how low-profile they've been and how they don't seem to be coming out of the gate very quickly.
"Obviously they don't have much money, but they just don't seem to have gotten ready for this."

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