Liberals from the East telling Conservatives in the West who they should vote for

CalgaryGrit EdmontonGrit TorontoGrit weighs in on the Wildrose Leadership race. Naturally he has little good to say about Jeff Willerton:

So, to recap: Willerton was running to become Premier of Alberta because he dislikes the federal Liberal Party. And he's not a separatist, but he believes Alberta should hold referendums to separate...every time a Liberal government is elected federally.

So to recap the recap: so? The notion of electing a strong provincial government in order to keep a dangerously strong Liberal government in Ottawa at bay is hardly a new one. And its not like we have just made grievances up for shits and giggles...

The National Energy Program.

With that in mind, what's quoted from Willerton makes perfect sense:

I believe we should go to the polls to reconsider our options in Confederation - each and every time a Liberal government is elected or reelected in Ottawa. We can't tell people how to vote, but if the east insists on having a Liberal government they need to know they might have it all to themselves at the end of the day.

(well, then he continues to go on and claim to be a committed Canadian, and all those things that real Albertans don't say). Nobody's perfect.

The comments (so far) to the entry are also very illuminating (far more than the repost at National Post's Full Comment site are, as is almost always the case). Take the first:

The numerous endorsements (remember Jim Dinning had lots of them!) on Ms. Smith's website and this "leak" about at least 10 MLA's crossing the floor if she becomes leader are nothing more than spin by her campaign team to try and create the optics that she is the only one with enough support to become leader and that the Wildrose Alliance Party is going somewhere only if she becomes leader.

The electoral math it lists below is a little telling, so worth considering. Another commenter compares Wildrose with the ADQ, which has its own parallels except for one important fact: Alberta is not Queerbec. This alone pretty much removes much of the impact of the comparison. A young bright and talented libertarian-leaning politician creates a big impact in the stale Quebec scene. Bright and talented libertarian-leaning people are pretty much the entire young population of Alberta excepting the imports at our universities. Apples and oranges involved there.