Taxpayers grade the candidates...

[coppertop]

The Alberta Health care system started to deteriorate when the Regional Health Authorities were formed in my opinion. The old hospital boards usually ran in the black, had plenty of doctors and nobody waited for hours in the emergency room etc.

Having said that, I realize that there are a lot more people in Alberta now, and the demands have grown. People who would not have survived heart conditions and some cancers years ago, are now treatable and many can live long and reasonably healthy lives, and for that I am grateful.

Private Health Insurance for those who can afford it scares me, just as much as forcing doctors to work in the public sector if they want to work in the private sector. I would hate to be the one who happened to get a grumpy doctor working his PUBLIC HEALTH hours and giving up his fat fee in the private clinic.....

There are so many issues at stake for Albertans with this leadership election, one being the ability of the new leader to bring the conservative caucus together with one common goal, which must be serving Albertans, and working within the existing confederation to further Alberta's position not only as a leader but a province that welcomes other Canadians within our borders, not builds a fence to keep them out.

[cakadu]

"My goal from the start has always been a broad, inclusive coalition that reunites all conservatives -- red, blue, green and calico -- within our party; a party in which every member will be treated with respect".

To play devil's advocate for a moment, if those conservatives who take the opposite stance on same sex marriage, i.e. are for it, will they be welcome in this all encompassing coalition of conservatives?

After watching the all candidates debate, the one candidate that I will give kudos to with respect to the health care question is Mark Norris. At least he had the wherewithall to state that the RHA's would have to go as that is where the money was trapped. In many of the government programs, the money doesn't get to where it needs to go, rather it gets trapped in administrative layers.

[Horse]

I wonder did anyone say they would give us the real figures [ie just where the money goes]on healthcare and then let us have an informed dicision IBC I made an apointment and it will take 8 days to get in here in the great nation of Alta.
I sure cant wait til this leadership is over and we start to get some of the dirt on what has been going on the past 14yr.

[ivbinconned]

Your a great advocate copper but you always overstate your argument like you did with this gem..."common goal, which must be serving Albertans, and working within the existing confederation to further Alberta's position not only as a leader but a province that welcomes other Canadians within our borders, not builds a fence to keep them out."


Alberta has been a welcome place for the motivated for decades and no one that I know of wants a closed border to newcomers!

[coppertop]

What would you call a firewall, or is it to keep out the Conservative government in Ottawa, that Morton was a great part of ????

How much are you willing to bet that Preson Manning comes out of the hills to endorse Morton fairly soon.....and we will be well on our way to the Alberta REFORM party in PC Clothing.

I have never been excited about anyone wanting to go in by the side door.

[ivbinconned]

You havn't read the "firewall" letter have you?

Politics can be alot of fun...check this out.

http://www.jimdimming.com/

Thats right two m's.

[coppertop]

Thanks for the info. I am not a Dinning fan, and have never been, we must never lose sight of the fact that he is the one that said deregulation of power in Alberta will not fail, judging by power bills since the deregulation took place, I think it failed Albertans.

[cowman]

I find it strange that 12 federal Conservative MPs are back in Alberta supporting Morton if he is this evil "break up the country" type? Maybe they see it as the last great hope to save this country?...Or we could just smear them as "Reform" and pretend they are bigots or rednecks or something? Or maybe we could further smear them as supporting an "American"?
Ed Stelmach might very well win this thing and I suspect he would be a good manager...after Ralph just about anyone would look good! The knock on Ed always has been he's a good middle manager but not much of a bold leader? Good at tinkering with a problem but not much for new ideas?
Personally I look at what is happening in Ottawa and Quebec and I think we'd better have a united Province out here or we are going to be getting the shaft! Harper thought he pulled a cute one by declaring Quebec a nation...it may come back to bite him in a big way! He might think it was a meaningless gesture but Quebec sees it as the real deal! How many billions is it going to cost, this time, to keep them in Canada?
And that is not fear mongering...that is just the facts of life? Quebec will have an election in 2007 and if the PQ get in they have stated they will hold another referendum within one year? We either throw the money to Charest real soon or we throw it to Quebec later to win the referendum?
I wonder will Ed or Dinning stand up and say "NO MORE MONEY" to Ottawa and Quebec?
In case you haven't noticed our infrastructure, hospitals, schools could use some work? We are not so awash in money that we can fix everything tommorrow...especially if we send even more money east! How much more could Alberta do if they had even a portion of the $14 billion we sent to Ottawa this year? How much less can we do if we have to send another $3 billion?
So while your shaking your car to pieces on pothole roads, waiting 8 months to get your hip replaced, knowing that your children are getting an education by selling chocolate bars door to door...be very happy your Quebec counterpart is having a good time on your dime!

[blackjack]

...you are right on that one cowman...i always get a kick out of the left wing thinkers...here is a chance to have a guy that (morton)wants to keep more of the tax dollars in alberta ...so would that not mean more money for our own infrastructure...everybody knows the red tories have been so busy running around the last five years trying to please everyone...that there was no direction...so in my opinion if people want more of the same vote for stelmach or dinning ...but it is time for alberta to stand up for itself and show other canadians we can live without big govt looking after us from cradle to grave...maybe morton can start us in that direction...

[coppertop]

If you think that a Ted Morton government will be able to keep more of our Alberta tax dollars in this province and not send them to Ottawa, you must also believe in the tooth fairy !!!
We have fought the battle over transfer payments over and over, and never come out on top. The fact that we have former reform MP's who are now Conservative MP's working for Morton says a lot, these are the self same MP's that just granted Quebec status as a nation within a nation, and Morton is the front man for the reform party in Alberta, that has never had the guts to run as a party on their own, but want to hijack the Conservative party, likely plant their own candidates in every constituency and run Alberta like a mini US !!!