By any  standard tomorrow’s Alberta provincial election has  the potential to be historic. In one of the final polls of the campaign Angus Reid shows the Wildrose  winning a momentous mandate.

From  Prince Arthur Herald

The rise of the Wildrose was made possible by the Tory drift. Formed by disenchanted provincial conservatives looking for an alternative, it enjoyed single digit support and won no seats until 2009, when it won a Calgary area by-election and chose former journalist and policy analyst Danielle Smith as its leader.  Since then it has risen to first place in the polls and seems likely to form at least a minority government after the election this Monday.

Danielle Smith represents a breath of fresh air for small c conservatives and libertarians. Though a libertarian on most social issues, Smith is a strong fiscal conservative and a defender of individual rights. She is the first provincial conservative leader in as long as anyone can remember who is both articulate and charismatic. If elected on Monday, she will be the first unapologetically right wing Canadian premier since Mike Harris left office a decade ago.

Tomorrow night should be interesting, now. It’s  up for the voters to decide. However, good luck to Danielle Smith .

Hat tip Blue Canada

Recently Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak has been crisscrossing the province  hosting a series of round tables with business and community leaders. These gatherings serve a couple of purposes first these are great opportunities to connect with individuals who are most impacted by the liberal government’s lack of a long-term fiscal plan. Secondly and more importantly Tim Hudak is beginning to methodically lay out his  vision for the province of Ontario. Now one of Hudak’s priorities as opposition leader is not to just oppose but bring forward thoughtful ideas. In addition the Ontario PC party has been consistent with their proposals since the  budget was first introduced.

•     Controlling spending, reining in deficits and paying down debt;

•     Reducing costs for businesses through lower taxes and affordable energy;

•     Creating 200,000 new skilled trades jobs by fixing the apprenticeship system;

•     Changing the attitude of government: Competing US states meet with companies to ask what can be done to attract their jobs, plants and investment. In Ontario, they are shown into a roomful of bureaucrats and told all the things they can’t do.

Like many Ontarians across this province the government should be able to live within its means.

Do you know your portion of the provincial debt? Now you can find out with the newly developed Ontario debt clock.

This nifty piece of code can be added to any website to help raise awareness about Ontario’s growing debt problem. Since assuming office in 2003 the current McGuinty government has nearly doubled the province’s total debt. As a result of the fiscal mismanagement of the liberals Ontario is hurtling towards a $30 billion problem.

Hat Tip Sandy

The Ontario Liberals are doing some old-fashioned political posturing at Queen’s Park. Sunday night finance Minister Dwight Duncanreleased a statement that the Tories were going to force an election on the people of Ontario  .  In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Finance critic for the Ontario PCs Peter Sherman released a statement laying out in detail how Premier Dalton McGuinty has ignored many of Tim Hudak’s proposals.

A November face-to-face meeting between Tim Hudak and the Premier, laying out several Ontario PC proposals for jobs and our economy

·         A full week of tour and Queen’s Park activities to discuss Hudak’s plan to create 200,000 new skilled trades jobs by reforming the apprenticeship system

·         A week spent detailing the Ontario PC plan for a mandatory public sector wage freeze

·         The rollout of Hudak’s proposal to enable private sector and not-for-profit competition with public sector unions for the delivery of government services

·         A week of briefings on fixing Ontario’s broken public sector salary arbitration system, which awards settlements without regard to taxpayers’ or municipalities’ ability to pay

·         A week of speeches and media events on the need to treat energy policy as a cornerstone of economic growth

·         Province-wide meetings with businesspeople to make the case for lower business taxes

·         A series of major daily newspaper op-eds on the Ontario PC Planfor reducing the size and cost of government and growing our economy, and

·         A series of daily pre-budget statements by Tim Hudak and Ontario PC Caucus members on measures the budget

Now, who is really playing politics with the public good?