Canada

I just think that it’s unfair to bash the entire province for the views of a minority that’s so small that they make Quebecan separatism feel like they’re only an election away from a super majority.

I think the intent here is not to bash anyone, let alone the collective on its entirety. You can read "Alberta is a threat to Canadian unity" more as "Alberta's Government is a threat to Canadian unity". And if next election cycle the people of Alberta decides to re-elect Danielle Smith, then you'll have your awaited answer on whether albertans themselves, as a collective, are also a threat to Canadian unity.

Now think about this fact: last election conservatives knew they were threatened by NDP, so you'd expect all the UCP loyalists to show up, but in fact turn-out is lower and results are way worse than prior election. In other words if we assume that those 70% contain more UCP supporters (or secession folk) I can't find plausible evidence to support that. So that's their entire electorate give or take a few thousands. The rest wants nothing to do with them. If it wasn't for FPP, AB governance would look very different. But like I said earlier - none of the parties (NDP included) is willing to change that.

change tack to what? Antagonizing and pissing off "the other"? Mobilizing progressives, helping them gaining ground - for sure. Name calling and trolling is not going to help.

Did it, though? Alberta has just been another part of Canada, so nice vs. mean didn't enter into it the way it would if there were actual sides.

No they didn't. Calgary has 25 seats, 14 of which are NDP. In 2023 there were 5 more that were lost by fewer than 1100 votes combined, which would have changed the outcome of the election. This was the best head-to-head showing by the NDP in Alberta ever.

And with high-visibility Calgary-centric Nenshi as leader, It's entirely possible that that balance flips.

Calgary isn't as conservative as you might want to believe.

A bunch o' ridings were gearing up for recall campaigns before the federal election got called. A whole lot of folks were distributing literature and rallying volunteers until folks refocused on the federal election.

Once the election is done, I'm pretty confident that'll ramp up again - the UCP ain't getting less corrupt. Check out abresistance.ca for info.

As someone in Alberta I'm not convinced the people didn't slide to the alt right along with the party. Basically, it's the Wildrose party in all but name. The crazies ate the short sighted moderates who merged with them to avoid losing again.

Nobody hates on Jason Kenney like they should. He killed this province. Whether he and/or Smith are symptoms of the same disease rotting the floor boards out of the USA aside.