聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 Democracy as defined by Mirriam-Webster Dictionary is a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 In Alberta this right was exercised as the strongly Conservative province broke the mold and went on to do a complete 180 by electing, not even a Liberal government which is more central, but the left-wing NDP party by a landslide.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 One of the best headlines of an article I read online was, 鈥�'The Texas of Canada' just elected a left-wing government.鈥� The writer likens Alberta to the ultraconservative Texas with their oil reserves and conservative leanings... in fact this huge shift I believe is unprecedented because not only did NDP win the election they gained a majority government.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The question is how will this affect the province? Many people are already worried about it, I've spoken with friends who live in Calgary. One of them said that she is excited about the change and finds it odd how worried people are being about the change. She said that the new Premier, Rachel Notley, is not overly extreme and that things weren't really going well for the province anyway.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Now with this complete 180 that Alberta has done, what will it mean federally?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 One of the funniest posts I saw following the election was a spoof. It was a photo of Steven Harper's Alberta home with a for sale sign on it.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Could the NDP do federally what they have done in Alberta?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Will Alberta be NDP or Conservative federally? Being provincially NDP will likely correlate to a stronger force for the NDP in Alberta. If the New Democrats could sway Alberta, then there is a chance that the NDP will not only gain traction in Alberta federally but a wave could sweep through the nation.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 However, provincial and federal elections can be very different and even if a province is NDP they may not be federally, as transferring political support from the province to the nation is not guaranteed.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I do feel that the younger generation in Alberta had a strong hand in facilitating change in the province. Many people I know in Alberta are aligned with that party. As young people are reminded the importance of exercising their right to vote, I feel like this may change the tides of Canada as typically more and more young voters find themselves in agreement with more left-wing parties like the Liberals or New Democrats.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 No matter what your political views are, it's the importance of exercising the right to vote that is important. People around the world stage uprisings and go to war in order to maintain or gain the right to do. People like having a say and democracy allows this to happen.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 It's not a perfect system and not everyone will be happy with the end results, but it is better than many other systems out there. We at least have a voice and a choice.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 So, regardless of where your political views lie, democracy and exercising your right to vote is something everyone should do. Become educated on the different parties and what they stand for. No party will fit perfectly with everything you believe, but there will be one that is the best fit for you overall.
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