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Wednesday, October 20, 2010
The Calgary Mayoral Election - Revolution or Business as Usual?
Calgarians woke up Tuesday morning with a new mayor. Naheed Nenshi won an upset victory, defeating front-runners Barb Higgins and Ric McIver. Nenshi dubbed his campaign the "Purple Revolution" and, if you were to read the headlines, you might be fooled into thinking this was a political revolution.
"He achieved what many observers thought impossible — a wonkish, even dorky, academic and visible minority elected to the helm of what is often called Canada's most conservative city after a campaign driven by charisma and sheer determination," reads a story in yesterday's Globe and Mail.
To be sure, the Canadian media has been playing-up the redneck conservative stereotype that Calgarians are often saddled with for a few days now. "So Calgary, I'm writing you this letter as a friend. I feel someone has to let you know you've gone soft.… To stop this insanity and preserve your reputation as Canada's conservative bad boy, I am urging a massive 'Rob Anders write in' campaign for mayor. You need to make this happen, simply to keep the natural order of the universe in balance," wrote Dan Arnold in the National Post on October 14th.
Yet what should be surprising is not that Calgary elected a progressive mayor, or that it elected a Muslim mayor. Rather, I am surprised that anyone is surprised at all.
Calgarians have traditionally voted differently in municipal elections than they do provincially or federally. Outgoing Mayor Dave Bronconnier spent most of his nine years in office getting into pissing contests with the other two levels of government, in a bid to secure more funding for the city. He's basically the Danny Williams of the prairies. He also has ties to the federal Liberal party, having run for them in the 1997 election. So it's not like Nenshi is succeeding Attila the Hun.
While it may seem paradoxical to the rest of Canada—and many Calgarians—that the city would consistently vote for conservative politicians at the provincial and federal levels and at the same time vote for liberal mayors, I think the mentality is actually quite rational, if a little short sighted. Albertans have long been sceptical of government spending, especially if the money is going to support Eastern Canada. But if we're going to be taxed anyway, so the thinking goes, we might as well have a mayor who will try to keep as much as possible for the city itself.
Nenshi is also a bit of a paradox. He seems to have branded himself as a fiscally conservative progressive. Of course, it's simply impossible to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars while supporting progressive causes, but the key to winning in Calgary is to make people think you have a fiscally conservative mindset. I can't tell you how many Calgarians have tried to convince me that the Green Party of Canada has a fiscally conservative policy platform.
By all accounts, Nenshi is articulate, charismatic, well educated, and he used the Internet and social networking to ride a populist will for change straight into office. Sound like a certain U.S. president? Much like Obama, Nenshi could end up running up the debt with massive social programs and creating an uncertain political and economic climate that would scare away business investment (as if Premier Stelmach needed any help in that department). There is also a question of whether he will be able to push his policy platform through council, since he lacks political experience.
Nenshi does have some good ideas like allowing secondary suites and reducing red tape at city hall to make for a more friendly business climate. Unlike McIver, however, who pledged to reduce the corporate tax rate, Nenshi wants to create a "fair and equitable tax burden," which sounds like progressive code for increasing taxes.
He also wants to improve the transit infrastructure, reduce poverty, make the city safer, as well as build libraries, recreation facilities, and cultural centres. Some of his ideas, like improving the roads and rail lines, are much needed. Others, like conducting social engineering experiments on our neighbourhoods, are downright scary.
But where's the money going to come from? Calgary already has a higher debt to GDP ratio than Toronto, where mayoral candidate Rob Ford has a good chance of winning on his platform of derailing the "gravy train" at city hall. It would seem as though we're in for another three years of watching Calgary's mayor whine about how he wants more money.
So was Nenshi's victory revolutionary? Hardly. If you want to see a real Alberta political revolution, wait until Danielle Smith and the Wildrose Alliance unseat the governing Tories in the next provincial election.
(Photograph courtesy Naheed Nenshi. Licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license. Cross-posted on jesse.kline.ca)
Posted by Jesse Kline on October 20, 2010 in Municipal Politics | Permalink
Comments
Not living in Calgary I cannot comment on their choice. What did hit me was yet another politician "who wants to reduce or eliminate poverty. If any of them were sincere they would get out of the way of free enterprise, free markets and cease all the over regulation. But I understand that when a politician parrots this, it is simply a vote-catching mechanism without any real meaning.
Posted by: Alain | 2010-10-20 7:46:43 PM
It's troubling how many Calgarians have taken pride in electing a Muslim mayor because it 'finally ends that redneck reputation' we all allegedly suffer. Did these people vote for Nenshi because they share his ideology, or did they vote for him simply because he is a visible minority and hoped that his victory would change our so-called image? Alberta-guilt? Really?
More importantly, since when do Albertans give a damn what Eastern Canadians think of us?
Posted by: Leigh Patrick Sullivan | 2010-10-20 8:15:57 PM
Congrats to the dhimmi's of Calgary for voting in a muslim mayor. Better brush up on sharia law and think about getting burqa's for your wives. And Knox Harrington better stock up on the vino before the wine stores get shut down. If anything proves the stupidity of Calgarians this is it.
Posted by: The Stig | 2010-10-20 8:26:35 PM
And if you look at the official picture do you see any white people?
Posted by: The Stig | 2010-10-20 8:28:35 PM
What's your point Stig? I don't see what race has anything to do with this. He could not have been elected without garnering votes from Calgarians of all colours and creeds.
Posted by: Jesse Kline | 2010-10-20 8:50:28 PM
He could not have been elected without garnering votes from Calgarians of all colours and creeds.
Posted by: Jesse Kline | 2010-10-20 8:50:28 PM
However, it was the white vote that elected your muslim mayor. What's next a muslim premier? Harper wanted to build a wall around Alberta. The rest of Canada might think that a good idea now. And you're still a dhimmi.
Posted by: The Stig | 2010-10-20 8:59:40 PM
Good article, i liked the part at the end "Danielle Smith and The Wildrose Alliance unseat the governing Tories next election". i hope so and i dont live in Alberta.
Posted by: don b | 2010-10-20 9:08:22 PM
@Stig: I have no problem that he's a Muslim. I'm more concerned about policy. It's not like he's going to implement Shariah law or anything. I would be more worried about his liberal economic policies.
Posted by: Jesse Kline | 2010-10-20 9:21:38 PM
I am surprised that his religion is part of the story. "The first Muslim mayor." That he is not white and not Christian is good I guess.
Posted by: TM | 2010-10-20 9:24:43 PM
I have no problem that he's a Muslim.
Posted by: Jesse Kline | 2010-10-20 9:21:38 PM
Dhimmi's usually don't.
Posted by: The Stig | 2010-10-20 9:26:09 PM
And if you look at the official picture do you see any white people?
Actually, Stig, Arabs, Persians, and most other Middle Easterners are considered white. Not all Caucasians come from northwest Europe.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-10-20 9:36:08 PM
There can be no doubt that Calgary has made a massive swing to the Left with this election. Of course, as the city's corporate culture has moved to embrace "progressivism" and "inclusion", they have sought to diminish notions that made the city great, like individualism. Slowly but surely, Calgary will evolve into a welfare culture that will rival even Vancouver and Toronto. (Though it's still a long way from becoming a cesspool, like Montreal.) As for Islamification, this remains to be seen. Of course the new mayor will be put on notice: if you want to be "Tea Partied", do exactly what I think you're going to do. We should not be surprised by Calgary's embrace of progressivism: Harper's been acting like a progressive since he took office. Progressivism is just another word for socialism.
Posted by: AB Patriot | 2010-10-20 11:26:22 PM
The biggest problem I have with the new mayor is that he rejects ideology. This idiot actually believes with nonsense. Ideology is everything; it determines what one believes and how one thinks. Moreover, he is a "management consultant". In essence, he believes things can be managed, like the economy. One needs to look no further than this to see that the new mayor is a socialist/islamist. It would be wise for the voters of Calgary to denounce this mayor and begin preparations to defeat him in the next election.
Posted by: AB Patriot | 2010-10-21 9:42:37 PM
1. No, AB. Ideology tells people what to think. It is far better if they know how to think.
2. If there was any truth in your contention that nothing can ever be managed, we'd still be living in caves. Climbing out of the mud requires organization.
3. It might be wise to reserve judgement on this man's performance until you have actually seen some of it. Dismissing him out of hand because his belief system is different is the type of thinking that saw Jews being made into soap.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-10-21 9:52:23 PM
"....that saw Jews being made into soap."
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-10-21 9:52:23 PM
Where were Jews made into soap?
Posted by: The Stig | 2010-10-22 9:15:11 AM
Where were Jews made into soap?
Do I have to tell you, Stig? Where do you think?
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-10-22 11:17:37 AM
Do I have to tell you, Stig? Where do you think?
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-10-22 11:17:37 AM
Jewish History and Holocaust expert Deborah Lipstadt wrote in a letter to the Los Angeles Times that: "the fact is, the Nazis never used the bodies of Jews, or for that matter, anyone else, for the production of soap. The soap rumor was prevalent both during and after the war. It may have had its origin in the cadaver factory atrocity story that came out of World War I. The soap rumor was thoroughly investigated after the war and proved to be untrue."
Shmuel Krakowski, Director of Archives of Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Center, confirmed in a Chicago Tribune article titled, "A Holocaust Belief Cleared Up" that: "historians have concluded that soap was not made from human fat."
Posted by: The Stig | 2010-10-22 11:28:40 AM
Shane Matthews
You cannot "manage" Liberty. It is an inalienable right that all are endowed with. To attempt to manage anything is to attack Liberty, a high crime and worthy of the ultimate sanction. Jews are the greatest creators of wealth and culture, yet are under constant attack by humanity's most savage. Muslims are party to this savagery; it is engrained into them via their religion and culture. They identify with their religion before they identify with their citizenship. Theirs is a death cult that seeks to destroy everything, including Liberty. All the election of this mayor means is that Calgary will have to be more vigilant.
Posted by: AB Patriot | 2010-10-22 8:26:04 PM
First, this guy has zero business background. Claiming that a business professor at a junior college is a business expert, is like claiming a salesman at Boeing is an expert in jet fighter tactics.
Second, he's pushing 40 and lives in his mom's basement.
Third, I believe one of his professors was Michael Ignatiaf, and he's likely using this job as a stepping stone into federal politics.
Fourth, race and culture have everything to do with this election. It doesn't take any sort of majority to elect a mayor. A motivated group like the muslims can easily get enough people to the polls to grab political power. When he promises to build cultural centers in Calgary, that means he plans to influence the cultural footprint in favour of his own culture. He's a self-proclaimed "Israeli muslim". That is an absolute pro-Palistinian proclamation. Watch your ass Ezra Levant.
I don't live in Calgary, and I had no plans to ever move there. If I had considered moving there, this election would have made me re-consider. This is flat out bad for 95% of Calgarians. I wonder how long before the muslim call to prayer is broadcast from the Calgary Tower? I make a living from the T2P area code, and I really fear for the future of an industry that relies so heavily on American investment.
Posted by: dp | 2010-10-23 10:53:48 AM
Road signs will soon proudly announce, ' Welcome to the Calgary Caliphate". Christmas will become the "winter festival" while ramadan and eid get recognized as holidays. Western traditions and institutions will be chipped away at while muslim ones introduced. Any majority group that stands by and watches while an enemy takes control of its culture, history, civilization deserve what they get. As for Levant, who are the biggest supporters of massive third world immigration into this country and restrictions on free speech? Calgary, home of the stupidest people in Canada.
Posted by: The Stig | 2010-10-23 1:19:22 PM
Indeed. I propose that Ezra Levant move quickly to denounce this mayor. Moreover, I believe that Ezra should present himself as a candidate for mayor in the next election. Calgary needs Ezra, now more than ever.
Posted by: AB Patriot | 2010-10-23 2:39:52 PM
Good for you, Stig; you managed to unearth a couple of quotes. However, historian Yisrael Gutman indicates that soap was, in fact, made from Jewish corpses, but on an experimental basis only and not on a mass scale. Holocaust historian Robert Melvin Spector concurs with this opinion, observing that while there is credible evidence that the Germans indeed used human fat for soap at Stutthof, it was done only in limited quantity.
So while it is considered folklore that the Germans founded an entire cottage industry of making soap from dead Jews, it is historical fact that they at least experimented with it. Note that I did not claim that every Jew was made into soap.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-10-23 4:09:03 PM
You cannot "manage" Liberty. It is an inalienable right that all are endowed with.
I was talking about managing the development of society, AB. Don't play dumb with me.
To attempt to manage anything is to attack Liberty, a high crime and worthy of the ultimate sanction.
But to apply that sanction would itself constitute a form of management, and would thus itself constitute a high crime against liberty, and round and round forever. You didn't think very hard before making that statement, did you?
Jews are the greatest creators of wealth and culture, yet are under constant attack by humanity's most savage. Muslims are party to this savagery; it is engrained into them via their religion and culture.
Excuse me, through most of the last 1,000 years a Jew was much better off living in an Islamic land than they were in a Christian one. Many western European countries expelled all Jews, often in conditions of great brutality, through the Middle Ages. Indeed, Muslims usually respected Jews as "the people of the Book" and left them alone.
They identify with their religion before they identify with their citizenship. Theirs is a death cult that seeks to destroy everything, including Liberty. All the election of this mayor means is that Calgary will have to be more vigilant.
Actually, most of the negative attributes the West associates with Islam are in fact not Islamic but are the tribal traditions of the Arabian peoples, which actually predate Islam (and which Islam tried to ameloriate because the Prophet realized how intensely destructive they were). Know what the most populous Islamic country in the world is? Indonesia. When was the last time we had trouble with them?
Actually, if you do the math, you'll find that less than one in five Muslims in the world is an Arab. Most are Persians, Pakistanis, Turks, Indonesians, and Africans, most of whom give us little trouble. So put away your KKK literature and wise up, AB.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-10-23 4:18:44 PM
Shane Matthews
Judging by your most verbose and pithy screed, your defence of Islam reveals you to be on the payroll of the House of Saud. Perhaps you also own a copy of the "Chronicles of Zion"? No doubt you read it religiously. So now you are an apologist for Islam. Surely you are hoping for your place in the Calgary Caliphate.
Posted by: AB Patriot | 2010-10-23 5:57:29 PM
Judging by your fantastical and paranoid delusions, bereft of demonstrable fact or any measurable connection with reality, you must either be stoned or brain-damaged, perhaps having been dropped during infancy. X-Files conspiracy theories are wholly credible compared with this. You may consider yourself removed from the list of serious debaters and transferred permanently to the wingnut squad.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-10-23 6:12:43 PM
Shane Matthews
All you have described remains to be seen. However, it cannot be denied that the wahhabists among the House of Saud seek dominance in Europe and elsewhere. They have used their oil wealth to full effect, buying influence and securing many allies. They remain the most destructive force n the world today. The Islamists have many fellow travellers, and you may count yourself among them. You reveal yourself to be an enemy of Liberty. In this struggle, you must perish for Liberty to survive.
Posted by: AB Patriot | 2010-10-23 11:32:52 PM
AB, all I have described is accepted fact and history; there is no conjecture. You, on the other hand, have nothing else, except maybe KKK-style racist fantasies. And yes, it can easily be denied; at issue is how convincingly, and how truthfully.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-10-23 11:44:21 PM
Shane- I understand you're living behind enemy lines, and have to be careful about revealing yourself to the enemy, but I wish you'd stop throwing support to the enemy.
The real truth is, Calgarians are just oblivious to the threat they're facing. They aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, never have been, never will be. There's a small group who've been warning about the high number of Pakistani immigrants since the 70s. I remember calling them bigots, nazis, KKK, when I was a teenager. Turns out they had a legitimate concern. The offspring of those original immigrants are becoming radicalized, and many of them are anti-social. The most dangerous gangs are of south asian descent.
The connection between the different groups of middle eastern immigrants is the muslim brotherhood. These gangs comprise arab, african, asian, and persian members. The common thread is their religion. Now they have their flunky in city hall.
One thing that remains to be seen is whether his sexual preference is going to be overlooked by the more radical muslims.
Posted by: dp | 2010-10-24 9:46:48 AM
Did anyone yesterday see another dhimmi Calgarian, Jason Kenney, standing up in front of a sign that said" Welcoming Refugees" and announce that Canada is going to take in 2500 additional Iraqi muslim "refugees" per year. WTF do we need one Iraqi for? If these people are refugees it would seem that they should be going to Saudi Arabia or Egypt or Syria. Like most Calgarians the altitude seems to have atrophied his brain. Never again will I vote Conservative.
Posted by: The Stig | 2010-10-24 10:46:14 AM
Demographically speaking, I think its a little too early for Islamic politics to gain much ground in Calgary. The current Muslim population in Calgary is somewhere between 7 and 8%. In twenty years or so it will likely dominate the political scene. Calgary certainly doesn't resemble the city I grew up in and left 40 years ago.
Blatant islamification from this Mayor is unlikely given his one vote within a Council of 14 (Infidel) Aldermen. He doesn't have much opportunity to set that agenda. Given the three way split in mayoral votes, Nenshi's Islamic support, assuming an ethnic block vote and full turn out, could only amount to at most, about 18% of his count. If, as suggested, his ambitions are higher level politics, it would be politically suicidal to risk being responsible for backlash against the growing Islamic population.
Conversely, given the proclivity of radical Imams and some of their idiot followers, his potential moderation could conceivably endanger his mortal life. Many Muslims don't have a problem killing their own. It will be interesting to see how he is able to finesse these challenges in his new job.
If it hasn't already occurred, watch how the issue of proposed segregated Islamic female (municipal) swimming pool hours are handled when the Islamist delegation de jour makes that presentation to Council.
Posted by: John Chittick | 2010-10-24 12:35:29 PM
Vancouver isn't exactly behind enemy lines, dp; the number of Muslims in B.C. is comparatively small, and I have not seen the Islamic religion as a factor of any consequence in local politics. The big ones over here, apart from Christianity of course, are Sikhism and Hinduism. Our only major terrorist act--the blowing up of Air India 182--was perpetrated by Sikh terrorists. Of far more concern to most British Columbians is drug crime, and most gangsters in this province are white.
In any case, I wouldn't worry too much about this mayor. Mayors are virtually powerless, their delusions of grandeur notwithstanding, and their influence over anything more than civic construction and recreation is very limited. They can't pass laws; they can't change the educational curriculum; they have little influence over large corporations, who can easily relocate to another town; and their parties do not have the same "brand recognition" as provincial or federal policies, so "brand loyalty" is much less of a factor. People typically put even less thought into civic votes than provincial or federal ones; at the first whiff of displeasure they'll turf the incumbent for a complete unknown.
In short, I wouldn't worry too much. Either this guy will be a good mayor or he won't. In the case of the latter, Calgarians will come through with little more dangerous than egg on their faces, not that they'll remember the lesson. In Vancouver, people have voted for COPE twice in three elections, demonstrating a truly stunning level of civic stupidity. Glad I live in Surrey. As for gangs in both provinces, that's properly speaking a provincial and federal affair that will not be resolved until the current generation of bleeding-heart judges is put out to pasture.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-10-24 3:01:51 PM
All it will take is a volume of bribes and/or death threats to bring Calgary's Council in line with the Islamist agenda. Of course, they will stealthy integrate Sharia into city by-laws arguing that it supports "inclusion". Well, we shall she what happens when public use of community services, like public pools, become gender-segregated. And I suspect that the veil requirement will be imposed on non-muslim women so as to not offend muslim women. This is the same sort of practised that has already been witnessed in Europe. The mayor of Brussels was so pro-islamists (not being muslim himself, of course) that he allowed gender-segregation at a number of community resources, as well fast-tracking the construction of a number of mosques, when they failed to meet height restrictions. The mayor was bounced by his respective party, so he chose to run independently. Of course, he had trouble explaining why his campaign was financed by known wahhabist organizations. No doubt he was revealed to be another politician turned Islamist lackey.
Posted by: AB Patriot | 2010-10-24 3:27:47 PM
The suggestion that the mayor of Calgary is powerless is naive at best. The budget for the city is $2.5 bllion. Even a small percentage of the total reallocated for "diversity" and "inclusion" programs becomes substantial and a base from which the enemy can grow. The city also controls the hiring of 100's and over several years 1000's of people. Wanna bet you start see more muslims in city jobs and getting city contracts. He also sets the local social agenda, I'd bet ramadan will soon become officially recognized. . You only need to look at Tower Hamlets, which is a borough in East london, where a stealth islamist became mayor and intends to implement the much of what I've mentioned. Of course Calgarians believe this will never happen to them because they are too stupid to look at what goes on in the real world.
Posted by: The Stig | 2010-10-24 3:47:39 PM
Calgary is not the only part of Alberta in jeopardy. Edmonton has a much larger concentration of muslim immigrants. They have more visible minorities than most Canadian cities, in some areas.
Brooks has been overrun by African "temporary workers", mostly from Sudan and Somolia (read muslim). Ontario police have now tracked members of the African Mafia to Brooks. The ease with which these people commit violent acts is quite shocking. The crime rates in Brooks have quadrupled since they started arriving. There are areas where the police cannot enter. It didn't take Monte Solberg long to decide to move back to Ottawa.
Red Deer is having serious gang problems, and the worst are from Afganistan. Generations of war shaped these "new Canadians" into model citizens.
So, now we have the welcome mat out for more useless immigrants. Most of them will never contribute anything to society. Over half will never pay a penny in taxes.
There's a war coming. I sure hope those nukes the US built 50 years ago are still in working order.
Posted by: dp | 2010-10-24 9:25:42 PM
We can thank Jason "the 40+ year old virgin" Kenney for the influx of muslims into Canada. And he boasts that he will increase their numbers in the years to come. One wonders why he has such an interest in increasing their numbers. Bribes? Perhaps. Maybe he has presented Canada as a way of dealing with the gang problems through the muslim world? Great idea. Just move the gang problem to Canada. Alberta is filled with activities from these muslim gangs. One would have to be stupid to not know about it. The war is coming, but far too many have their heads in the sand to see it.
Posted by: AB Patriot | 2010-10-25 12:23:20 AM
First, Stig, holidays are not a civic-level matter; they are provincial and federal. The rest consists basically of politics as usual for whatever the politico's fair-haired group might happen to be; they've said the same about Italians, Irish, Jews, blacks, Puerto Ricans, Russians, Germans, Japanese, Communists, Bolsheviks, and just about any identity group you care to name. They said the same about hippies and to a large degree that one actually came true but only because there were so damned many of them.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-10-25 7:45:31 AM
A 50-year-old nuke's performance will likely be a fraction of what it was in 1960, dp; the radioactive components degrade over time. Old bombs are also dirtier. I wouldn't worry though; nuclear weapons have not been uninvented, and we can always make shiny new ones. Don't expect any Castle-Bravo– or Tsar-Bomba–sized explosions though—today's nukes are smaller with more precise targeting, although as any Hiroshima survivor can tell you, even a puny 11-kiloton bomb will ruin your whole day.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-10-25 7:49:58 AM
P.S. It doesn't matter where the gangsters are from; what matters is the reason for their proliferation: because we tolerate it. Again, judges are largely responsible, but then again look at the incredible scorn that is Stephen Harper's reward for promising to lock up violent criminals for longer. All anyone can talk about is how much it will cost. No one seems to even care how much safer it might be.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-10-25 7:52:33 AM
Even if this Nenshi guy has not been an active jihadist so far, Calgary will now be on the muslims' map as a specific target city for easier and faster islamization. We will soon notice an increased number of muslims calling Calgary "home" and more and more occurrences preparing the jihad conquest. Watch for things like: city festivals and events honoring muslims like the recent "month of islamic history", banning the word Christmas at the City Hall, more "cultural centers" and mosques being built with a large mosque being soon planned in the city center, more muslims hired and contracted at the city hall in the name of "diversity and multiculturalism". And so on... these will be only the first little steps made possible with the activism of progressives and liberals in the city council and by the acceptance of an electorate proud of its "openness" towards "visible minorities". All muslims, sikhs, arabs, pakistanis, south asians... come to Calgary and run it over. It's so easy!
Posted by: Chris B | 2010-10-25 10:56:01 AM
Shane- I realize BC has a higher Sikh profile than muslim, etc. I also understand the divides between their cultures. I just happen to believe they'd be willing to look past those differences in order to defeat our European Christian style culture.
People who live in Southern Alberta know that different types of snakes do not get along with each other. Bull snakes will kill and eat rattlesnakes, rattlesnakes make a meal of garter snakes, and so on. What is not so well known is that during hibernation, snakes set aside their differences, and crawl into pits for the winter, all together. Bull snakes, rattle snakes, garter snakes, western hog nose, all curl up in a ball, and fight off the cold temperatures.
I wouldn't count on regional differences to keep us safe from a combined assault. After all, they have a common enemy, us.
Posted by: dp | 2010-10-26 11:14:51 AM
Sorry, dp, but I don't see what they're doing as "assault." If the white man could go to live in an exotic country and change the laws there to better reflect his own outlook on life, he'd do it. Oh, wait, he has done it, usually at bayonet-point. To a degree, he's still doing it, and will continue to do so as long as he is able and feels it necessary. And so will everybody else. Human Nature 101.
Liberals are fools for having opened the Pandora's Box of multiculturalism; it has resulted in unnecessary friction and strife between different ethnic groups. But even America, where the melting pot effectively rules out any form of official multi-culti, experienced enormous ethnic strife in the first half of the 20th century, during its greatest influx of immigrants. The violence persisted for decades after the door was slammed in 1924, and was of a magnitude far exceeding anything Canada has ever seen, even allowing for the population difference. But it died down eventually.
My prediction? Provided the federal Liberals can be kept out of power long enough, the door will be slammed at some point. If rising ethnic tensions don't do it, the simple logistical impossibility of having to constantly build new infrastructure will. At present, Metro Vancouver has to build about 200 homes a day just to keep up. This can't go on forever. I don't predict Sharia Law or Arab-style tribal wars, and membership in gangs by immigrant children will drop off once their ethnic groups are more fully assimilated.
In the meantime, let's encourage peaceful co-existence and reinforce the point by hanging crooks of all races high. Hemp looks good on any colour skin when garnished with an Alcatraz ascot.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-10-26 12:22:12 PM
Good to see racism is alive and doing well.
Posted by: calgary123 | 2010-11-10 12:15:22 AM
Congratulations for calgarians to elect highly
Educated, honest and middle class mayor.
Religion should not be a criteria to judge a person. We live in a society which is multi cultural, we should choose between good people and
Bad people not between this faith or the other.
Posted by: Peter | 2010-11-16 1:52:08 AM
The Alberta Local Authotities Elections Act gives six weeks after an election night to submit any complaints of bribery or undue influence a winning candidate or their associates may participate in. An affidavit on such an act has to be registered with the courts by Monday November 29th, 2010
Any brave souls with knowledge to share?
Posted by: Larry | 2010-11-27 10:01:21 PM
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