Election 2011: rabble.ca has chosen 10 key ridings across Canada for progressives to watch in the run-up to the May 2 vote, and asked local writers to assess them. The profiles highlight why the riding profiled is important and issues local campaigns are focused upon.
In Alberta this week, all roads lead to Edmonton-Strathcona.
Down those roads, metaphorically speaking, flow the three Ms of Canadian politics: Mail, Money and Manpower.
This is because the folks who live along the still-snowy streets of the riding -- which may soon be leafy and green as what Lucy Maud Montgomery called "the beautiful, capricious, reluctant Canadian spring" finally comes to Alberta -- are represented by a New Democrat!
2.jpg "David Climenhaga, author of the Alberta Diary blog, is a journalist, author, journalism teacher, poet and trade union communicator who has worked in senior writing and editing positions with the Toronto Globe and Mail and the Calgary Herald. His 1995 book, A Poke in the Public Eye, explores the relationships among Canadian journalists, public relations people and politicians. He left journalism after the strike at the Calgary Herald in 1999 and 2000 to work as Communications Director of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, which with more than 73,000 members is Alberta’s largest union and Canada’s 10th largest. Alberta Diary focuses on Alberta politics and social issues. Contact: albertadiary @ gmail.com")