A couple of days after I stepped off the bus the premier of Alberta called a provincial election.Because I haven't lived here for the last three years,I'm not able to vote this time around,but that does not mean that I am not aware of the election and it's attendant issues.

 Much has change politically,so it seems since I left here three years ago.We now have a new political party,known as the Wildrose Party and the consensus seems to be that they are running neck and neck with the Progressive Conservatives who have ruled Alberta for the past 41 years.Why,then do I get the impression that the more things change the more they stay the same?

It all has to do with the rhetoric coming from some of the Wildrose Party's candidates,something the Progressives seem only too eager to point out.One candidate,a pastor and self professed Christian is credited with a statement saying homosexuals are bound to burn eternally in a lake of fire.The other,a white man running in a very ethnically diverse Calgary riding suggests that being white qualifies him to speak for everyone,whereas a Sikh candidate is qualified to speak for the Sikh community.But,"when a white man speaks everyone listens"(paraphrased).Well,when I listen I hear clumsy speech,though not necessarily racism.That is to say,I'm confident that I know what this man is saying,but the manner in which it is said leaves much to be desired.As for the Pastor,he notes that the statement,made in a blog is a statement of his "Christian" beliefs.This deserves much more commentary because I think his beliefs are significantly different from my own beliefs,also Christian.But I'll save that for another day.I only make mention of it here to show that the intolerant brand of conservatism long lurking in Alberta's dark corners has not disappeared.Suffice it to say,I would have great concern about being governed by such people and would not give the good Reverend my vote.

So it seems what we have is a choice between two conservative parties,in a very close race.So much for the idea that the political landscape has changed all that much.As a liberal,I wish there were a true liberal alternative.I would love to cast a vote for liberal ideals without resorting to socialists as that alternative.But there seems to be at least a glimmer of good news.If the race between the two conservative parties is as close as it seems,there is the very real possibility that either the Liberal or NDP party could hold the balance of power in a minority government with as few as a handful of seats.That would,of necessity change the way conservatives do business.The governing party,whoever that turns out to be will have to learn to do something that they traditionally haven't been good at here in Alberta:consensus building.