I read on Tiny Perfect Blog that Rahim Jaffer wants a do-over in Edmonton-Strathcona. I campaigned for the winning candidate, NDP Member of Parliament Linda Duncan during the last federal election, knocking on door after door, on block after block of the Edmonton Strathcona riding where I live. I believe in Linda: she’s passionate, committed to her community, and extremely intelligent. She’s got the right values for this riding and she has an uncanny ability to connect with people within the first 30 seconds of talking to them.
Tiny Perfect Blog glibly expressed that the Tories could have picked someone stronger. We do have good reason to be confident: Linda has been working hard in our community, having held two town-hall meetings since winning in October (read up on one of them here), so I’m certain her profile has only grown. Nonetheless, we didn’t win simply by being confident, and smug confidence is partly what sank Rahim.
So, with that in mind I’ll be getting in touch with our riding association and finding out what I can help out with and sending them a donation. I’ll also be sure to check out the riding association’s AGM May 6th at the Transalta Arts Barns. I hope you do the same.
I think that we would win again if an election was called tomorrow. One nice feather in our cap is the fact the NDP has insisted on reforms to the Liberal-created and Tory-perpetuated Employment Insurance system that would help out-of-work Albertans. The changes would increase eligibility and making sure the money Albertans paid into EI is used for retraining and EI benefits, rather than being siphoned off into general revenues. But even though we’ve got a strong hand, I remember that I am a New Democrat in Alberta. I don’t take anything for granted.
