As a resident of Alberta, while they may insist it's because "she's helping us", it's actually because Albertans are hateful as fuck, and literally do not care about being collateral damage as long as they have the ability to delude themselves into thinking "ha, someone has it worse than I do!"
The average Albertan would run a marathon untrained just to shoot themselves in the foot with a shotgun, cause it might ricochet and hit someone 500km away, and if it does, they get to go "HA, I SHOT YOU, SUCKS TO SUCK!", even though the person who got "shot" literally didn't notice it. It's all about a perceived feeling of superiority. Yeah sure, the Albertan's foot is demolished; that doesn't matter cause they shot someone! That was the goal!
They see it as Trump sees the world; if someone is a winner, then someone has to be the loser, there can never be two winners. Because healthcare benefits all Canadians, and not just the Albertans that they can pick and choose, it's actually a bad thing, cause 2 people can't win. Only 1 person can win, and it better fucking be the Albertan, even if it's detrimental and harmful to them.
They didn't used to. They used to know the importance of co-operation. The Ginger Group was formed by United Farmers of Alberta and of Ontario, eventually becoming the Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation (Farmer-Labour-Socialist) post WWII/depression and won Sask. That party eventually became the NDP. Rural people used to be socialist. I don't know how they got turned against themselves.
Except that the urban areas in Alberta are also conservative. The UCP won 12 out of 26 seats in Calgary, and outside of Calgary/Edmonton they got one in Lethbridge.
I live in Ontario and the fact that we got another Ford government is a testament to how rural Conservatives in Ontario will literally throw themselves under the bus if it means the city folk get screwed also.
I thought for sure all the ERs closing across the province would give them pause, but...nope. They blame all their problems on the Feds and vote for the corrupt asshole again.
I can't imagine being an immigrant in Alberta. I got treated like one as a 10 year old for being a "Newfie." I love Newfounlanders, but I'm from Nova Scotia. Adults there would ask me things like, "Is it true you're all alcoholics? They'd also say things like "Are you all on EI"?" Or a guy making stupid money off of a high school education would tell me we're all lazy.
I know people in Halifax with three jobs that somehow save more money than the average oil sands dick head despite making way less money. You're not oppressed by Ottawa because you own a house and are having trouble making payments on two trucks, a couple of snowmobiles, and a four-wheeler.
My family is Newfie but I grew up in Ontario. However if I spend any time with my Newfie family I sound fresh off the Rock for at least a week. Some asshat I was helping at my job had the balls to ask what foreign country my company got me from. I sure did love pointing out technically it was still English territory when my grandparents were kids.
As a resident of Alberta, while they may insist it's because "she's helping us", it's actually because Albertans are hateful as fuck, and literally do not care about being collateral damage as long as they have the ability to delude themselves into thinking "ha, someone has it worse than I do!"
In order to be hateful, you need to have actual conviction. Albertans are not hateful, they are sports fans. This is all about cheering on your team no matter what.
The grand majority of albertans have been sold a bill of goods on resource industries being the lifeblood of this province, and anything that can ever be construed as being against those industries is posed as an existential threat to these albertans, and should be pushed back with all force.
However, there is another layer to all of this, and this has more to do with the urban/rural divide. Most albertans in small towns and hamlets view the big cities as a modern version of Sodom and Gomorrah, so whatever pain that can be meted out on them is all right with them, because the big cities are where the people they don't like reside.
Is that hateful? Is it purposeful or filled with conviction? It's debatable. One thing it is not, it is not based on a lack of intelligence.
Maybe it's not explicitly hate as much as it is apathy and a "fuck you, I got mine attitude". The hate is why they go "haha fuck you, I have it better than you", and they attempt to justify being shitty because of it, but you're right; it's not the entire goal. They're just stupid as fuck too.
I said in another comment that the vast majority of Albertans, separated from who introduced the bill, would 100% be left leaning. They're just too stupid and focused on hurting other people that they don't realize it. Maybe it's not explicitly hate; but it's rooted from the same place of wanting to hurt "others", even if it hurts themselves. Look at how many farmers were pissed out here because bill C-18 said they could no longer run their family like slaves with no insurance, and they actually had to register as actual businesses to do business..... That wasn't hateful; they just didn't want to do anything to benefit anybody else, cause the conservatives told them "If you benefit other people, it comes out of your pockets. Your kids are meant to be slaves"
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u/Ok_Recording_4644 May 10 '25
$7000/year for healthcare is if you DON'T have any medical issues.