Alberta Election: Final Report

The Alberta Election was definitely a shock for many who predicted Ed Stelmach losing some seats to Kevin Taft's Liberals in Calgary. Stelmach's landslide victory will take some time to analyze before coming to any substantive conclusions in terms of the web 2.0 campaign, especially when only 41% of Alberta voters turned out to cast a vote. This was the lowest voter turnout of any province in the last 50 years. For the moment, the poor voter turnout is being read in many different ways in the media, which include some of the following explanations: 1) People do not turn out to vote when they're happy with the government, 2) people do not vote when they do not like their options, 3) people do not vote when they believe media pre-election polls are going to be true, 4) the media and the oil lobby did not sway the people and Ed Stelmach was therefore chosen as Alberta's resounding choice.

More analysis of the voting behaviour will be required in the coming weeks to identify the failings of the other party's campaigns, but this election is definitely an interesting case in terms of a disconnect between the on-line media and the main stream media. The on-line media was highly dominated by the other parties in terms of being critical of Stelmach's government, while many media analysts commented that the mainstream media in Alberta provided a more balanced account of the campaign with up to 30% of voters undecided heading into election day. It seems those same 30% did not show up to vote, along with some of their friends. Because of the voter turnout, the negative media campaign on-line was not emblematic of any major new political movements that were transformed into representative political power in Alberta.

YouTube videos are returning to politics as usual coverage fairly quickly after the election. The top video was Stelmach's victory speech, but after that many of the dominant issues in Alberta politics are being viewed. These issues include the Oil Sands, the North American consolidation concerns, the environment, and infrastructure.

Facebook

Party Leader Facebook Supporters

Kevin Taft Personal Profile (Alberta Liberals): 757 friends (up by 14 from last week)
Ed Stelmach Fan Club (Progressive Conservatives): 465 member (up by 4 from last week)
Re-Elect Brian Mason, Edmonton Highlands-Norwood (NDP): 280 members (down by 98 from last week)
George Read (Green Party of Alberta): 233 members (up by 6 from last week)
Paul Hinman (Wildrose Alliance Party of Alberta): 128 members (down by 34 from last week)

YouTube

Ed Stelmach (Leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party)

Title	Upload Date	Views Last Week	Affiliation	Tone
1. Ed Stelmach Uncut - Chateau Louis Victory Speech Part 2 [1]	March 3, 2008	613	Vlogger	Positive
2. Alberta - Fortis et liber (strong and free) [2]	March 5, 2008	598	Lobby Group: CanadaPetitions	Negative
3. Ed Stelmach says Myth - Crude Awakening Part 1 of 3. [3]	December 24, 2007	594	Vlogger: Streaming CBC Media	Negative
4. Ed Stelmach says Myth - Crude Awakening Part 2 of 3. [4]	December 24, 2007	585	Vlogger: Streaming CBC Media	Negative
5. Alberta PC - AGM 2007 (Part 1 of 2) [5]	May 5, 2007	576	Alberta PC Party	Positive

Kevin Taft (Leader of the Alberta Liberal Party)

Title	Upload Date	Views Last Week	Affiliation	Tone
1. CFIB Interview with Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft [6]	February 29, 2008	574	Interest Group	Positive
2. PART 2/6 : ALBERTA ELECTION ON CPAC : TAFT [7]	February 28, 2008	541	AlbertaVotes2008	Positive
3. Kevin Taft and Hugh MacDonald on the Royalty Review Report [8]	February 5, 2008	391	Alberta Liberal Caucus	Positive
4. The Heart of a Western Tiger, Part III [9]	February 28, 2008	381	Alberta Liberal Caucus	Positive
5. Meet Kevin Taft [10]	February 5, 2008	368	Alberta Liberal Party	Positive

Brian Mason (Leader of the Alberta NDP)

Title	Upload Date	Views Last Week	Affiliation	Tone
1. NDP Affordable Housing Rally - Brian Mason [11]	May 18, 2007	320	Vlogger	Positive
2. National Day of Action - Brian Mason [12]	November 28, 2007	282	Vlogger	Positive
3. Deron Bilous and Brian Mason call Election '08 [13]	February 4, 2008	227	NDP	Positive
4. PART 4/6 : ALBERTA ELECTION ON CPAC : BABCOCK [14]	February 26, 2008	200	AlbertaVotes2008	Neutral
5. AUPE Labour Rally - Brian Mason [15]	October 28, 2007	195	Vlogger	Positive

George Read (Leader of the Alberta Green Party)

Title	Upload Date	Views Last Week	Affiliation	Tone
1. CFIB Interview with Green Party Leader George Read - Part 1 [16]	February 29, 2008	560	Interest Group	Positive
2. PART 8/11: Alberta Leaders Debate - People on the Edge [17]	February 22, 2008	432	AlbertaVotes2008	Neutral
3. PART 7/11: Alberta Leaders Debate - Crumbling Infrastructure [18]	February 22, 2008	404	AlbertaVotes2008	Neutral
4. PART 6/11: Alberta Leaders Debate - Environment & Economy [19]	February 22, 2008	395	AlbertaVotes2008	Neutral
5. PART 5/11: Alberta Leaders Debate - Oil Sands Development [20]	February 22, 2008	379	AlbertaVotes2008	Neutral

Paul Hinman (Leader of the Wildrose Alliance Party of Alberta)

Title	Upload Date	Views Last Week	Affiliation	Tone
1. CFIB Interview with Wild Rose Alliance Leader Paul Hinman [21]	February 22, 2008	492	Wildrose Alliance Party	Positive
2. CBC's Politics - Paul Hinman's Debate performance [22]	February 25, 2008	361	Wildrose Alliance Party streaming CBC Media	Neutral
3. Infrustruction [23]	February 22, 2008	115	Wildrose Alliance Party	Positive
4. Tax Relief [24]	February 14, 2008	114	Wildrose Alliance Party	Positive
5. Wildrose Alliance TV Commercial - Two Minute [25]	February 27, 2008	94	Wildrose Alliance Party	Positive

"Alberta Election"

Title	Upload Date	Views Last Week	Affiliation	Tone
1. Ed Stelmach Uncut - Chateau Louis Victory Speech Part 2 [1]	March 3, 2008	613	Vlogger	Positive: Ed Stelmach
2. Ed Stelmach says Myth - Crude Awakening Part 1 of 3. [3]	December 24, 2007	594	Vlogger: Streaming CBC Media	Negative: Ed Stelmach
3. Alberta Election Part 1 [26]	February 9, 2008	586	Vlogger	Negative: Ed Stelmach
4. Ed Stelmach says Myth - Crude Awakening Part 2 of 3. [4]	December 24, 2007	585	Vlogger: Streaming CBC Media	Negative: Ed Stelmach
5. CFIB Interview with Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft [6]	February 29, 2008	574	Interest Group	Positive: Kevin Taft