Alberta's Provincial Elections.

Who are the political parties involved and what are their platforms?

There are 9 parties involved in this election, there are 76/87 candidates running for Wildrose Party. Their leader is Brian Jean, Wildrose is a conservative provincial political party in Alberta, the wild rose is Alberta's provincial flower.They don't believe in taxes, they wanna end corporate welfare, so no one pays taxes anymore.




Progressive Conservatives, there are 87/87 candidates 
running for them. Their leader is Jim Prentice, their platform is have low taxes plan to protect and create jobs for everyone, to eliminate the deficit by the 2014 to 2015 fiscal year cutting transfer payments to individuals or to the province and to keep Canada's streets and neighborhoods safe.

Liberals, there are 15/87 candidates running for them. Their leader is David Swann, their platform is more ESL founding and services, he thinks that new people coming from another country need to speak the language and with this they are going to have that opportunity of learn English, Foreign credentials, faster pathways for citizens and job skill training, career development, this will help Canadians to receive education and work experience.







New Democratic, there are 87/ 87 candidates  running  for them. Their leader is Rachel Notley, their platform is to create more health care for everyone, job creation, renewable energy and investments in infrastructure.

Alberta Party, there are 36/87 candidates running for them. Their leader is Greg Clark, their platform is to have a better and stronger healthcare, better education, better jobs that will make easier to start and grow business, provide stable and predictable founding for municipalities and social services.






Green Party, there are 24/87 candidates running for them.Their leader is Janet Keeping, their platform is to have ecological wisdom, non violence, participatory democrats, respect for diversity, for example, racial, linguistic, ethnic, sexual, religious and spiritual. Social justice and sustainability.

Social Credits, there are 6/87 candidates running for them. Their leader is  Len Skowronski, their platform is to establish responsible and effective democratic government in Alberta, to oppose any attempt to spread or implant the seeds of racial discrimination, class hatred or religious intolerance in Alberta, to obtain the economy security of resources in Alberta, to secure freedom from oppressive and taxation,  to advance and promote the attainment of a humanitarian society within the framework of a realistic and responsible free economy.

Communist Party, there are 2 candidates running for them. Their leader is Naomi Rankin, their platform is to create jobs, raise wages and income, progressive tax reform, invest in quality public services, like for example, health, education, childcare, sports, culture and recreation. A new financial deal for citizens, enhance food security, public ownership and democratic control of energy, settlement of aboriginal land claims, equality rights for all and straighten labor and democratic rights



Alberta First Party, they only have one candidate running for them. Their leader is Bart Hampton, their platform is to protect the services we need  by  reducing our dependence on oil and gas royalties, build schools protect our teachers and reduce class size, investment in health care to improve service and reduce cost, strengthen energy industry through environment leadership, eliminate child poverty in Alberta.

What is the Alberta Legislature

A member of the legislative assembly is where people from another parties and the government gather together in this building so they can make decisions about Alberta. This building is located in Edmonton, Alberta. The  Alberta Legislature Assembly consist in 87 members. To be a member of the Legislature Assembly, you must have to be a Canadian citizen, you have to be 18 years old or older and you must have had live in Alberta for at least 6 moths or more. 

WHO IS RUNNING IN RED DEER-NORTH AND WHO IS RUNNING IN RED DEER- SOUTH? 

Red Deer-North                                         Red Deer-South              

AP- Krystal Kromm                             AP- Serge Gingras
LIB/GRN- Michael Dawe                      GRN- Ben Dubois      

NDP- Kim Schreiner                             LIB Deborah Checkel     

PC- Christine Moore                             IND Patti Argent    

WR Buck Buchana                                IND William Berry 

                                                           NDP Barb Miller
                                                           PC Darcy Mykytyshyn
                                                               WR Norman Wiebe
                                                             

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

WHAT IS VOTER APATHY? IS IT A PROBLEM?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Voter apathy is when voters decide that they don't really care who wins or loses. Voter apathy is clearly a problem, because lower participation means less privileged citizens, who are already at a disadvantages in terms of political participation. Also ''This is a problem because, lets say there are 10 people who vote and there are 9 parties. One person votes for each party then there is one person left and just votes for the PC's then they win but if more people voted there would be a better chance that a different party would win.''

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Alberta election 2015 results

After a hard day of voting and counting votes, finally Alberta has a new Premier. Rachel Notley  is Alberta's new Premier. NDP won 53 seat , Wildrose 21 seats, PC took 10 seats, Liberals and Alberta Party got each one only one seat. Wildrose now is NDP's province's official opposition. the NDP got 41 percent of the votes, the Wildrose got 24 percent of the votes, and the PC's were about 28 percent of the votes. This year the voter turnout to be 58.1  percent.

       
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   This is a short video about Rachel Notley speech after she won the elections.                                                          .

March self Assessment

WORK HABITS

I think that my work habits are excellent, because I finish my work on time, or if I don't, I do it at home or at literacy time.  I think that I'm doing a pretty good job in my blog and also I listen when my teacher is explaining something and i work really hard to get everything done. I sit beside heather , Naheed, Mahtab, Anji and Fuko. They are really good company, they help me when I'm stuck in something or when I just don't understand what I'm suppose to do.

COMMUNICATION

I think that my reading and writing skills are Meting expectations, because I'm really good writing but sometimes I get confuse and I just can't do what I'm suppose to do, that's why  I ask my friend for help.And for reading I think I'm doing pretty good, I can understand what I'm reading, but sometime I don't understand some words, what I do to resolve this problem is that I search the word on Google.

 I think Who were the Aztecs  was  my best post, because I had a lot of ideas and also I knew pretty well what was I doing, also I founded information that helped me with my post.

THINKING
I think my thinking skills are excellent, because I have really good ideas for my posts, I have to think about how make sentences make sense and also how to make people understand what I'm trying to say. Also I always try to answer questions as well as I can  so they make sense. But is not always really easy, because sometime I just don't have anything on my mind, that I just can't think about something.

RESEARCH

When it comes to searching information I'm pretty good at it, because I know where to find information that I need, I also know how to put it in my own words, and I think almost all of my posts have really good information. One example of this is my inequality for all,, it has really good information and a lot of details on it,  I think this is one of my best posts.

I think i had improve a lot in my writing skills, reading and finding information, that's why I think my final grade would be an A.

Better Way For Alberta.

What is the better way for Alberta?

Alberta has some trouble in it's economy, but the government founded a better way to resolve this problem.
They had some ideas of how to make more money and this is what they came with: Replace the flat tax with a progressive income tax, this helps will help to make $1.5 and $2 billions every year for education and health care.
Increasing taxes on corporate profits
corporations in Alberta will have to pay 10% of taxes  every year, and corporate profits will pay 15%
sot his will help to make 2 to 3 billions of dollars each year. This will help to pay for public services and public infrastructure.
Increasing oil royalties.
This is really helpful because big industries of oil are paying a small percent of money to the government, but with this they are going to pay more money and the taxes are going to increase for them.
Health care premiums
The government has thought they should pay the healthcare for everyone.
Sale taxes
This will helps to pay public services, that's why they are generated this by progressive tax on income and corporate profits.
I think that with all of this, Alberta will totally be a better place to live.

What is the scapegoats?
This is some information that i founded in Heather's blog.
Scapegoats are a person or group made to bear the blame from others or to suffer in their place. Prentice often blames the OPEC (OPEC is a cartel that aims to manage the supply of oil in an effort to set the price of oil on the world market, in order to avoid fluctuations that might affect the economies of both producing and purchasing countries.)for the falling oil prices. While OPEC's are an easy scapegoat many people know.
   The real culprit is the Alberta Government they have consistently lowered the taxes and now we have less money. With little money the government has to cut funding and then there are less schools and less hospitals.  The government should change the tax system to a progressive tax instead of a flat tax. Because then the rich would have to pay more taxes which means the government would have more money.

Why do we wear pink?

We were pink because Bullying is a problem in our schools and every were we go. This is a way to help people to stand up against  bullies and step in when we see its happening. This event was created by David Shepherd and Travis Prince 2007 in Nova Scotia. they  had an idea of wearing pink shirts to  help a grade 9 guy that had being bullied, because he was wearing a pink shirt the first day of school. So they decide it that the next day, they were gonna wear pink shirt to stand up against the bullying.


The bully is the person that creates the violence or bullies the victim. They think that bullying someone else feels right and that it's okay.But it's not.
The victim is the one that receives the bad treatment from the bully, they are the ones that have to support every single thing that the bully do to them, because they don't do anything about it. Sometimes the victim take away their life because they think that they don't fit in this world, and that no one cares about them anymore.
The bystander is someone that sees or knows about bullying or some kind of violence to someone else.The bystander can helps to solve the problem or just walk away thinking that it's not their fault and that they are not the ones bullying that person.






This is some of what i learned in Heather's blog.

   But there is still the sad part about pink shirt day. Many people who participate by wearing a pink shirt don't actually stand up to a bully. Some times it is because they are scared that they will start a fight (and nobody wants that). Or they could care less about what happens to someone. But no matter you need to stand up for the kids who feel as if they have no voice. Okay so in a "bulling" scene there is a bully, bullied (or victim) and a bystander. The bully is the one obviously being mean and consistently hurting someone. The bullied we all should know is the person getting beat up. Most of us know what those two are but the bystander most people are like "who is that". Well the bystander is the person standing off to the side mostly watching. The definition is a person who is present at an event or incident but does not take part. Strangely the bystander has the most power, he/she has the power to stand up for the victim. Some people ask "why should I stand up for them they aren't my friend?". Well would you like if someone was bullying you and people just watched. Most likely not. So help someone who is getting picked on.

Government's Priorities

• What are your thoughts about Genia Leskiw's interview?

While i was watching the interview of Genia Leskiw, i could tell that she was lying because she had trouble talking or maybe she just made up everything she said, also when they asked her what did she meant when she say that the advocated's office didn't sharp their pencils as well as they could, she had trouble answering that question, and she stop for a moment to think about it but she didn't had an idea of what she could answer that's why she didn't answer. She also was a little nervous. 

• What are your thoughts about how the Government makes priorities?

I found this information in Reno's blog.

 Governments priorities

Recently the government payed to have an golf course repaired that costed 18 million dollars in repairs from flooding. All they would have to pay $27500 to have children s deaths investigated. The other shocking thing is that the repairs will almost certainly not last, and the golf course will probably be destroyed next time high waters come. I feel it would be a way better investment if they put it into the child's death investigation.  

Aztecs

Huitzilopochtli.

Geography

The Aztecs were a Nahuatl speaking, people who in the 15th and early in the 16th centuries ruled a large empire of what is now the southern and the northern region of Mexico.  Aztecs are named after seven Chichimec tributes of northern Mexico, who controlled the valley of america during the late postclassic period from the 12th century, until the invasion of Spanish in the 15th. The Aztecs are also called from Aztlan (white land).they were also called the Tenochca, from a self-titled ancestor, Tenoch, and the Mexica. Their guardian was Huitzilopochtli god of war and symbol of sun.


They were also the most powerful Mesoamerican kingdom of all time. this enormous empire reached to the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf coast and to to the Republic of Guatemala. They actually use to like war. They usually went to war no just because they like it, also because they were trying to defend their tribe and because they didn't want  to follow rules from another tribe. They thought that if they were overruled they might had to change their language and their cultures. All they wanted was to keep their culture and their tribute safe and alive without having to follow rules. 

This is where they were located

More information.....

Religion

They also believed in gods, they believed that they own a blood debt to the gods, also because they were trying to avert disasters, that why they sacrificed  people so they could have the protection of the god.  Huitzilopochtli was the most important god they had, he was also the god of war,  they had Tezcatlipoca god of the great bear constellation and of the night sky, Tlaloc was the Aztecs rain god, Quetzalcoatl was the god of the morning and the evening star and Chalchihuitlicue was the god of water deity, they use to say that the water goddess was the wife of Tlaloc. More gods..... But the most important gods that they had were Huitzilopochtli, Tlaloc, Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca and Chicomecoatl Aztecs goddess of agriculture.

Aztecs sacrifice temple.

Technology

The Aztecs didn't had the same technology as we have, they didn't had what we have  to make our tools or weapons, but the Aztecs had their own develop of means to created effective tools and weapons. Aztecs tools were made of obsidian and chert, they also made drills with bones and reeds. But when the Spanish conquered the Aztecs, their technology started to change, also they started making weapons and tools with copper and bronze, the Aztecs didn't had horses or something to transported themselves that's why they started creating the canoes so they could transported through lakes and waterways. They also had calendars, but way different than our calendars. They had two different types of calendar, one was for time keeping  and the other one was to keep track of their religious ceremonies and festivals. The first calendar that they had was called xiuhpohualli, this calendar helped for farming strategies and predicting the weather. The second calendar that they had was called tonalpohualli this are the symbols used.

Day	Symbol	Number
1	Crocodile	1
2	Wind	2
3	House	3
4	Lizard	4
5	Serpent	5
6	Death	6
7	Deer	7
8	Rabbit	8
9	Water	9
10	Dog	10
11	Monkey	11
12	Grass	12
13	Reed	13
14	Jaguar	1
15	Eagle	2
16	Vulture	3
17	Movement	4
18	Flint	5
19	Rain	6
20	Flower

Music

Aztec music was very important part of their life. Music was used as a way of carrying  their culture, also helped them to understand their religion and making an emotional connection in the event of life.

Culture

Their culture consisted in human sacrificed. The sacrifice was done to honor the sun god and also to that he would bless them with food abundance of food. Their culture was filled with beauty and creativity, their culture also consisted in art poetry and music. Also they constructed their temple on top of the mountains, because mountains are the highest place on the earth, and also because it was closer to the gods. But only Montezuma king of Tenochtitlan was the only that could go up on top of the mountains and talk with the gods.

The Aztecs also had different types of jobs, the men had to choose between farming or fighting. Some of them were involved mostly in farming and others were trained to become warriors, priest, craftsmen or merchants, but the primary choice was either farming or fighting. Aztecs warriors were really important in the community, because they were the ones that fight for their tribe. The Aztec women had to take care of the Aztecs house hold, weaving cloths for their families and for selling. Also the young Aztecs girls were trained to look after children's, cooking and jewelry making.
   

I found this in Naheed's post and I learned that.

Inventions: Most of you probably don't know this but we can thank the Aztecs for making Chocolate! Chocolate was highly valued in the Mayan culture - it was actually used as currency. The Aztecs valued the cacao bean as well, and demanded it be a part of tribute.  Then they created something that would really make history -xocoatl (a word meaning bitter water). This was a spicy hot chocolate drink that was popular among the upper classes. The Aztecs also took a thick milky liquid from the sapodilla tree (an evergreen) and hardened it into gum.