Albertans are in a weird spot. I've only lived here for a few years so I still feel like an outsider, but it just seems like a weird situation the province is stuck in. They don't want to vote for parties that hardly throw a bone their way (the government bought a pipeline, great, it hasn't changed anything and probably won't for years if it ever changes anything at all. There's a ton more the Liberal government could be doing to support the oil and gas industry that they aren't doing for fear of alienating the bigger part of their voter base), but they also can't really hold the party they always tend to vote for accountable because their votes can be taken for granted.

And that party does the bare minimum for them to keep voters at least somewhat interested, but more often just plays up fears over the other parties to motivate people to vote. It's somewhat similar to what the Liberals do with young people in Ontario and Quebec, except there is at least somewhat reasonable alternatives to keep things in check. Alberta doesn't really have that option, so things just stay stagnant. Splitting the Conservative vote is exactly the opposite of what most want to have happen too.

And I don't necessarily agree that the average person in Calgary shares more in common with people living in Toronto than with people living in Red Deer. Definitely not something an overwhelming majority of people here would believe or admit to either if you asked them.

I totally agree though that they (we) aren't idiots of course, it's just a unique set of circumstances that has kind of boxed them in. I suppose I am one of those boxed in people now too.

I'll give you a quick anecdote. I work for a fairly forward thinking progressive company by any standards. One of the guys I work with was blown away with how 'weak' people from Ontario are because they can just flip flop and change their minds every election. I tried explaining that it's actually an advantage not to have your mind made up before an election, how it's probably the reason why nobody campaigns here, Alberta gets shafted by most parties at the federal level etc... but from his perspective there was nothing to be gained from flip flopping. If you keep changing your mind about who you're going to vote for, and your region's vote doesn't have the power to sway an election, no party will care about your vote. At least if you stay true to one side, that side will be somewhat motivated to keep your best interests at heart, even if they aren't held fully in check, because a small/medium level of influence over federal politics is better than none. It's a weird sort of game theory explanation I think that underlies Alberta's voting tendencies in federal elections compared to municipal, provincial (although that's a whole other topic), etc...