A Tale of Two Candidates

Recently, as part of my personal research to determine who I will support for the leadership of the Alberta Conservative Party, I posed exactly the same question to two of the front runners, Jim Dinning and Lyle Oberg.

The question was sent via e-mail to the "contact" e-mail addresses listed on their respective websites. That question was as follows:

What is your position on putting one or more nuclear power plants near Ft.
McMurray to provide the necessary energy and steam for oilsands extraction
rather than burning natural gas for that purpose?

Now, I have a personal opinion on what the answer to this question should be, but that wasn't the purpose. I wanted to ask a question that would take the candidates off their "talking-points" and call for some thought in an answer. Personally, I'm less interested in voting for a candidate who agrees with everything that I do, than a candidate who is thoughful and willing to state his/her opinion, regardless of what he/she thinks my opinion is.

The response is somewhat interesting:

Lyle Oberg:
I received an almost immediate (approximately 4 hours) response requesting some more information from an assistant. Then about two weeks later, I received an actual paper letter in the mail from the candidate. Unlike many such letters I have read, it seemed that he was addressing hte issue that I had asked about:

"Using nuclear energy instead of natural gas in the Athabasca oil sands is thereefore something that ought to be examined, taking into account such concerns as safety."

Not only that, but the answer to the question came before the usual requests to join his campaign and such.

Jim Dinning:
Two weeks out, and the sound of silence is quite deafening. Not even an acknowledgement of receipt of the question...I'm very disappointed.