Unconventional Panel: Shades of Trump-style politics right here in Alberta?

One of the nastiest, most divisive elections in modern history has ended with Donald Trump selected to be the next president of the United States.

Now comparisons are being drawn with sweeping political change in other countries as well asthe ongoing Alberta PC leadership race here at home.

To discuss the state of politics, the Calgary Eyeopener turned to its Unconventional Panel Shelley Youngblut,Ravin Moorthy and George Brookman. The following is an edited version of their conversation.

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Q: George if you don't mind my saying, you look a little bleary-eyed.

George: I'm still in a state of shock. I have a six-year-old grandson and I cannot imagine him looking up to this man as the president of the United States.

As Canadians, we better get our act together. I hope we have a good strong vision of what our country is. This is going to be a very difficult time.

Shelley: It's a great day for glass ceilingmanufacturers and border wall manufacturers. It's not a great day for our children.

I have to believe he wants to have a successful presidency. We might be in for some pleasant surprises.

Q: Ravin, what happened?

Ravin: We saw it in Alberta, we saw it with Brexit, we're seeing it again. People are just fed up.

As popular as Barack Obama is, his presidency has left so many people behind. The rich have become so much richer, and poor people have lost hope.

White, working-class America has revolted and said, 'This is our country and this is what we want.'That's a sad reality that we as Canadians have to face with our neighbours now.

We are no longer like them. We are completely different and we have to watch it.

George: I really agree with you. I think there's a whole group of people waking up in the U.S. re-energized thinking, 'We took our country back.'

Q: Shelley, you've lived and worked in the United States. What's going through your head right now?

Shelley: It's about class. We are talking about race and gender, but it's very much about class.

And this idea that we don't have to get along. One of the things that I love about this panel is that we respect each other but [Trump's] lowered the bar. It's the vulgarity. It's the new normal that is so abnormal. That's the thing that scares me to death.

And I see it here in Alberta.

Ravin: I think we have to stand up here and say for all the women out here who've worked hard for gender equality we have to do better. What this man did, sends the wrong message.

And what happened in Alberta the last couple of days, sends the wrong message.

Q:We've just learned that Sandra Jansen and Donna Kennedy-Glans, the only two women vying for the leadership of Alberta's PC Party, have both dropped out of the race Jansen says in part because of the way she was treated at a recent PC convention. You see this as part of the same conversation?

George: There's an increasinglack of civility. The way people talk. You see it reflected in politicians.

Ravin: We owe America a lot, but over the past 20 years, with its celebrity and reality TV culture, it has lost its position as the world's moral compass. Shamefully, they now have a reality TV president.

Sorry to be tough love, but they deserve it.

With files from the Calgary Eyeopener