Well its election time again, here in Alberta. And for the first time in 40 years, it looks like the Progressive Conservative party has real competition. Only its from a new and even more conservative party, the Wild Rose Alliance. I'm not exactly sure who this is an alliance between, but at this stage it looks like they could well unseat this province's long sitting governing party.
I have to admit that it concerns me to see provincial politics seeming to shift even further to the right here in Alberta. Yet I must also be honest and admit that I've not spent enough time reading the Wild Rose position documents. I really must do more of that but I know that I DO find myself appreciating what I understand of their stance on property rights, in the face of a government that has been establishing imminent domain rules which include no compensation whatsoever. Yet it seems that this alliance has a comfy relationship with the oil patch that suggests this stance on property rights might be little more than hot air.
The latest campaign promise from the Alliance is resurrecting an old PC trick from the Ralph Klein government. Dividends cheques ($300 per year starting in 2015) we're supposed to be receiving from the province's oil industry are likely to solidify a large amount of votes for the Alliance. This seems painfully short sighted and small minded to me, but at the same time it is true that the government wastes a great deal of our money. Still, it seems sad that a vote can be bought for any amount, never say a possible $300 3 years into an increasingly uncertain future.
Worst of all, I have a nagging feeling that this party is going to introduce the backdrop for a real secessionist movement here in Alberta. Canada is facing some real troubles and definite imbalances between the east and west, but I cannot help but dislike secessionist talk...inevitable as it may be.
It should be an interesting month.
3 years ago
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2 comments:
Everything always sounds good through the courtship. The real ugliness always show it-self after the marriage!!
I hope the honeymoon lasts for a several months/years.
All governments have the big oil in their pockets!!
Our vote is basically our only voice. And sometimes it is only a whisper.
I'm SOOO glad that the Wild Rose didn't do as well as predicted. They scare me as well. I know that I run with a fairly left crowd, but I can never understand how some of the things that come out of peoples mouths get ignored or so quickly forgotten. Maybe it's too idealist to think that people might think about the "future they are leaving to their children" for real and not just pay lip service and only care about the themselves and right now. While I'm happy that the Wild Rose isn't our new government I'm hoping that the "new PC's" won't errode all of the things left in place that might actually make our society one for ALL people to have equal opportunity. If exploiting our resources is the only way our government can see to make us a "rich" province, then maybe we have lost because being "rich" is about so much more than just money.
PS I'm also kind of irritated that our provincial flower will forever in my mind not just conger this pretty plant, but now also this very extreme group of people. Damn them for sullying our rose!
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