A Progressive Dilemma

This morning Richard Starke, one of four candidates for PC leadership, announced that his plan for "unity" is to work with the Wildrose Party to beat the NDP in 2019.  This has been referred to as a "non-plan" and a "hail Mary".  Some have speculated that this plan would involve more backroom deals like the one that led to the 2014 floor crossing of 9 Wildrose MLAs, including the leader of the party, to the PCs.  For example would certain candidates only run in certain ridings?  Keep the PC candidates out of rural areas for example?  Or would they just scratch each other's backs more once one of them became government?

In any case, people stopped talking about it entirely once Brian Jean, leader of the Wildrose party, came out with his own announcement that he was also on board with uniting the parties and he would run for leader of that united conservative party.  Personally, I have little faith in Brian Jean having any chance at the leadership role simply because he's jumped onto Kenney's bandwagon.

Now Brian Jean did not say he supported Kenney.  He has also said he has his own idea for uniting the conservatives.  The problem most of us see is that not all conservatives feel at home with all other conservatives. When Lougheed became the leader of a plucky little party that almost literally brought itself back from the dead, there was a term for people who believed in progressive values and fiscal conservatism; Red Tories (which is a mix of liberal (red) and conservative).  These Red Tories still exist today and they are very likely a plentiful bunch, particularly in the urban ridings.

Thomas Lukaszuk appeared with Laurie Blakeman and Mariam Ibrahim on Dinner TV Edmonton tonight to talk politics with Courtney Theriault and he brought up an interesting point.  Very few people believe that Kenney actually managed to get the support he has been claiming from within the PC Party without bringing in some Wildrose faithful.  Lukaszuk said that Kenney is counting those individuals as proof that he has the support of the PCs... but they aren't PC supporters.  Even if Kenney manages to become leader of the party (and it certainly seems likely that he will), there are many progressive-minded conservatives who will not join him in a Wildrose party.

So where, if the proudly progressive conservative party is no more, will these voters go?  While many are pointing to the viability of the Alberta Party as a home for centrists and progressive values with fiscal responsibility considerations... I don't see it happening.

In 2012 the Wildrose party, under the skillful and inspiring leadership of Danielle Smith, was poised to actually be a very strong contender against the PCs.  Rumour has it, they could have formed government.  Except for one thing; a blog post from a candidate that claimed gay people would burn in a "lake of fire".  That story hit the media streams the week before the 2012 election and voters rushed back to the PC party, so they say.

It is my humble opinion that if a conservative party does emerge as some sort of united front, those Red Tories will turn to NDP to stop the rush of social conservatives from taking over government.  In doing so, they will neglect their likely more happy home with the Alberta party until the united conservatives no longer pose an actual threat to their way of life.  But I could be wrong.

D.

Jason Kenney Town Hall, 01-19-2017 (the 2500 word version)

As part of Jason Kenney's Unite Alberta Tour/Progressive Conservative Leadership Campaign, he arranged numerous events around the province.  This event was on January 19, 2017 in Calgary.

Dave Rodney spoke first to reiterate his endorsement of Jason Kenney for leader of the PC party.  “This has been done before,” he began, “Lougheed united the right and the centre right and it is time to unite Progressive Conservatives and the Wildrose Party.  The NDP are destroying the Albertan way of life” he declared, though his emotion was lost in the weak audio connection, “we need to bring back the Alberta Advantage… and unite with Jason Kenney!”  This strong sentiment brought an awkward attempt at a standing ovation which did not make it to the back half of the room. 

When Jason Kenney took the stage, he talked about the last two weeks and how 900 people had shown up at the previous town hall in Calgary.  “We want our province back” he said as forcefully as the poor audio would allow.  “We are united in a belief in hard work and personal responsibility; Albertans believe in the creative power of free enterprise;  an idea that you work hard and achieve some of your dreams to pass it on for a better way of life.  Alberta has some of the most compassionate people in this country and the NDP doesn’t understand that, doesn’t understand Albertans, or our way of life.  We need to stand up together, for our Alberta.”

He then digressed into the personal stories of Albertans from his summer pre-campaign campaigning across the province, beginning with a half-truth about how he started that.  “A few months ago” he stated, “I left my job as a federal MP, my only income, to begin a campaign for unity across the province.  I started a movement in Alberta; revived hope and optimism.”  Perhaps his memory is a little fuzzy with these details.  He did resign on September 20, 2016 but his provincial tour began in July of 2016.  For collecting a federal pay cheque while he campaigned for a new job, Kenney took heat from Albertans, Conservatives and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, his only job prior to becoming a federal MP.

“Albertans are uniting” he claimed, and he would know because he was out there.  He told us that “as the NDP came to office, Albertans were leaving for BC and Saskatchewan" He talked about the people he’d met, most of whom were the ages of those in the room (I had the average age of autonomous attendees estimated at about 57 years).  The 54 year old woman who lost her job and was working in a role she would have had when she was in her 20’s.  The crowd was appropriately affected, murmuring and shaking their heads.   The ‘young couple’ from Calgary who had owned a business for 32 years and who “survived the NEP but couldn’t survive the NDP”.  He chuckled and there was more head shaking; they remember.  I don't. 

There was a 17 year old boy from Hardisty who now realized that “politics has consequences” but was clueless how government or elections worked.  He was running up to Jason at a gas station yelling “Hey! Are you that Kenney guy?!” (because he’s 17 and that’s how kids talk?) And he asked Jason how quickly he would be in government to stop the NDP.  Jason had to explain that he couldn’t do it right away and this young man replied “why, why will it take so long?” This young man told Jason that his father had lost his job in the oil patch and couldn’t find work.  As a result, this young boy was supporting his parents and his four siblings.  Jason called him an oilfield worker later on in the story but I can’t say whether he mixed up the father and the son or if the 17 year old was also an oilfield worker.

“Alberta has gone so far off track” he lamented, “we’ve gotten through before but this time it’s different.  This NDP government is determined to make a bad decision worse. They have no mandate to make everything more expensive. Moms and dads, who lost their jobs or have 70% lower income, these are the people taxes will hit the hardest.”  As to the environmental gain; “there is none” he told the crowd.  Without naming him, Kenney spoke of a University of Alberta professor's (Andrew Leach) comment that in order to make a difference, carbon would have to be taxed at $200 per tonne rather than $30 per tonne. 

The audio was finally fixed and we could hear much better. “We are the only major oil and gas producing country in the world to have a carbon tax” he told the crowd, “we want to vote on the carbon tax!”  Further regulations, like Bill 6, are also ruining people in Alberta.  He spoke of a family from Grande Prairie who “sold all their heads and the farm” because of the “administrative work” imposed on them by the NDP[i].

Kenney claimed “the NDP wants to bring Ontario’s Environmental Plan to Alberta” and nodded to a Fraser Institute study as evidence; he didn’t identify which study, just “a” study.  “Does this government care,” he asked the crowd “they have no regard for the people, they only have their ideology.”  And the crowd mumbled in agreement.  “There are 2300 new coal plants being built around the world.  We need to attract industries to Alberta but these industries are reliant on power."  Those industries will not come here, he told us, and that will create less diversity in our economy, not more.

He then spoke about Trudeau’s latest gaffe of saying that the oilsands need to be phased out.  Of course, Harper said the same thing a few years ago but he elaborated and Trudeau did not; therefore the latter is nefarious while the former is... a conservative.  Kenney claimed the demand for oil was to exceed 4 trillion dollars over the next few years and suggested Trudeau was forcing Alberta to not be a major contributor.  The crowd liked it.

“We all hope some innovation comes along someday that will reduce our dependency on fossil fuels” he surprised me by saying “but until that day, we need a premier who will stand up to the Prime Minister; like the person everyone wishes was Alberta’s premier, Brad Wall.”  This statement received some cheers.  Of course, they want Brad Wall as a mascot but no Albertan wants his sales tax or higher income taxes or crumbling roads. 

Next, Kenney moved on to education and the audience was ripe.  “This government has proposed a radical review” he said sadly “with a goal to turn students into ‘effective agents of change’” (emphasis his) and the crowd booed. “We know what that means, don’t we?” He eyed the crowd and spoke the dreaded word.... “Activism”… and people shook their heads and the sound of muffled discontent filled the room[ii] .  “They’re working on a secret curriculum” he pronounced “one that doesn’t involve moms and dads.  Our kids need education, not pedagogical fads.”  He believes the NDP has “caused damage to the structure of the economy and the political culture, not just in Alberta, but Canada”.  As evidence, he introduced the next topic; Saskatchewan in 1944.

“Go Riders!” He shouted and a few people cheered but most were.. shocked?  After all, the town hall was being held in Calgary, directly across the street from McMahon Stadium. “Go Stampeders!” A woman called back from my side of the room and the crowd loudly agreed.   The mood was lighter afterwards and he asked how many were “displaced” Saskatchewanians like himself.  There were a few, certainly, but not enough to make him feel like he was talking to a room full of sympathizers.

“In 1944, Saskatchewan’s population was over a million and Alberta’s was half that, now Alberta is over 4 million and Saskatchewan has less than a million” he began  “The population decreased when the CCF in Saskatchewan raised taxes and chased away investors.  Oil companies picked up as one and moved everything to Calgary.” [iii] It was after the province was able to “unite through the Saskatchewan Party” (2007) that the economy turned around he claims. [iv]  “Drilling is down in Alberta and unemployment is up”[v] in comparison to Saskatchewan, “like Brad Wall said, this is no time for a six decade experiment with the NDP. We need to get our Alberta back.”

There are divisions between the parties he said, and he has “great respect for Lougheed, Klein and the Alberta Advantage… but you have to admit the PC party got off course.  There was a word to describe the PC party and that was ‘arrogant’.  Half of the PC supporters went to the Wildrose party” he claimed.  And then there was some genuine excitement. 

A gentleman stood up and started to yelling “Don’t you put words in my mouth! I’m a Wildrose supporter … don’t say things about the Wildrose!”  I confess to missing exactly what set him off as I was writing when I realized there was a disruption.  The crowd wasn’t having it.  “Sit down! No one asked you! Go home!” they yelled.  The anger was swift and loud and, frankly, a little unnerving.  The gentleman was escorted away even though Kenney invited him to ask his questions after the speech.

Kenney picked up where he’d left off although it was obvious the crowd was a little distracted; a din was making it difficult to hear him for a few minutes.  “If there is not a united party in 2019, the NDP wins” he said, “if we can do it federally, we can do it provincially to save Alberta… uniting was infinitely harder to do federally, but we did it in 10 months and won the next three elections”[vi] .  “The Wildrose party said it was open to a merger; it was the PC Party that showed no interest”[vii]. 

He finished off by saying that he “will support any other leader” the membership decides to elect.  People need to show “humility, park their egos, avoid labels and emotions and focus on the future”.   The crowd clapped; some stood, many did not, and people began to line up for questions.

1. The first gentleman up to the microphone for a question was a young man who had lost his job.  He asked Kenney what he would do to restore the Alberta Advantage.  Kenney replied that he would “put Alberta first and renew Alberta as a beacon of opportunity”.

2. The second gentleman was wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat.  He asked how Kenney would fix what the NDP has done in the province.  “I will reverse taxes and bureaucracy; when I defeat the NDP I will extend the legislature into the summer to repeal the regressive policies.  Bill 1 will repeal the carbon tax and other pieces of legislation and regulation. Once we have united, we’ll be able to slow down the NDP.  Their preferred path to power is that we remain divided so they only have to compete for 35% of the vote.  If we end the vote split they will have to compete for 40-45%.   We need to slow down the damage they are doing.”

3.  What will you do about education and the social engineering in our schools? “I respect parental rights and their authority in education.  They have a prior right to direct the education of their children.  The NDP picks and chooses; school choice respects rights of parents.  The NDP wants to undermine these rights and undo our tradition of pluralism in education.”

4. Is the little group of MLAs in Edmonton with you?  “Four out of the six MLAs available to endorse me have done so.”

5. Alberta has changed over the past 30 years.  Do you have a more centrist message for those who are not far right?  “It will be a big tent party full of tolerant, diverse individuals.  I’ve never used the term ‘Unite the Right’.  A free-enterprise party will create wealth; family is most important; respect for educational choice. The party will be an unhyphenated party like what Stephen Harper created.   A coalition with different views; what unites you, not what divides you.  That’s what Steph- that’s what Lougheed did.”

6.  What policies will you adopt from the Wildrose party? “There was too much top-down in the PC party of the past.  The membership will tell us what they want.  I don’t want to put my own opinions out there.  We need to focus on democratic reform and unity.”

7. Regarding oil development, Lougheed wanted to protect the environment and the water and Klein was a proponent of nuclear energy.  Where do you stand on that? “I stand for environmental protection and prudent, responsible and affordable measures on greenhouse gases but not at a cost.  Other jurisdictions are not doing it.  The rest of the world is investing in 2300 coal fired plants.  We should focus on technology, research and development like Brad Wall.  We don’t expel enough greenhouse gases; bring on the technology.”

8. Is it your goal to minimize the progressive wing? “The party will be inclusive and broad, a party of free enterprise supporters. When we united the Conservative Party of Canada, we lost a marginal amount of support from the extreme sides.  Some Progressive Conservatives will find they’re more comfortable with the NDP, right? (Laughter). The majority, though, will stay.  If I get a mandate on March 18, some will leave and they’ll get a lot of press, but the 20-30,000 that stay will get no press.”

9.  I support your platform.  I was a teacher for 30 years and a high school principal.  On the subject of parental rights, I believe parents are responsible as first educators in their child’s life and there is a role for politicians to ensure a place for all kids.  I want to ask about the act for safe and caring schools for kids, Bill 10.  Will a united conservative party under your leadership ensure GSA’s are upheld? “Yes” Will a united conservative party under your leadership balance between parents and politicians? “I do not believe a politician should be involved in that.” Will a united conservative party under your leadership promote socially progressive ideas? “Yes. For example, while I was a member of the federal party, I supported tax cuts, Guaranteed Income Supplement and the Child and Family Benefits.  A compassionate conservative party can create wealth; it creates wealth to help those and need.”

He told a story about an autistic child in Grande Prairie who, after learning about gender, became confused about her identity; gender dysphasia, he called it.  This child enlisted assistance from the school and was being treated as a boy and even being called a boy’s name while at school.   The parents were not informed of this.  (After an hour and a half of google searches, I could find nothing to corroborate this story; if you find anything, please share and I will update with a reference).

10.  Kids are getting a $100 cheque in the mail and they think it’s “cool”.  Why would they vote for you?  “Because they’ll be mugged by economic reality.  It’s the false promise of the NDP; they create a base of voters who think the NDP is okay.”

11.  Hi, I’m nine years old and I’m in grade 4.  My teacher told me that the oil sands are bad (shocked crowd) I went home and talked to my parents and they told me the oil sands are good and that they give people jobs.  (Loud applause) How…. how will you convince people like my friends? We all trust my teacher.  (More loud applause and compliments from Kenney on her intelligence and bravery).  “We should have teachers with no bias who will let you figure out what’s right and wrong.  We need to get politics out of the classroom.”

12. I’m her mother (to applause). I just want to say that you have to say no to brainwashing.  You need to instill your own values in your kids.

Michelle Rempel was invited to the podium next and she didn’t seem to have the room’s attention.  Many people were leaving and it was difficult to focus on her.  She didn’t manage to rile up the crowd at all and then she was gone.

The woman beside me asked me if what the young girl said had upset me.  I said it looked like a shameless plant and I was disgusted.  She agreed it was probably planted.  We talked a bit about sharing values with your children and talking to them about what they learn in school.  They were pleasant, she and her husband and their adult daughter.  They were Mormons he said, "so we're very conservative."  They were not sure if they supported this path forward yet and that’s why they’d attended tonight.  They hadn’t heard enough to make a decision.   

---

[i] The term “sold their heads” refers to cattle and per head prices have sunk heavily http://calgaryherald.com/business/local-business/western-feedlots-shutting-down-canadas-biggest-feeder-blames-headwinds-in-cattle-industry

[ii] The quote “effective agents of change” can be found in a competency model for Alberta Education; “CULTURAL AND GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP involves actively engaging with cultural, environmental, political or economic systems. Students acknowledge First Nations, Métis, Inuit, Francophone or other perspectives when taking action on local or global issues. They advocate for the dignity and well-being of individuals and communities. Students value equity and diversity, and believe in their capacity to make a difference”; an indicator of which is “valuing equity and diversity and believing in the capacity to make a difference” followed by “Examples: • I acknowledge that I am an agent of change. • I balance the need for both equity and diversity in communities.” Page 8 https://education.alberta.ca/media/3272998/competency-indicators-september-30-2016.pdf

[iii] Nothing could be found in searches of economic history in the area to corroborate this statement.  Fun fact: the largest oil production company in Saskatchewan is the Federated Co-op; a unionized, socialist venture. https://www.coopconnection.ca/wps/wcm/connect/83e6cd9c-f018-43d7-83c2-730c9b9b9fbb/FCL-Annual-Report-2014.pdf?MOD=AJPERES

[iv] “In recent years, Saskatchewan's agricultural and mineral resources have come into new demand, and it has entered a new period of strong economic growth” cited from an archived RBC economic report, 2007.

[v] Alberta and Saskatchewan GDP looks very similar, but the employment rates show the difference. In January 2017 Alberta's workforce looked like this: In Goods Producing sector: 8% Agriculture, 25% Forestry, Mining and Oil and Gas, 3% Utilities. 43% construction and 18% manufacturing. The same sectors in Saskatchewan: 25% Agriculture, 16% Forestry, Mining and Oil and Gas, 3% Utilities, 32% construction and 18% manufacturing. The only difference was found in Saskatchewan from the previous January; manufacturing increased from 16%, construction decreased from 35%  and agriculture decreased from 26%. https://www.saskatchewan.ca/business/invest-and-economic-development/exporting-and-trade https://www.albertacanada.com/files/albertacanada/SP-EH_highlightsABEconomyPresentation.pdf
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/labr67i-eng.htm
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/labr67j-eng.htm 

[vi] The newly-formed CPC lost the election in 2003 to the Liberals; won a minority in 2006, a larger minority in 2008, a majority in 2011 and lost it in 2015; that’s not exactly a stellar record. http://thisweekinabpolitics.blogspot.ca/2017/01/the-saga-is-still-ongoing.html

[vii] Brian Jean stated he was opposed to a merger http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/wildrose-leader-rejects-pc-merger-in-speech-to-party-faithful-1.3827339 and two days later Derek Fildebrandt said he was in favour http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/wildrose-divided-fildebrandt-breaks-with-leader-calls-for-merger-with-pcs-1.3898810 ; take from that what you will. 

The Saga is Ongoing

The PC Party held a Leadership Debate in Edmonton on Sunday where Richard Starke, Jason Kenney, Stephen Khan and Byron Nelson squared off.  Kenney remains the only candidate who is campaigning for the party's destruction through a merger with the Wildrose (possibly into a completely new party).  The other three are campaigning on party renewal.

Kenney's grand idea likely stems from his own experience with a merge at the federal level. In 2003 the membership of the federal Progressive Conservative Party voted to merge with the Canadian Alliance Party and become the Conservative Party of Canada. The Liberals won in 2003 but the united conservatives won a minority government in 2006 with a Liberal Opposition.  Two years later, they formed a slightly larger, but still minority, government also with a Liberal Opposition.  In 2011 they finally won a majority government and the NDP became the Official Opposition.  Just one election later, in 2015, the Liberals won a majority with the Conservatives taking over as Official Opposition.

Alberta, however, has not seen this sort of back and forth.  In 1935 the Social Credit Party won its first majority government and stayed in power until 1971.  Social Credit was beaten by the Progressive Conservatives who ruled Alberta until 2015.  This strange history of not changing out governments could be why Kenney felt he had to leave federal politics and save us.  He's here to stop a non-conservative government from potentially governing the most conservative province in Canada for 30 or so years.

To achieve this feat, Kenney is counting on the tabulation of votes for PC and Wildrose in the 2015 election.  The logic is that Wildrose and PC votes added together beat the NDP in many cases and therefore a united party could beat the NDP in 2019.  That's it. If Albertans only have a choice between Conservative or not conservative, he and his backers believe that Albertans will vote conservative (which is how Alberta voted federally).

The flaws in this logic are many and varied but here's a sampler:

1.  More people voted against PC, and against Wildrose, than for either of them individually.  That is not necessarily the case with NDP (in one riding, the NDP clobbered the opposition by 6-8000 votes where the combined opposition vote was less than 3000 and this was not an isolated case).  Those results were non-existent for ANY other party in the 2015 provincial election.
2. People vote for different things at different levels of government. 
3. In this case, 1 + 1 does not actually equal 2.  Wildrose has a bad reputation for being anti-LGBTQ+, socially repressive, climate change denying, fact-resistant whiners.  The PC Party (from which many of the "more" conservative voters defected to Wildrose) was the "big tent party".  They were a coalition of progressives and conservatives and governed accordingly; socially progressive while still appeasing fiscal conservatives.  Kenney is not progressive (he is most accurately described as a Wildrose supporter).  He wants to "unite the right"wing voters and expel the progressives.  Those voters will not follow either Kenney or Wildrose.
4. There's no guarantee the Wildrose is going to merge with the PC Party.  Brian Jean, leader of the Wildrose, said he was opposed to a merger of the PC's and his party (though it's debatable how much his opinion matters as he is definitely standing out as not-so-Wildrose) while the number two has publicly backed it.
5. There is another fiscally conservative and socially progressive party in Alberta; the Alberta Party.  Folding the PC Party could do more for the Alberta Party than for the Conservative conglomerate (if people figure out who the Alberta Party is).
6. A united right party could push moderate small-c conservatives and social progressives straight to the NDP in fear of a hard-right conservative government (the most likely outcome in my opinion).

A sampler... each deserving of, and will likely receive, a more detailed post in the future.

D.

The Wildcard

So far this week, two notable speeches about the economic outlook for Alberta have been given. The first was by Todd Hirsch and the second was by Brad Ferguson.  Neither of them were too optimistic but Todd Hirsch mentioned something in particular: the political wildcards.

Obviously, our geographic proximity to the United States gives us Trump.  While campaigning, Trump claimed he wanted to get a better deal for the U.S. out of NAFTA but what would that mean for Canada?  Trump is a businessman.  So if we focus on the business, we see these numbers for Canada:

"U.S. goods and services trade with Canada totaled an estimated $662.7 billion in 2015. Exports were $337.3 billion; imports were $325.4 billion. The U.S. goods and services trade surplus with Canada was $11.9 billion in 2015." 

 And these for Mexico:

"U.S. goods and services trade with Mexico totaled an estimated $583.6 billion in 2015. Exports were $267.2 billion; imports were $316.4 billion. The U.S. goods and services trade deficit with Mexico was -$49.2 billion in 2015." 

 The U.S. spends more money in Mexico than Mexico spends in the U.S.  The opposite is true in Canada.  Does this mean we can relax?  Probably not and here's why; if the U.S. were to greatly reduce their imports from Canada, the Canadian economy would plummet. Canada can't just hope for the best with that level of risk. On the other hand, if Trump follows through with his punitive efforts against Mexico, Canada could become the only nation in the world with direct access (and possibly still free trade?) to the United States.

Essentially, Trump has the power, literally, to make or break the Canadian economy.  So how can Alberta help?  Hirsch and Ferguson both pointed to entrepreneurs and Hirsch punctuated his speech with a story about wallpaper cleaner (it gets better).  In the 1930's, Noah McVicker started a soap business.  When tough times hit, they managed to repurpose the soap into a wallpaper cleaner.  Technological advances in natural gas heating (rather than coal) and vinyl wallpaper brought the company near forcible closure again and they managed to repurpose their product a third time; into Play-Doh.  The moral of the story is that Alberta's economy does not have to go down when tough times arrive; we might just need to repurpose our focus to meet the changing needs.

D.

Come Together, Right Now

Brad Ferguson, President and CEO of the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation, gave his speech at the annual Impact Luncheon on Tuesday.  I wasn't fortunate enough to attend but I did hear a recap at 9:00 am on 630 CHED with Ryan Jespersen.

"... the biggest challenge we have, economically... is that we have been divided by ideologies on the far left and far right and we need to meet in the middle with good intentions to start finding solutions to some of the challenges that are in front of us..." - Brad Ferguson

Right now, there is a terrific opportunity to have the strongest voices come together and create balanced policy for Albertans. This doesn't necessarily even have to amount to compromise but it does have to involve cooperation.  Certainly, this is an ideal that is unlikely to come to fruition without some major changes in the way our current government operates, but indulge me anyway.

The NDP shows strong leadership on social policy.  The Wildrose wants to show leadership on economic policy.  Together, they should be able to create a winning combination of policy that all Albertans would benefit from.  It would also signal to Albertans that the NDP is worthy of its position as government and that the Wildrose is worthy of its position as Official Opposition.  Currently, both are lacking.

How could this play out? For the NDP it could decrease political risk.  If they brought the opposition in to assist in policy development, they would be able to take credit for a successful, cooperative strategy on economic policy.  Alternatively, they would be able to point fingers if it was unsuccessful.  Win/win.  The Wildrose would also be able to show that it has a grown up side in managing to work with others and the PCs, Alberta Party and Liberals could have a chance to actually influence policy as well.

Though it may seem as if the opposition has more to gain from such an arrangement than the NDP, the NDP would still come out on top because they are the majority government.  If they succeed with such an outlandish plan of action, they would be able to campaign on that cooperative governance in 2019.   In the meantime, it would be nice if the entire government could work together for everyone's benefit.

D.

Celebrity Hypocrites

Jane Fonda is heading to Alberta to protest the oil sands.  In fact, she will take her first tour of the sands and then attend a Greenpeace rally where she will speak against Alberta Oil.  When I was younger (last year), I was under the impression that Alberta Oil had a bad reputation in comparison to other oil production.  I had heard the negativity against our projects but I hadn't considered there might be another side to the story.  I was directed to a website and it's worth a visit.

Whether you believe one or the other, there is a question I have for anyone who is against the development of oil in our province; What about the oil in your own area?  Why does Jane Fonda need to fly up to Alberta to speak out against the oil sands when she could take a bus to the California Resources Corporation in California and protest development there?  I fully support the right to protest but I don't understand why you have to expend more resources to protest someone else's resources over your own.

I am also of the view that if you decide to protest something, you shouldn't be hypocritical about it. So yes, if you're going to protest oil, then you shouldn't use it. If you're advocating for a reduction of use, then you should have a good list of reasons for using some oil over others.  I do agree that if we need oil, we should use oil that is produced in areas that respect environmental regulations.  We should advocate for oil that is produced in areas that respect human rights, strict labour laws and safety standards.

Use your celebrity to do something good. Don't be a hypocrite.

Post-Listening in a Post-Truth World

I would not categorize myself as a conservative as I understand the term to mean today.  I would consider my interests to be fiscal responsibility and social progressiveness.  With that being said, I believe I sit in the centre and support policies that most closely identify with that. The amazing thing that I have noticed in the past month or so is that traditionally conservative individuals in the public eye have become "too liberal" by new conservative standards.

As much as possible, I listen to Newstalk 770 during the day; specifically Danielle Smith and Rob Breakenridge.  I've only been listening to them for about 7 months but I feel as though I have a pretty good idea of what their views are.  I believe Smith is a libertarian and Breakenridge is a conservative because that's how they self-identify.

Danielle Smith seems to be mostly unscathed here but then there's Rob Breakenridge.  Now I have been thoroughly amused at some of the callers since the U.S. election who accused him of being a liberal; laughed out loud, even.  He handled these callers and their accusations calmly and professionally... but I'm actually becoming concerned because the accusations haven't stopped.  If anything, they're coming more frequently, more loudly, and, in my opinion, more defiantly regardless of what Breakenridge says.

Many have decried the idea of "Trump-style" politics coming to Alberta yet the official opposition have embraced it (with the official number two actually punctuating his speech at their annual general meeting with "Make Alberta Great Again").  There are a loud group of supporters who are pushing for that style simply because it worked.  Whatever that may bring, I see the possibility of a backlash that wasn't present in the U.S.: reasonable people won't be able to justify staying in the conservative camp if this is the support they are cultivating.

Why here if not there?  Because this is Canada.  Because we are politically correct and we are reasonable and we expect our politicians to act with professionalism and respect for both the position they are elected to and the people who didn't elect them.  Yes, I still believe this, and I know I'm not alone.