In the last Federal election I was interviewed by Mark Kelley for a piece on CBC's The National about Alberta politics. One of my points was a key strategy for Harper was there were two groups of Canadians he could ignore - and did ignore. There are those who would never vote for his authoritarian totalitarian type of governing and those who vote Conservative no matter what. Albertans have fallen into the latter category with minor but notable exceptions like Liberal and Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan and NDP Environment expert Linda Duncan.
With the most recent and obvious indifference and disdain for Alberta, and Edmonton in particular, the Harper Conmen have rejected the Expo 2017 bid and for no reasons of substance. The political machinations of the power hungry Stephen Harper are a constant calculation for personal political advantage and never a thought is given to doing the right thing for the right reason. The only time you you will see Prime Minister Harper and the words Integrity, Honestly, Transparency and Accountability in the same sentence is to note he lacks all of these characteristics.
The fabricated reason for rejecting the Edmonton 2017 Expo bid is the high cost of security. The Harper Conmen ran up the security costs of the G20 into a police-state bacchanal of excessive "security" and phony arrests of citizens engaged in legitimate peaceful protest. If you are going to intimidate people with police force - well that takes money - lots of borrowed money. Harper was happy to oblige that propensity to provide a false sense of "protection" to show off just how mush he is in CONTROL.
The sad irony is that self induced excess and abuse of security is now touted as the reason the Edmonton Expo bid can't be "afforded" right now...even though the event in 7 years away. Alberta, and Edmonton in particular, is being punished for it electoral loyalty to the Harper Conmen. The politics aside, and they stink, it is time to restore democracy to Alberta federal politics. We need to not only send a message to the presumptive arrogance of the Harper Conmen that the jig is up over taking Alberta voter support for granted.
We have research results that shows Albertans are not at all impressed with our MPs when it comes to protecting Alberta's interest in Ottawa. This reflection of Edmonton's aspiration to use Expo 2017 as a central event to celebrate 150 years of Confederation is just another indication of the indifference inherent in the Harper Conmen as they take our votes for granted. These guys are no longer about ensuring that the West is In...the battle cry that got them elected. When it comes to assuring us how the West is In, the "in" they provide is an attitude that is indifferent, insouciant and inept when it comes to promoting Alberta's best interests.
Has Alberta had enough of Harper yet? Other than Harper himself, the Social Conservative Jason Kenny and the soon to be departed Jim Prentice - can you name three more of your faceless and feckless Alberta based Conmen MPs? They are an unimpressive and a nondescript lot. Hardly the kind of characters that can articulate and express the new aspirations and the new narrative that is forming about the next Alberta. Alberta deserves better and we can do better with a change in whom we grant our consent to govern us.
Re: your comment "The politics aside, and they stink, it is time to restore democracy to Alberta federal politics": http://bit.ly/dU9r8s
ReplyDeleteI suspect most Albertans have not had enough of Harper just yet. But in addition to Linda Duncan's constituents, voters in Edmonton East and Edmonton Centre have strong NDP candidates who can deny Harper a couple more seats he will need in a close election. Ray Martin and Lewis Cardinal will stick up for Edmonton when silent backbenchers do not.
ReplyDeleteI can name many MP's. Man, Ken, you sure think people are stupid.
ReplyDeleteHarper has been a great Prime Minister and has kept our taxes low.
Re: Your question, Ken, "can you name three more of your faceless and feckless Alberta based Conmen MPs?"
ReplyDeleteI can only name the one from my riding and that is Mike Lake. Although I am not a supporter of the New PC's or whatever they call themselves having usurped the name of Progressive Conservative in the first place, I think Mike Lake is a good MP. Unfortunately, like every other PC MP he wears a gag. And probably blinkers. Mike Lake's biggest impediment to being a truly excellent MP is that he resides within the PC caucus.
Personally, I had enough of Harper long before he was ever elected. As for Albertans collectively, perhaps they have become so inured to being bashed and beaten and battered and robbed and manipulated by successive Conservative governments provincially, they suffer from the "abused spouse" syndrom and just can't make the break either provincially or federally.
There is little doubt in my mind that Harper and his gang are very bad for Canada. They have shown themselves to be very bad for Alberta, too. Can Albertans bring themselves to vote more intelligently? That's the million dollar question...or billion dollar question when it comes to those self-proclaimed "fiscally responsible" CONservatives.
Thanks for this comment. I think you have summarized the state of affairs very well. Add to this sad state of affairs, a very weak Premier and there isn't a whole lot to feel good about these days. I am truly sorry that the fed have turned their back on Edmonton's bid. We deserve better leadership than we are getting. We need some change and soon.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I can name the PC Edmonton area Members of Parliament so I have been increasingly making my displeasure known to them with the sad state of "decisions" coming from government. I appreciate the difference between representational democracy (which we operate under in Canada) and direct democracy (such as California) but surely after there is a balance between the two. At the moment I don’t believe the provincial or federal governments truly represent in any manner the constituents they are charged to do so. People like patients in the current health care debacle are viewed as necessary evils to government processes. Wrong and in some cases dead wrong as a result.
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