Conservatives Unite?

I laugh when I listen to Conservatives talk politics.  I can laugh because I, too, am a Conservative. In some things I could be considered pretty far right and in other quite centrist.

Alberta’s two so-called “Conservative” parties have reached a tentative agreement to unite. Their leaders will now go to their members for a vote to see if it will actually happen.

Recent polls suggest that the people of Alberta don’t want either Jean or Kenny as the leader of the new party. The majority (over 50 per cent) voted for some other person to be the leader. Interesting!

I feel the same way. I was a supporter of both conservative groups who broke away from the PCs both federally and provincially. Alas, it seems that the federal PCs have taken over both breakaway parties. This is part of the reason I laugh when Conservatives talk politics. You see, it seems all they know is the propaganda and BS that the PCs spew. Without doing any research, they repeat the crap and lies that the PCs spit forth, and believe it as the truth, not unlike Trump’s uneducated (politically and regarding reality) supporters do in the US.

As an example, they blame the NDP for the current state of affairs here in Alberta. They don’t seem to realize the causes are the following:

1:  The price of oil has dropped worldwide. Oil companies have made a lot of cutbacks and lay-offs. Income from corporate taxes, royalties, and personal income taxes has dropped leaving our Alberta government (doesn’t matter what party is in power) with an income shortage.

2:  Forty-four years of PC government have left us with nothing in the bank and huge deficits in most departments especially those related to schools, hospitals, and other infrastructure. In reality, we should have the most modern of everything and trillions of dollars in the Heritage Trust Fund. When you consider the amount of oil and gas and the profits therefrom that have left this province, we should be the shining star of all Canada and possibly the world. This current little blip should only be a flash in the pan. However, it was PC governments that left us in this mess.

3: Ever since Lougheed was our premier (and I believe he was the best of the PC premiers) we have had the largest civil service per capita of any government in Canada. Yet, my fellow Conservatives once again blame the NDP. Likewise, most of the current contracts are carry-overs from the PC era.

4:  Former PC governments made lots of promises and even put up lots of signs regarding building new and much-needed schools and hospitals. However, it is only the NDP that is finally fulfilling those promises.  Hence the huge deficits we are running. Sooner or later we knew we would have to pay for all the broken PC promises. Is now the right time? With interest rates low and high unemployment, that would seem to be good indications that it is.

5:  The NDP. Just like it is hard to tell the difference between the PCs and the Liberals and how they govern, it is also hard to tell the difference between the NDP and the PCs. The NDP has kept some of its promises and are fulfilling some of the PCs unfulfilled promises but they still cater to big business and there seems to be no indication they will protect the people and the environment.

It is interesting to note that very few Conservatives heard former Premier Jim Prentice say he would be running a deficit of around $21 billion over the next three years. In fact, when you tell most Conservatives the truth about anything regarding former PC governments, they remain in denial.

So, it will be interesting to see how they vote regarding the formation of a new party and who they will vote for as the next leader.

For my part, I was proud of the Wildrose MLAs who didn’t cross the floor with Smith. I didn’t support Jean as the new leader. While my vote in the last election did not make a difference, I would hope that the current MLAs would remain loyal to their supporters and remain as Wildrose MLAs even as they did before.  I hope they realize that they are the Official Opposition because they remained loyal.  If they betray that loyalty, well, it happened once and it could happen again.

On a final note, I believe Danielle Smith could have been the current premier of Alberta had she not crossed the floor. Wonder where she is now?

Eugene Eklund

Whitecourt, AB