Alberta – You have options
After this weekend’s PC leadership first ballot, a theme that seems to be emerging, is that there are now 4 Progressive parties in Alberta, and 1 truly Conservative. This is typical partisan spin, perpetuating the “Alberta is Conservative” myth many of us fall for. That said, if you see the World on a single political spectrum, then there is some truth to there being 1 Left-Wing Democratic Party, 3 Centrist Parties and 1 Right-Wing Conservative. But I think this is a better way to consider your political alternatives in Alberta:
There is ONE political party that has governed for 40 years and seems to be so hell bent on staying in power, that for the last few years have been making decisions based on what will save them electorally, not what’s best for Alberta. They are now choosing a safe leader, a past Cabinet Minister/ Insider, one who in my opinion will be faced with an immediate internal struggle the party has yet to have to ever weather.
There is ONE that has struggled for 90 years since last forming government, and has been forced to take it’s biggest gamble yet. Bringing in a lightning rod outsider, with the hopes of putting a new coat of paint on a broken model. They refuse to change the engine and chassis of the party, thinking a fast driver can fix an old car. As someone else has said, this will end badly; and like a fast driver behind the wheel of an unsound car, it might get messy.
There is ONE that has never governed and is considered too fiscally progressive for an Alberta that will be an economic powerhouse for decades to come, and it’s citizens who would like for it to remain that.
There are TWO parties which are NEW and deserve our attention. In my opinion, these are the two parties that will eventually dominate the political landscape of Alberta in the next 2 – 40 years. I am not going to insult you and argue that the Alberta Party or the Wildrose Alliance Party are going to form government in as little as 6 weeks, in fact the three parties above will be spending every last bit of their waning political capital and electoral options to prevent it. But I make this prediction based on one simple observation; these two parties have the luxury of building themselves from the ground up,. They both genuinely want to reengage new voters, give more direct power to citizens with meaningful electoral reform, balance the budget, and drive transparency into caucus and government decision making.
But, in my opinion, there is ONLY ONE Party, The Alberta Party, that can give Albertans a government which;
- respects our powerhouse energy economy while working to build another, knowledge based one for our future,
- understands the difference between responsible and “conservative” fiscal planning, providing stable long-term funding and measuring returns on investment differently
- celebrates the diversity and differences of our people, seeing in it another “Alberta Advantage”
- sees a role for government to care for those constituencies who can’t protect themselves, people and our beautiful natural environment
If you want to learn more about the new Alberta Party, I encourage you to bring your family and friends to an information event we are hosting at Enterprise Square, this Wednesday September 21st. A great opportunity to learn about our polices, meet some of our candidates, executives and great volunteers from Constituencies all across the Capital region. Come get involved!
Learn more about the Alberta Party - This Wednesday!
Co-Founder of two beautiful daughters and 