Albertans can’t afford Nathan Neudorf
By Lethbridge Herald on March 6, 2025.
Editor,
Like many southern Albertans, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read MLA Nathan Neudorf’s remarks to the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce in the Lethbridge Herald (Jan.30, 2025).
Did he really say: “so do you want to choose coal mining with higher than ever regulatory thresholds for any environmental infrastructure’s or do people want a 10 to 20% tax increase”?
In 2019, the UCP was elected to govern Alberta. MLA Neudorf was part of that government. The government immediately began negotiations with foreign coal companies to open up the Rocky Mountains and eastern slopes to coal mining. When the new government publicly announced it would rescind the 1976 Coal Policy, there was an immediate backlash from Albertans.
In 2021, the Alberta government acknowledged that they did not have the support or a mandate from Albertans and the government backed down.
Coal companies subsequently filed their lawsuits against the Alberta government (taxpayers) to recover costs and potential future lost profits.
In 2023, the UCP was re-elected without mentioning that they intended to open up the Rockies and eastern slopes to coal mining, and again without a mandate from Albertans to do so.
Now vast numbers of Albertans are justifiably angry again.
Alberta’s Minister of Affordability and Utilities and our city’s representative for the constituency of Lethbridge East seems to be saying that taxpayers must pay dearly for the mistakes of the governments that he was and is member of.
The alternative is to let foreign owned coal companies destroy our mountains and pollute our river to access coal owned by Albertans, operating within lax environmental standards while paying some of the lowest royalty rates for coal in the world. Energy Minister Brian Jean state that any new regulations would not apply to existing applications and coal projects. Even ones that have yet to begin.
Mr. Neudorf, you were elected to represent the citizens of Lethbridge East. As a cabinet minister you are accountable to all Albertans. The public statement you made undermines the defence the Alberta Government may have to make at trial, possibly increasing the amount of financial compensation that may ultimately be owed to foreign owned coal companies.
If Mr. Neudorf really cared, he would represent the wishes of the people of Lethbridge. He would be speaking out against coal mining and advocating for immediate implementation of strong environmental standards. He would demand immediate implementation of the required legislation in the next session of the Alberta legislature.
If you aren’t prepared to do that, please resign. Albertans can’t afford you.
Chris Spearman
M.D. Pincher Creek.
16-15
Mr. Spearman, it is not surprising that you are (as illustrated in your unmerited article) resorting to personal attack against our duly elected MLA, Mr. Neudorf.
Your feeble and uncalled for declaration suggesting that Mr. Neudorf should “resign” is par for your “modus operenda” which is highly disrespectful especially given the excellent dedicated work Mr. Neudorf has and is doing for his constituents in Lethbridge East and throughout the Province.
It should go, however, with notoriety, that thankfully you, Mr. Spearman, resigned as Mayor of Lethbridge and we (Lethbridgites) are appreciative and enriched by that.
Harold, a significant majority of Albertans, including those of us from SW Alberta, have made it clear that we oppose coal mining on the Eastern Slopes. These views were made clear in the government’s own online survey in 2021, in the report of the Alberta Coal Policy Committee (issued the same year), in public meetings, and in letters to the editor and social media more broadly.
It is a fact that Mr. Neudorf’s position on coal mining is inconsistent with the views of a majority of his constituents and with a majority of Albertans more generally.
Now, Harold, as you claim to be a man of integrity and elevated moral character, would you not agree that regardless of the issue and notwithstanding your personal views, that Mr. Neudorf’s decision here warrants consideration of recall?
As the former Conservative MLAs I knew said “Don’t ever trust a Reformer or the fools who support them. They destroy jobs, not create them , and they don’t care about the well-being of the people or our children’s future, only themselves and their rich friends “. They certainly had it right. Notice they aren’t interested in posting the results of these surveys because they aren’t the answer they wanted, are they? Albertans weren’t as stupid as they wanted them to be, were they?
Spearman didn’t resign as you state, he chose not to run for reelection. The announcement was carried in the Herald on January 7, 2021.
Why would you lie about a fact that can be so easily checked?
So 20 people think you’re an ass but in true Reform Party Fashion you don’t get it . People aren’t interested in anything you have to say but you just keep proving how ignorant you are, don’t you? Friends state that you are all mouth and no brains , I wonder why? However you do give us a good laugh, don’t you?
What has Nathan Neudorf and the UCP done that benefits Albertans? The highest utility costs in Canada, the highest rate of inflation in Canada, the highest rate of food bank usage in Canada, the highest rate of unemployment in Canada, the highest rental increases in Canada, in Calgary and in Edmonton, the highest insurance rates in Canada, and more. The UCP have also carried on with the fiscal ineptitude and poor planning that the Alberta PCs did, ever since Peter Lougheed was no longer premier of Alberta. So far, the UCP have made well over $80 billion in very costly debacles and mistakes, and the UCP have also treated the vulnerable, seniors, medical professionals, teachers, students, rural property owners, the environment and democracy in Alberta with disdain. That’s not a benefit. Well, the church congregation, and the community was given Dani Dollars bribe money, so we had to vote for the UCP. We had to vote for the UCP, because we wanted bribe money like Ralph Klein gave us.
As the oilmen point out there is no other oil rich nation in the world that’s in the financial mess that Albertans are in thanks to these Reformers that’s how stupids Albertans were for letting it happen. As a former banker talking to all sorts of professionals we can’t see away out for our children and grandchildren facing an $85 billion debt and a $260 billion and growing oil well cleanup mess, can you?
I’ve seen some hilarious posts here but this one takes the gold. I’m a Lethbridgite and am not aware of anything positive Neudorf has done for our city. In fact the most productive thing he could do is resign or wait for his ass to be booted along with the UCP after the next election.
Thus spoke the gospel according to HP . He speaks in a vein similar to his idol, Dear Donald. Ironic that he should take offence about a personal attack on Neudorf, when he himself has no qualms about attacking verbally and without cause, just about anyone with whom he disagrees. But then again, that is HP’s MO. You HP, may be appreciative of Spearman resigning, but those thoughts are not echoed by all Lethbridgites (sic) as you blatantly suggest.
He keeps reminding the people of Lethbridge why they weren’t dumb enough to elect him to Town Council and they are pleased they didn’t. He is another Right-wing Extremist.
was he the Mayor?
No he was trying for Town Councillor and was soundly defeated. I wonder why? People from Lethbridge tell us they’re glad he was.
If you are old enough, you would remember the Social Credit Party and how regressive they were. Peter Lougheed fought to get rid of them, because he knew bad they were. There were Albertans who couldn’t wait to vote the Social Credit out of power. The UCP are much like the Social Credit Party. My dad, who is 95 this year, was around when the Social Credit Party was around. He was also around when the Alberta PCs were in power for almost 45 years. It would not be good if the UCP were around for 45 years. The UCP are also similar to Ralph Klein, and my dad wasn’t too fond of him either.
Oddly enough I got to know several of the Social Credit MLAs including Jim Henderson who was a good friend and their temporary leader at one time. We had lunch together once a month for about 4 years until Jim got so fed up with what Klein was doing to us he moved to Kelowna. Jim told me that it was impossible being in opposition to Peter Lougheed when you had to agree with everything he was doing and that’s why the Social Credit Party disappeared so quickly. Most of them believed in Lougheed’s policies.
Did you, your siblings, or your parents do any volunteer work for Peter Lougheed, during the 1960s, when he was helping to bring back the Alberta PCs?
My late parents and two sisters spent countless hours volunteering for the Lougheed and Getty governments. One sister also volunteered for the Federal Conservatives also. A brother in-law flew the government plane for them in his spare time and never got paid a dime. Lougheed’s energy minister Bill Dickie was a brother in-law of one of my uncles and dad donated around $30,000. to their party over the years.
We had known the Klein family since 1960 and know some of them refused to support Ralph also because they knew he wasn’t capable of doing a good job.
In 2003 Don Getty told me that inviting a drunk into the Alberta Conservative Party was a huge mistake and he certainly wished he hadn’t after all the damage he had done and was still doing.
It’s not surprising that his own party kicked him out like his daughter Angie wanted them to do. She knew he was a disaster for the province, yet mindless seniors continue to praise him and ignore the financial mess he created that’s how stupid they are.
The herald, its letter writers and commenters are like the metaphorical car alarm that no one pays attention to. Same old six or seven.
Bored, are you? Maybe its time to move on and contribute your worldview to a more receptive audience … the Völkisch, perhaps?