Previous Conservative governments caused Alberta’s woes
By Lethbridge Herald on July 28, 2018.
Rebuttal to Tom Burns’ letter, “Where does the blame belong?”, Lethbridge Herald, July 17.
Tom should stop blaming Rachel Notley’s New Democrats (NDP) for Alberta’s problems. The truth is, Alberta was in trouble long before the NDP formed the government.
Perhaps Tom has forgotten that it was the Conservatives, not the NDP, that left Alberta so heavily dependent on volatile oil revenues. It was the Conservatives that failed to build enough schools, hospitals and senior care facilities in spite of Alberta’s enviable wealth. Tom yearns for the good old days of Conservative rule; when socialism was something extended to the oil patch and regressive “flat tax” schemes whittled down taxes for rich Albertans. Back to a time when it was fashionable to sell off hard-won profitable public assets, give away publicly owned natural resources to foreign oil companies and leave nothing in the bank for future generations/emergencies. For emergencies just like the one the NDP are grappling with today.
Despite plummeting oil prices, the Fort McMurray wildfire and opposition to the Kinder Morgan pipeline, the NDP are well on the way to getting Alberta’s economy back on track. It’s time we put the blame for Alberta’s social and infrastructure deficits where it belongs, squarely on the backs of previous Alberta administrations. Real change won’t happen overnight. Let’s give these New democrats a chance. After all, we gave the Conservatives almost half a century to get it right.
Dave Volume
Crowsnest Pass
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