Alberta needs to stick with homegrown leaders
By Lethbridge Herald on January 14, 2022.
Editor:
Alberta for the past few years has used a formula of hiring federal retread ministers to lead the province and people to some form of leadership and prosperity.
As we can see, this formula is full of holes as our provincial finance picture is a complete collapse and the province is owing billions which your great-great grandchildren will carry throughout their working years.
The provincial monies have been thrown helter skelter by the billions to our USA cousins for a pipeline dream that we all knew would never evolve.
More millions have been handed out by the present government to the oil and gas barons to top up their bonuses for years to come.
What did the taxpayer get? Diddly squat and taxes that have slowly crept upward so the premier can feather his cronies’ nests. He also built up a war room to the tune of $30 million which needed his people to run and collect large pay cheques to boot.
Now he is proposing offices in various cities in the USA to build our economy.
Try thinking up ways here in the province to employ people and build our economy through them.
Federal retread ministers who have functioned under the great financial umbrella in Ottawa see only dollars, like sugarplums dancing in their eyes, not the peoples’ wants or needs.
They use various ruses through taxation to gain the dollars and then hand out great gobs of monies to con you in their ideals.
I say never again hire a federal retread minister to lead Alberta; stick to your homegrown men and women who understand the wants of the province and the needs of the people.
We once gain have that leader standing in the wings awaiting the next election, Mr. Brian Jean, an individual who has shown leadership qualities and political savvy before.
He is homegrown and yours to elect.
Gerald Alkerton
Lethbridge
16-15
Well Gerald you made good sense until your last line. Brian Jean was as bad a liar as his federal government Reform Party buddy Jason Kenney has been. The former conservative MLAs that I knew taught me to never trust a Reformer and they were right. Lougheed’s energy minister was a brother in-law of one of my uncles.
Jean brought back the Ralph Klein lie that Alberta was broke because we have had to send billions of dollars to Ottawa and Quebec in the form of Equalization Payments, when Alberta has never paid a penny into Equalization.
He said we should separate from the rest of Canada if Ottawa didn’t give us what we want. We think that’s why people took a chance on Kenney instead and voted him out.
The fact as the true conservatives know we have got to get of these damn Reformers they are the problem. Not one has been smart enough to suggest we should be following what Lougheed did. Collect proper royalties and taxes, like he did and Norway and Alaska are doing.
Then, there’s Alberta’s NDP leader, Rachel Notley…certainly homegrown! And, bearing more of a fiscal conservative resemblance to former fiscal conservative Premier Peter Lougheed than either Jason Kenney or Brian Jean ever will be. We do not have the more inclusive fiscal conservatism of yore anymore. Now, we have the disturbing ultra right wing populist authoritarianism. It may be that more and more Albertans have come to this realization of the difference as voting intentions indicate that the AB NDP would win an election now with a 99% chance of a majority…and none too soon! The Kenney UCP have dropped the ball on so many issues that there will be much work to do to get them fixed and reversed.
I couldn’t have said it better. The former MLAs ,lawyers, bankers, and oilmen certainly knew she was on the right track.
This is what Lougheed Conservative MLA Allan A. Warrack had to say
“Rachael Notley Has Led Like Lougheed.
My senior friends and I were talking about it at coffee this morning and we all want to see her back. One of the women thinks she needs to get a hair cut though, which we all laughed about. We think she is right.
I met her dad in Peace River when I worked there and would have supported him if our family hadn’t been so involved with Lougheed. grant understood why I didn’t.
I also knew Chrystia Freeland in Peace River, her mother, father, and both grandparents three of them were lawyers. I never thought someday this little girl would be Trudeaus right hand man. She maybe a lot smarter than him.
Here is something else, off the subject, that you might be interested in. the Royal Bank has announced that there are 61 solar energy projects on the go in Alberta and lots more to come. So after all these lies that solar power won’t work in Alberta because of the snow by these fake conservatives projects are going ahead. Those of us who have spent time in Europe weren’t dumb enough to believe it, we knew it worked.
What these Reformers weren’t telling people is the fact that they don’t care if the panels are covered in snow, they can still collect power bouncing off the snow to the underneath side of the panels where there isn’t any snow.
This is interesting to read:
“Wind and Solar: A robust forecast for renewable energy in Alberta”.
With the price of solar panels dropping it’s something to think about. People who have done it point out that it eliminates the stupid fees Ralph Klein allowed the industry to add to our bills.
wherever the leaders come from is hardly the real issue. the issue is the utter lack of leaders, and i include notley. this province has been in corrupt, giveaway mode for decades. we know, or should know, of the corruption and sleaze and self service and service to big money by the cons since the 80s. also unnerving is the waste that was notley ndp, which did not at all govern socially – they just spun money around to a bit of a new in-group, while also holding steady on who owns the primary levers and aspects of the alberta economy. we continued to get robbed by utilities, and oil, while hamstrung by world pressures, never was forced to really begin and be held accountable for the toxic, environmental mess it has saddled us with. what they did do was line pockets with the likes of their bogus “green” plan, highlighted by the ridiculous waste of cash that came to be their dimwitted “lightbulb” moment.
the levers of power in any region begin with ownership of the wealth of the land and the system. in alberta, it is energy, including utilities, all primary resources including forestry and mining, and also – as it is everywhere – finance. it does not at all mean govt owns businesses and plans the economy. it just means that the areas that create the greatest wealth – those areas that steal away the massive brunt of the pie from the masses and into the hands of a tiny fraction – and the areas upon which the masses are woefully dependent, such as utilities, must be owned by the people. all else is based on the usual market factors.
Now that you have literally called Notley names and called our former MLAs , lawyers, accountants, oilmen, and bankers liars for praising her and wanting her back why don’t you provide us with a list of things she did to make you feel that way?
This is what Lougheed’s highly respected MLA Allan Warrack said about
“Racheal Notley has led like Lougheed “ other conservative MLAs agreed I was told.
i just gave it to you.
I think we would want to see something more intelligent than that don’t you think? People I talk to don’t think she gave anything away. Unless you call building 55 schools we desperately giving it away. That’s what Kenney did.
Why wasn’t she a good leader when people say she was and why are they wanting her back? Have you bothered to read the latest polls that point out Notley has a 99% chance of winning the next election and Kenney 1%.
Have you gotten vaccinated or are you still sitting at home clouding your mind smoking your pot?
haha! you know, cannabis, lsd, psilocybin, mescalin, mda…each a major door opener into the truer realm of the universal spirit. as we slowly begin climb out from under the utter lies that have vilified drug use, and quite criminally made criminals out of people exercising their right to choose for their bodies, the information now coming out of studies based on honesty and integrity are quite astounding. mind you, in many instances ancient societies have known about as much all along. but then again, the wicked beast that is the new world order, aka imperialism, aka colonialism, has been trying to eradicate truth as much as it tries to eradicate sundry cultures and diversity, even as it tries to undermine all systems of the planet. not sure if when you meet with your coffee group if you drink decaf, or if you drink the drug caffeine, but you are only half awake. you are able to see some level of corruption, and have shared that well enough. but, you continue to miss the big picture. perhaps in your next life?
still not vaxed for covid. pharm is still torturing animals…making them sick, making them writhe in pain, executing by the millions. ever consider how many billions of creatures they have routinely tortured to date? that is ok for you. so long as get in maximum breath in this life?
bad pharma is bad karma. no escaping that reality.
good schools – propaganda houses. prepare kids for university, jeopardy show, and to become good little corp citizens. it is where elitism is ingrained, and where intolerance is groomed. it is where regurgitation is celebrated, and vocations, originality and creativity is crushed. overlook teaching real essence and life skills, while being sure that we know of shogun japan and factoring binomials. quite pathetic, really.
You sell us all short. Again, there’s that narrative. My uneducated nephew who has been smoking marijuana for too long says that too. Not quite as WELL as you admittedly, but the same narrative….
a useful reply would include your basis for determining i am selling us all short. not sure why the nephew reference – does one person reflect the very many? fed up would say it does, but i bet you know better.
smoking marijuana too long? is there a time limit on the practice? from what dusty pages did you learn of this? if your nephew is doing nothing, that is a personal and likely a mental health concern. his use of pot is not the issue; however, it may be a symptom. whatever it is holding him back, he does not represent the brunt of pot users. also, not so good on you to try and exploit his situation in the vain hope of making some point.
as for my short take on our education system, i know it well enough having experienced it from several perspectives. i will read and respond should you offer anything as substantiation for your viewpoint.
I mention my nephew, as I did in another comment that you maybe didn’t see, because he has become one of the plethora of now well- documented conspiracy theorists, thriving in the triumph of misinformation presented online and on social media, and is therefore predictably, unusually paranoid about authority of any kind. That’s why I mention him, because it is also well-documented that marijuana can cause paranoia, which you seem to very much be afflicted with. I’m sure you eschew Q-Anon and lizard people, but this is now your cohort as you continue to insist that there is no pandemic, big pharma is out to get you, education is all for nought, government is pointless, etc. etc.
within your “team” there are indeed also a wide range of people, from caring through to selfish and psycho/sociopaths. be it made clear: i am attached to no affiliation, politically or otherwise. please, if you cannot stop trying to put each into tidy box, at least acknowledge that my entries do not square me firmly into any camp.
again, i will inform you that there is no substantiated evidence that cannabis causes paranoia, or any mental health issues: the most recent, and most honest studies, only suggest that thc may exacerbate certain mental health issues where they ALREADY EXIST. even the singular “study” that created the big lie that pot use undermines the forming adolescent brain has never been proved. however, if i had a little kid who was prescribed the likes of ritalin and dexedrine et al by one of the far too many quick draw prescription writer doctors of today…well, now there is a basis for concern and autonomous studies.
i would have wanted something more intelligent from the ndp, something that is social and not just keeping the same old going. notley has gained popularity because the ndp is the most old style conservative option available; better than reform party “cons”, but hardly ndp social.
i stand by my assessment of the alberta ndp, which has too long now been the issue with all ndp.
did you see the article that highlighted larry elford’s take on the state of affairs? all the more astounding coming from one that has long been immersed in the world of finance. called out the issues very well.
in case you missed, here is a piece from his insightful outlook.
“First, capture the ability in whatever economic game we’re playing, give me the ability to create the money.”
Elford said step two is capturing the power and step three is tilting the playing field to purchase whichever rules and laws and the elected representatives of the public, those connected to the public money and power.Â
“Those are the first to get the ability to create the money, then create the rules and then rig those rules for the next 100 years for the benefit of private parties and at trillions of dollars of cumulative harm to society,” he said. “So we wonder why there’s a guy sleeping on the sidewalk in the cold today in a Canadian winter and in fact that person cannot even picture having the ability to afford the cost of living when some people are raining trillions of dollars down upon themselves.
“Our streets consist of a different world, a world of economic refugees, people who are, in no way, shape or form connected to the system of money or power creation. They’re completely left out. We label those people and we give them all kinds of terms, some deserved, some undeserved.”
Elford said our wealth circuit has been plugged into our political circuit, so there is little to no interest in prosecuting the crimes of the rich and powerful.”
The power base is steeped for sure and has consolidated as usual, which is why even if Bernie Sanders had won he would have found himself surrounded by the same rich dickheads duly elected because of super tribal/super religious dumbed-down “Amurica” and all, this despite its proud identity of exceptionalism losing ground as we speak. He wouldn’t even have got where he is had he not become independent and compromised constantly. But the bigger they are….so we all watch what’s next with trepidation. Entertaining maybe, but also ultimately an unmitigated disaster for all of us in the wings, like climate change. So while you seem to advocate burning it all down which would prove you were RIGHT, that also places you on the political right with its suite of stupidity. Things are binary now.
not about proving I AM RIGHT – it is about tackling the significant issues that are undermining rights and sustainability. i find it most curious how people that appear to be aware will continue to see the solutions as being the perpetuation of that which is the base from where the issues originate.
And biff doesn’t think his mind is clouded from the drugs. must be fun living at home and can’t go any where I had coffee on Friday with 16 of my senior friends.
once again, no basis for rebuttal, just the usual pat phrases. glad a coffee out makes you feel good. but, why do you feel a need to rub in that it is a good thing to support the ongoing violation of basic human rights? you support having disenfranchised classes of people?
meanwhile, you stay stuck to the idea that cannabis is bad. you are a beacon of an example as to how insidious and deep rooted is govt spewed propaganda. yup, you have all the soundbite ingrained, all the lies you have absorbed as truths, and yet very few entries that demonstrate an ability to interact with a contrary view, or to share an original thought.
Well the bar for conservative “leadership” has definitely dropped way down thanks to Kenney’s UCP, but we all still remember the “lake of fire incident” that was probably responsible for slashing the even MORE right wing Wild Rose’s chances.
Maybe you haven’t noticed that the political right has lost all credibility of late. Donald Trump trumped them, outing them while he was at it. And speaking of being exposed, covid and climate change have made it crystal clear that clinging to an alternate reality just isn’t going to cut it. Because that pesky alternate authority that goes along with that isn’t actually even at the table.