Kenney resignation can teach Alberta a lesson about itself
By Lethbridge Herald on May 27, 2022.
Editor:
It seems to me, there is a lesson to be learned in Jason Kenney’s resignation.
Alberta is traditionally conservative – it’s in our bones, and in our soil – but we are not right-wing extremists.
“Business” is important in any prosperous place, but so is the place and it’s people.
We can be “led,” we will not be “ruled,” This place knows itself.
It knows what’s important in life and we know how we want to get there.If any would “lead” this place, this people, they had better pay attention to recent history.
Jim Stone
Taber
9-8
Like FedUp has said on occasion, time to differentiate between a social ethic (conservativism as living within your means, with a concern for the future in present actions) and the Orwellian name used by a political party.
What is the most conservative party in Alberta today? (As the letter writer suggests – not the UCP)
The former Lougheed MLAs considered Notley to be a lot like Lougheed and was trying to gradually raise corporate taxes and royalties back up to the Lougheed levels and it would have worked if Albertans hadn’t started believing the lies Jason Kenney fed them. There is no way it can be done without spending money to fix the mess these fools have created, you can’t fix in only 4 years what they created in 25. I bet the roads will cost billions of dollars alone to fix ,and they are destroying our vehicles. Our cities and towns are so broke they can’t fix them or provide us with proper snow removal and you can’t keep increasing property taxes when we have all this oil wealth that can be used, but isn’t thanks to what these fools have done to us.
Now Kenney’s Reform Party pal Pierre Poilievre is trying to get elected at the federal level and is making an ass of himself by promising to destroy jobs, not create them, and is trying to blame the head of the bank of Canada for our high inflation costs when he had nothing to do with it. Covid and the war in the Ukriane have been the problem. He has also praised the Trucker Convoy for creating the mess in Ottawa that has cost taxpayers $36 million where is the intelligence in that? In other words there is nothing conservative about him. He is a right-wing extremist who was selling Reform Party Memberships for Jason Kenney, in Calgary, when he was 16 years old. .
With Lougheed’s energy minister Bill Dickie being a brother in-law of one of my uncles I got to know several of the MLAs form the Lougheed era and I haven’t forgotten what they taught me. There is a huge difference between a Reformer and a true Conservative. Reformers are right- wing extremists and unlike the true conservatives use the peoples oil and tax wealth to try yo buy votes by literally giving it away to their rich friends, while trying to force the people into a lot more privatization like Klein did. When you look at what Alaska and Norway have accomplished with their oil wealth it makes perfect sense. Alberta’s oil production is far greater yet look at what these phony conservative have cheated us out of. We figure it’s around $800 billion when you add up what we have lost in taxes, oil and gas royalties and look at the mess our roads are in and the Orphan Well Cleanup mess that under Lougheed and Getty was being paid for by the oil industry who created it. They have without question destroyed our children’s future and without Notley collection proper royalties and taxes like she was trying to gradually do we are in a hell of a mess. Kicking around doctors, nurses, teachers and students like Kenney has been doing is a no-brainer we have got to get it stopped.
Not right wing extremists? It may be, an iffy smudged line. Certainly, the UCP and the CPOC are ridden with the toxic splitting issue of moderates and extremists and never the twain will meet?
“From social conservatism and authoritarian populism to militant right-wing extremism. This is a review that points to a link between the psychological aspect of Social Conservatism and measures of militant extremist mindset.”
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886921001082
Interesting abstract. Additional thoughts on the topic from a study of the writing of Mary Shelley, Octavia Butler and Margaret Atwood.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8022679/
A reminder of we being ‘led,’ is the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, who, could be a great example/teacher of how to lead/govern to all western democracy leaders. She was granted an honorary degree from Harvard recently, and her Harvard University address is well worth seeing and hearing. She got a standing ovation, unsurprisingly!
http://www.nz.usembassy.gov/pm-jacinda-arderns-harvard-address/
Oh, for a leader such as her!
If only…. Whether you are a believer or not, the following may represent something we could all dream about as an overall attribute in future leaders.
“Imagine if God came to you and said, “I will give you whatever you want. Just ask for it.” What would you pray for?
This actually happened to Solomon when he was a very young man. He had ascended the throne to rule over Israel after his father David was gone. One night God appeared to him in a dream and said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!” (1 Kings 3:5 NLT).
Solomon asked for wisdom to rule God’s people.
Then God said, “Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies—I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have! And I will also give you what you did not ask for—riches and fame!” (verses 11–13 NLT).
Is that not the perfect example” (Pastor Greg Laurie)
It is said; history repeats itself (I tend to believe, the above represents history)
If only…..If only ….. real leaders could step up. If I may add one other suggestion; someone like Ukraine’s President Zelensky may be a breath of fresh air as well. Where are these kinds of leaders today?
I suspect, those who drank the “Kenney Kool-Aid” may not be in Albertan’s best interest.
At the very least, I would hope any UCP wannabe leader will clearly articulate why he wants the position, and what he will do, to distance himself from Mr. Kenney and his style/ideology and most importantly; how he will help/serve the best interests of average Albertans.
Listening would be a good start. Wisdom would be great.