New premier needs to treat all residents of Alberta fairly
By Lethbridge Herald on June 2, 2022.
ditor:
It took three years for Albertans to realize that Kenney lost his election in 2019. Brian Jean may have won but Kenney said that he won because someone used their fake credit card to gain 4,000 votes in his favour. The party is still being investigated by the RCMP for allegations of criminal voter identity fraud in the contest that elected Kenney leader in 2017.
Aside from all the politics, Jason Kenney became the 18th premier of Alberta. He was born in Oakville, Ontario in 1968. His parents moved to Saskatchewan where he studied at Athol Murray Notre Dame College. His father was the President of that school.
Jason later attended Michaels University in Victoria, BC. Before going into politics, he had a short conversation with the late John Diefenbaker who inspired him to become a politician.
He studied philosophy at the University of California. Kenney returned to Canada; he worked for the Saskatchewan Liberal Party and Ralph Goodale. One wonders why he could not get along with Prime Minister Trudeau, but when the feds are ready to give the province money, he was happy.
I heard on the news recently that doctors (550 of them at latest count provincially) are leaving Alberta and seeking work in other provinces.
When Kenney became premier, he cancelled their agreement and paid whatever he thought was sufficient, which was not very much.
Furthermore, the EMS takes a lot longer to arrive when immediate attention is required from a dispatch in Calgary or Edmonton. The UCP have not provided any benefits for seniors since they took office. In fact, they added $85.00 to renew drivers’ licenses.
When COVID-19 occurred, Kenney was calling the shots; Dr. Hinshaw from AHS should have been in control instead.
We hope the new UCP leader will treat all Albertans fairly or they will lose confidence in the party.
Paul Jones
Coaldale
13-12
Like Ralph Klein he is another Liberal turned Reformer and like Klein is interested in destroying everything Lougheed created for the good of the people, just like the MLAs I knew pointed out. Don’t ever Trust a Reformer was their advise, they destroy jobs, not create them and that’s exactly what we have seen under these Reformers. Now Kenney’s pal Pierre Poilievre is promising to do the same if elected at the federal level. He was selling Reform Party Memberships in Calgary for Kenney when he was 16 years old.
Well, now that Kenney is gone let’s wait and see how many of those 550 are actually gone. You do realize there is a doctor shortage Canada wide which the CBC has been howling about for 20 years. Maybe Canada isn’t a great as place as you think. With the current mob in power, I would be gone too if the situation is right. It’s called freedom of movement, not freedom to whine, give me what I want and have me stay.
You are absolutely right and guess who has created this huge doctor shortage Reformers, pretending they are conservatives treating doctors, nurse, and teachers like dirt. After spending 8 years in Universities, 14 years if they are specialists running up huge student loans all they want is a little respect, yet that’s not what they get from these fools in Canada.
Not one of the nine doctors and two dozen nurses I helped relocate out of this province when Klein was playing this game wanted to go. Peter Lougheed or Don Getty never treated them this way. Members of my family in the medical field didn’t leave they just changed careers and stayed. There was an article that came out several years ago that stated that there were 19,000 Canadian Doctors working in the U.S. because of how they had been treated in Canada. One of my retired doctor friends told me that he had been approached by a hospital in the U.S. during the Klein stupidity. The salary was twice as much and hours of work was half as much, yet he refused to go.
He has five children in Alberta, grandchildren, and was not prepared to face chance of getting sued or face the fight to try to help his patients get the funds from these private for profit insurance companies that U.S. doctors have to deal with.
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.
As I have aged, I have come to recognize and appreciate the value and importance our medical professionals offer.
I am so grateful to have doctor(s).
I have to add, though, waiting six weeks to see my family doctor seems too long.
One word that has been used recently to describe many/all UCP MLAs is, “complicit,” complicit in that they were all there when all of the poor decisions/actions were being made and done. And any of them would expect to credibly run for leader? And unfortunately, neither Smith nor Jean are not the saviors for the UCP either…..birds of a feather.
Will we hear if any of them would (actually say bit out loud) reinvest in education and health care, put the cap back on insurance rates, do more fair taxation, cancel open pit coal mining….fix all of their mistakes? Or will it be the same old, same old dominionist, right wing authoritarianist bumbling?
Great comments again!. Complicity/Complacently so aptly describes many/all; of the UCP MLA’s.
Where were they when so many of these disastrous; policies, and plans were developed, proposed, negotiated and implemented. (Coal mining deal with the Australians done long before Albertan’s found out)
Surely; you would think that; the 51.4% approval rating for Mr. Kenney was in existence and obvious within the ranks long before the recent leadership vote.
Yet only very few were brave enough to express any open dissent
They were silent and on the Kenney cheerleading squad.
Actions speak louder than words, and trust is earned.
The definition of insanity is; doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
It just appears a tad preposterous that the people who created the train wreck should /could seriously be considered capable of fixing it.
You would have to be a damn fool to allow them to continue when they have proven how incompetent they are. the former MLAs I got to know were right. You can’t trust a Reformer they destroy jobs, they don’t create them and that’s exactly what we have seen under Klein and Kenny and now their pal Poilievre is promising to do the same.
Reformers through and through only interested in looking after themselves and their rich friends and are nothing like the Conservatives we proudly supported under Lougheed and Getty who treated everyone including doctors, nurses, teachers and students with dignity and respect, collected proper royalties, taxes, and health care premiums and ran this province properly like Norway and Alaska are doing.
Notely had nothing but praise for what Lougheed had accomplished for us and promised to get us back up to the Lougheed levels for royalties and taxes, however she came to power during a oil industry crash and knew she had to do it slowly over a period of time. The rich agreed to an increase in taxes of 2% and Kenney promptly cut it 4 % putting us in an even a worse mess. Where was the intelligence in that?
It sure feels like ….”something” has changed in provincial, federal, even municipal politics in the last decade or two. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Is it; Leadership? Quality of candidates? Power? Entitlement?
When the PC party was eliminated from power in Alberta, I recall many people who were strong PC supporters saying; I didn’t leave the PC party, the PC party left me.
It’s interesting; comparing the outcomes of the recent Alberta UCP leadership vote and the Ontario election.
Being Reformers is the problem. They are not true conservatives. They are only interested in looking after themselves and helping the rich steal the peoples oil and tax wealth in an effort to buy them votes. They never offer solutions to any problems they only try to blame it on others.
This all started with Ralph Klein bringing Preston Manning’s reformer party policies to the table deliberately trying to destroy everything Lougheed created for us, including royalties, and taxes, forcing us into a lot more privatization while he gave away billions in royalties and taxes. His father Phil and daughter Angie were furious with him for what he was doing and tried to help us vote him out.