A minority government would be best for the province
By Lethbridge Herald on May 27, 2023.
Editor:
It is election time again in Alberta and we will be casting our ballots at the end of May. Hopefully, as the electorate, we have been doing our due diligence by researching our candidates to see if they align with our vision of Alberta, moving forward.
Also, do they have the same concerns that we as individuals have about our future? For me, I have some concerns with the leadership ability of Danielle Smith of the UCP party.
She has made some outlandish statements in the past since being elected party leader but more than that, it is the fact that she is backed by the Take Back Alberta movement and its members have infiltrated the UCP party. Smith may rule the roost at this point but the leader of the TBA movement, David Parker and his members rule the rooster.
Because of the TBA ideology and control, the UCP party is moving to the extreme right of center and I do not feel that is in the best interests of Albertans.
In an article I read in the CBC news, David Parker talks about how he was instrument in removing Jason Kenney because he did not like how Kenney handled the covid pandemic and how he was able to get Danielle Smith elected.
He likes her because she shares his libertarian views. So, with electing UCP candidates at the end of May, are they going to be representing us in the Alberta government or are they there to promote the TBA agenda?
And if David Parker does not like what our elected representative is saying or doing, will that representative be forced to accept the narrative or step down?
Most Albertans have a concern with health care so let us not forget that the UCP were instrumental telling our health care professionals that they are being overpaid and that changes need to be made. That caused a great deal of concern and now coupled with the effects of the pandemic, we suffer from the lack of these same health professionals.
The NDP are promising some big-ticket items if elected, not unlike the UCP but they have a history of paying no mind to the deficit. This ideology may work for awhile during high oil prices but we all know this commodity cycles up and down quite frequently. Social programs are great but we need to also be able to afford them. And how can we forget the SCS in our city. We may never recoup from that.
It may appear like a two-party race in Alberta, however there are alternative parties out there to choose from if we approach this election with an open mind and consider how electing members from one of these alternative parties may serve us better in the long run.
I am in favour of a minority government now because I do not feel comfortable with a majority UCP or NDP government. We, the people, need make sure our government does not spiral out of our vision of acceptable government like it has in the past.
Kent Perry
Lethbridge
15-14
So what would be wrong with a majority NDP Government collecting proper royalties and taxes like Lougheed did, and run this province properly like he did and Norway and Alaska are doing?
Like the former conservative MLAs in Edmonton are supporting. They have stated in the past Reformers are the worst enemy of the people you could possibly elect.
We know damn well Danielle Smith will never cooperate with anyone to get things done properly, she can’t even get along with members of her own party. Her dictatorship attitude won’t let her. She thinks she is above the law. It has gotten her defeated three previous times in previous elections, why not one more? .
I predict Smith will be re-elected in Medicine Hat but the party will not. Medicine Hat, as
I have said, would elect a donkey in if it was on the ballot as long as it is conservative. Although there was one NDP in its past.😒
I would have thought that also, but look at the survey the Medicine Hat News is conducting. It doesn’t support what you are saying.
Having lived in Medicine Hat for 47 of my 64+ years and followed its politics all this time I’m sure it will happen as the byelection that saw Smith get the riding, and although the voter turn out was small iit is rather conservative run by christian finatics.
Since I told you to check it out it has flipped to the UCP so you are likely right. I was hoping they would defeat her. After spending 22 years working and living in rural Alberta I can’t believe how ignorant they seem to be. Doctors have been warning us that our health care system is on the brink of collapse and they don’t care, even when they will be the first to feel it.
just to say, i agree fully.
not sure how we would ever get a minority govt here, given we have really only 2 parties likely to win seats. i agree in that i believe minority govts are the most representative in a multiparty system, though. thatt said, in places like alberta, that still tend to live in the dark of the so-called good old days, which are a fantasy, they will eschew the idea of parties agreeing to work together as undemocratic. yet, that is utterly democratic, as the majority of the vote is represented when parties work together, unlike when our outdated and undemocratic system too often returns a “majority” govt that has garnered and thus only represents as little as 38% of the popular vote.
We know Smith would never work together with anyone for the good of the people. She got fired in 1999 by the Klein conservatives for refusing to work together with her fellow School board trustees in Calgary , didn’t she?
Minority governments are always better – politicians should be forced to play nice and compromise. Unfortunately it’s not an option in Alberta at the moment, we lack a 3rd party with any hope of getting even a single seat.
I would agree but we know Smith does not know how to play nice and it got her and the others fired as School Board Trustees in Calgary in 1999. The others all blamed Smith for not working together with them to get things done.
Sadly true.
Albertans have made the dumbest mistake of their lives electing this idiot Danielle Smith. I don’t know where Rural Albertans are going to find doctors to replace the ones who will leave because of how they have been treated by these Reformers. Calgary has told her to privatize three more hospitals, charge User fees for all of us to access our healthcare system. With massive increase in healthcare costs to privatize the system she will never be able to find the money during the next oil industry crash and she will have.to force her American Healthcare plan down our throats, like these Reformers have been wanting to do for years.
Where are senior couples who supported her going to find the $2,000. per month my American relative are paying for healthcare? Don’t forget she also wants to destroy our Canada Pension Plan and kick out the RCMP at a huge cost to taxpayers and dump the costs onto your property taxes, and you have told her to do it.
It reminds me of the comments from the American Oilmen I was involved with. “Albertans are the dumbest people on the planet for letting Klein give away your oil the way he is. Don’t you people know it’s non-renewable.”
You had better have deep pockets you are going to need it to survive under Smith and you can bet Ottawa won’t be handing Albertans any money in the future like they did with the pandemic and last oil industry crash , why would they? She is their enemy and now you’ve made her ours to. Where is the intelligence in that?