UCP not the only party that needs to be accountable

By Lethbridge Herald on May 31, 2023.

OUR OPINION

It’s over! Albertans have made their choice at the polling booths and for better, or worse, we have pretty much the status quo.

The UCP is still in charge but their majority has been reduced substantially.Will this be a lesson learned for Danielle Smith or are we facing four years of turmoil under her stewardship of the province?

In this past election, we heard from many they weren’t voting for one party, they were voting against another. This speaks volumes about how the leadership of both the UCP and NDP is perceived.

Alberta has no viable alternative to the right and left and that has caused a polarization in this province. Some say the NDP is actually more middle ground now but is that actually true? Or is it a perception the NDP wanted to portray to lure undecided or angry voters?

This is a party which promised to hire more police officers in the province – a stand which seems rather contradictory given the animosity toward the police that some NDP supporters have shown in the past. Was this a real acknowledgement of law enforcement problems in Alberta or simply grandstanding for votes?

The NDP certainly made a point during its campaign of spotlighting the UCP’s failures, focusing on Danielle Smith’s comments about Nazis, her conversations with Artur Pawlowski, her opinions on the healthcare system. It focused rightfully on the disturbing comments made by various candidates running for the party.

In many regards, the UCP is a political train wreck, that thanks to its conductor, has lost the support of many in the province who consider themselves to be true conservatives. 

It is clear an extreme right-wing faction has too much influence over the party.

But to her credit, when candidates crossed the line, Smith did react quickly during the campaign. After disgusting remarks made by Lethbridge West’s Torry Tanner, that candidate quickly resigned and was replaced. 

Was her resignation voluntary or was it forced? We don’t know but the UCP leader did intervene swiftly.

That can’t be said of the NDP when Rob Miyashiro retweeted a demeaning comment about the Alberta fire situation.

Miyashiro, when asked by The Herald about the retweet, simply responded with “no comment” to a private Twitter message sent to him.

When party leader Rachel Notley was in the city to rally troops and hold a media event, she didn’t address the gaffe by the Lethbridge East candidate. Not once did she apologize for it. 

Miyashiro also walked out of the Lethbridge East election forum early to be with his party leader at the Galt Museum. 

His departure prompted an early end to the forum which was not fair to the people who turned out to hear from the two candidates. That forum should have been his priority. 

Yet the NDP had no issue calling on the UCP for accountability. That same accountability should be expected from its own members. 

When Shannon Phillips held a press conference focusing on a comment made by Nathan Neudorf during that forum, the quote in her press release and repeated by her during the media event wasn’t even completely accurate. 

The NDP also created a controversy over a non-event at an advance poll when media – who were actually there for an NDP photo opp – asked questions of the city’s two UCP candidates after they cast their ballots.

Neudorf and Cheryl Seaborn weren’t campaigning as they were accused of, they weren’t holding a press conference – they simply were answering questions asked of them by the media who would have taken photos of them, too if the UCP had gotten advance permission to have their own opp inside. But they didn’t so they voted without the entourage of media who followed Phillips and Miyashiro to the station. 

How can the NDP expect credibility from the UCP when it shows none itself?

The NDP also continued to flog the dead horse that the doctor shortage was caused by the UCP when in reality this is a national problem that has existed for many years.

This was a nasty campaign but it’s over. Unfortunately, the mud-slinging and politicking will continue for another four years.

We deserve better and need better. We need a mainstream alternative that will appeal to conservatives and liberals alike, a party that takes the best policies of the UCP and NDP and melds them into a platform that is palatable to the majority of Alberta voters. 

We need leadership that holds itself and its members accountable. We need MLAs to work for the betterment of the province, not just to keep or get their party into power. 

Power in itself has no value unless that power can be harnessed for good. 

In this province exists too much bitterness, resentment and alienation. Because we are too polarized.

Alberta needs a real change – we need a viable, palatable alternative to both the UCP and NDP.