Signs of an Impending Fall Election

Well, the provincial Conservatives are making all of the obvious signals for a fall election:

1. During the Federal Campaign, Ralph starts musing aloud about going to the polls in November.
2. Ralph proclaims that our debt is 'Paid in Full' at the beginning of this year's Calgary Stampede.
3. Mysteriously, provincial coffers suddenly have monies for hiring hundreds of new teachers.
4. Supposedly, public discussions over Medicare are due this fall.
5. The RHAs get enough money to wipe out their budget shortfalls for the year.

Typical tactics for the Klein Tories - basically they spend most of their term in office acting as petty dictators, debating little in the Legislature, and doing much of the governing by 'Order-In-Council' while the legislature isn't sitting.

Things to watch for, and keep track of:

1. Ralph's increasingly thin-skinned. Anyone who challenges him is met with an emotional tirade that would do a two year-old proud. Remember, Mr. Klein is a political leader, and as such should be able to deal with public questions.

2. In the last ten years, how much of the current Medicare crisis did Ralph's team manufacture? They are the ones who blindly chopped social spending when they came to power in the early 1990's, and hurt many more people than just the ill. Ralph has mused out loud about his disdain for the Canada Health Act, and he continues to make moves towards increasing the use of 'for profit' delivery of health care.

3. On Ralph's watch, electricity and natural gas services have been privatized. So far, all that this consumer has seen is skyrocketing costs, shady billing practices, and contracts with exit clauses that guarantee the gas company a huge profit - for no better reason than I am moving from a house into a condo.

4. The provincial Conservatives have acted more like American-style Neo-Conservatives than Canadians. Theirs is a particularly mean-spirited view of the world. One in which the most vulnerable members of society fall victim to a form of Social Darwinism. If you aren't wealthy, too bad - you suffer.

This will likely be an election driven by discussion over health care, and its future form in Alberta. There is much more to this than just a matter of policy. As citizens, we have to ask if the constant pleas of poverty on the part of the Klein government, followed by enormous, multi-billion dollar surpluses reflects prudent budget practice, or sloppy forecasting? We need to ask if Ralph and his merry bandits have a vision for 'post-debt' Alberta?

We should, ask ourselves if having an overwhelming, single-party majority in the provincial legislature is good for Alberta. In the hands of a man like Peter Lougheed, a landslide government worked out for Alberta's benefit. Since Lougheed stepped aside, we have had a series of less men taking the reigns of government. Don Getty didn't do Alberta any favours, and I'm not at all sure that Ralph's much better than Getty was.

Also, Albertans should be looking carefully at the responsiveness of the Klein government over the last ten years. They've taken stands, and basically leaned with the prevailing winds of opinion when the howling starts. The only things that they have 'stayed the course' on have been matters of political dogma, such as privatizing the utility industries.