Reasons Why Alberta Needs Change

Yesterday's stalling tactic in the Legislature is symptomatic of a much larger problem than what should have been a minor private members' bill.

First, let's take a look at Ted Morton's comments:

Morton vowed to reintroduce the bill next spring, and said what transpired Monday would be remembered the next time a private member's bill originated from across the aisle.

"What goes around comes around," he said.

"The Liberals not only were irresponsible in blocking debate today, they were stupid, too."

Unsurprisingly, he's talking in the words of retaliation and revenge. This is typical of two kinds of people - the schoolyard bully types, and those who have become too accustomed to power.

The Progressive Conservative party in Alberta has been sitting on oversized majorities for so long that they have come to believe that there is no need to amend their legislation, or to reconsider an ill-conceived bill. When it requires the opposition to use every procedural rule in the book to put the brakes on a piece of legislation, it's a clue that just maybe that legislation is a bad idea.

This indicates a few key points:

1) The overwhelming majority the PC's have in the legislature is not good for Albertans. Legislation cannot be given the consideration it deserves when the party in power is only taking "softball questions".

2) Under Ralph Klein, backbench Tory MLAs have been discouraged from doing anything constructive beyond throwing a few "softball" questions about. This is not constructive debate at that point in time.

3) After 30+ years, the last fifteen of which under Ralph's thumb, the PCs have come to believe themselves, and have stopped listening. When I wrote to my MLA about my concerns with Morton's bill the response I received was a rather bland "well, I voted for the bill in both first and second readings". (I'm not surprised by this, but it still irritates me that engaging these people is next to impossible)

4) The Conservatives federally (a party whose key power brokers are thoroughly steeped in the Alberta monolith) are acting similarly disengaged and distant with respect to the concerns of their constituents. (Try engaging Jason Kenney on anything)

It's not just time to replace the PC's, they're so far past their "sell before date" that even "Dean's Deli & Death" wouldn't sell it. ("Dean's Deli" was a sleazy little shop near my office when I first started there. It mostly sold cigarettes, Hygaard immortal sandwiches and hot dogs that you guessed their age by the number of skewer holes in them - we called it "Dean's Deli and Death" after someone found that he had sold them a Hygaard sandwich that had actually started to grow mold!)