Premier Alison Redford was criticized this week after she harshly denounced her opposition in a campaign-style speech to a group of school children in Calgary. In response to the Premier’s fiery words, book publishers jumped on the opportunity to reach impressionable young minds by releasing a series of children’s books about Alberta politics.
Both Premier Redford and Wildrose leader Danielle Smith have contributed to two of the first batch of these children’s books expected to hit book shelves this summer.
Premier Alison Redford’s new children’s book about the Wildrose Party.
Where the Wildrose Things Are by Alison Redford
A young boy named Max, after dressing in his wolf costume, wreaks havoc through his province’s legislature and is disciplined by the Speaker. As he feels agitation with the Speaker, Max’s discovers a mysterious jungle environment caused by climate change, and he winds up sailing to an island inhabited by malicious beasts known as the “Wildrose Things.” After successfully intimidating the creatures, Max is hailed as the king of the Wildrose Things and enjoys a playful romp with his subjects; however, he decides to return home, to the Wildrose Things’ dismay. After arriving back at the legislature, Max discovers a $430,000 bank draft waiting for him.
Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith’s new book “Good Families Don’t (Go Into Debt)”
Good Families Don’t (Go Into Debt) is Danielle Smith’s funniest book yet, about a risqué subject that is guaranteed to have children–and politicos–rolling in the aisles.
When Carmen tries to tell her parents that there is a big pile of debt lying on her bed, they don’t believe her. “Good families like ours,” they tell her, “do not have debt.” But when they go upstairs to see, the debt attacks them–as it does the similarly disbelieving police when they arrive. Carmen is left to deal with the situation on her own, which she does with the help of a Wild Rose.
This new children’s book explains why the Progressive Conservatives and Wildrose parties continue to dominate Alberta’s political scene.
In The Liberals and NDP Get in a Fight, the ideologically compatible Liberals and NDP are fighting–all day long until voters help them realize that electoral cooperation is possible, even if you argue once in a while.
Premier Alison Redford hops of her campaign bus onto Edmonton’s 124 Street during the 2012 election.
On April 23, 2012, Alberta’s most hotly contested election in decades culminated with the re-election of the twelfth consecutive Progressive Conservative majority government since 1971. Despite holding the large majority elected MLAs, the popular vote showed Albertans were closely divided between Alison Redford‘s Tories who finished with 44% compared to an impressive 34% showing for Danielle Smith’s Wildrose Party.
Despite being branded as a policy-wonk, Premier Redford’s cabinet has implemented a confused domestic agenda that has resulted in public spats with popular Mayor Naheed Nenshi and Stephen Mandel and unnecessary conflicts with teachers and doctors. Recent budget cuts, blamed on a deflating bitumen bubble, also threaten to unravel the coalition of moderate voters who carried her party to victory one year ago.
The mixed bag that is Premier Redford’s cabinet could help explain some of this confusion. Younger cabinet ministers, like Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk, Education Minister Jeff Johnson and Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths, constantly talk off the cuff and appear to sometimes be making government policy on the fly. Other ministers, like Finance Minister Doug Horner, Health Minister Fred Horne and Human Services Minister Dave Hancock, have shown restraint and maturity that comes with years of cabinet experience.
Doug Horner
Premier Redford has been exceedingly strong on the national and international stage as she has travelled extensively over the past year lobbying for a Canadian Energy Strategy, the Keystone XL Pipeline, and to open new markets for Alberta’s oil sands. She appears to be less interested or willing to play the political game, which will become increasingly difficult in the face of an aggressive official opposition.
Wildrose leader Danielle Smith could have been celebrating her first year as Premier had it not been for late election bozo-erruptions that exposed an offensive social conservative element in her party. Comments about caucasian advantages and a Lake of Fire drove many moderate conservatives, liberals, and even some New Democrats, to vote PC in last year’s election.
Despite the disappointment of not defeating Alberta’s long-governing PC dynasty, Ms. Smith has grown into her role as Leader of the Official Opposition. Borrowing aggressive tactics from the federal Conservatives in Ottawa, who are organizationally tied at the hip with the Wildrose, Ms. Smith’s party is leading the most aggressive and partisan official opposition in recent memory. Her party has groomed a front-bench that dominate the media and have, in many cases, driven the government agenda from across the aisle. Rarely a week goes by where Ms. Smith, Rob Anderson, Shayne Saskiw, Kerry Towle, Bruce McAllister, or Heather Forsyth have not grabbed a headline or a prime time news story.
The Liberals, still led by former Tory MLA Raj Sherman, are still adjusting to their new role as the third-party in the Assembly after being bumped out of Official Opposition by the Wildrose. Accustomed to stealing the spotlight from the now-former Official Opposition Liberals, the four-MLA New Democrat caucus spent the past year figuring out how to play the same tricks on the Wildrose. Acclimatizing to the new political environment, Brian Mason’s NDP were overshadowed by Ms. Smith’s new team for most of last year. With some of the ‘progressive’ shine coming off Premier Redford’s Tories, the NDP are starting to find their footing again.
The Tories have broken more than a few election promises in the first year of this mandate, including pledges to balance the budget and provide stable funding for health, education, and municipalities. Despite the rough first year, Premier Redford’s Tories still have at least three years left until the next election to fulfill the promises made and mend fences with the bloc of moderate voters who saved their party from defeat one year ago today.
University of Alberta students penned messages to the provincial government at yesterday’s #Graffiti4Govt graffiti wall.
“We’ve been very clear that we will not be balancing the budget on the backs of students,” Premier Alison Redford told the media at a press conference yesterday.
This statement is only partially true. The provincial government is not balancing the budget this year.
Gathered to re-announced what Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszukcasually announced off-the-cuff last week, Premier Alison Redford and her loyal Deputy declared yesterday that the provincial government provide an extra $16.5 to post-secondary institutions to cover next year’s expected 2.5% tuition increase for students. The government has framed the move as a tuition “freeze,” but it is really a one-time subsidy to hide a fee increase, as the institutions will be implementing tuition increases regardless.
So, the good news is that students will not be paying more out of their pockets in tuition next year. The bad news is due to provincial budget cuts, class sizes will be larger and there will be fewer instructors. This is, of course, if your program has not been cancelled.
Deep cuts to the provincial government’s post-secondary education budget has led Alberta’s universities and colleges to announce staff layoffs, program cutbacks and, in some cases, complete program eliminations. Mount Royal University, Grant MacEwan, NAIT, Lakeland College, and Athabasca University have announced cuts to programs and staff that will affect the quality of education Alberta students will receive in the coming years.
University of Alberta students penned messages to the provincial government at yesterday’s #Graffiti4Govt graffiti wall.
Yesterday’s announcement, like the Deputy Premier’s focus on Campus Alberta logos and mandate letters, is meant to distract the public from the affects the deep budget cuts. The fake tuition freeze and orders from Deputy Premier Lukaszuk that all institutions implement a three-year wage freeze in all future staff contracts, could drive a wedge between students and post-secondary staff, who have remained unusually unified in speaking against the budget cuts.
Unlike the broad-sweeping budget cuts implemented during Premier Ralph Klein‘s time in office, post-secondary education is a main target in Premier Redford’s cuts. These cuts may be an indication as to why the soft-spoken former Advanced Education Minister Stephen Khan was shuffled out of cabinet earlier this year in favour of the more aggressive and heavy-handed Deputy Premier Lukaszuk.
Alberta’s two big city mayors are united in displeasure over the cuts.
“When I see Edmonton’s key growth sector — our post-secondary institutions — placed in a position of fundamental uncertainty, I worry that a new era of ‘good-enough’ thinking is poised to undermine our long-term sustainable prosperity” – Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel (April 2, 2013)
Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, an associate professor at Mount Royal University, penned an open letter to the institution’s board of governors urging them to stand up to the provincial government.
I have been on record as saying that the provincial government has made a terrible error in its post-secondary education policy – great cities need great universities and great universities need government support. No doubt these actions have made your life very difficult. However, I would encourage the leadership of MRU to stand up to the provincial government on behalf of its students, faculty, and community, rather than capitulate to the government’s bad policy. – Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi (April 17, 2013)
When the Premier and her entourage hit the road for their summer Winnebago tour, they will avoid talk of unpopular cuts or broken election promises, and instead boast around the campfires and picnic tables that they were finally able to settle the long-standing labour disputes with Alberta’s teachers and doctors (and maybe a new Keystone XL Pipeline to Texas). But will this be enough?
Premier Alison Redford
Could the Tories look to Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel to set their party back on course?
The popular three-term mayor has yet to announce whether he will seek election later this year, and a poor showing by Premier Redford in November’s leadership review could give Mayor Mandel an opportunity to jump onto the provincial stage. As a moderate conservative with liberal social views and an independent-streak, many Tories were disappointed that Mayor Mandel sat out their party’s leadership race in 2011.
Already well-versed in municipal issues, Mayor Mandel’s recent lambasting of Premier Redford’s cuts to post-secondary education in front of a crowd of 2,000 of Edmonton’s business community has given him a topical issue that differentiates him from the current Tory leadership.
Danielle Smith
This week’s ThinkHQ Voice of Alberta online panel included questions about Mayor Mandel’s and Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi‘s future prospects in provincial and federal politics, fuelling speculation that supporters of the two mayors are testing public opinion.
His age, lack of experience in partisan politics, and weakness for expensive sports arenas may be reasons Mayor Mandel would not make the jump, but he would bring with him nine-years of governance experience and an extensive political organization and broad fundraising network. Mayor Mandel may not be seen as a viable long-term party leader, due to his age, but as an ‘elder-statesman’ in Alberta politics, he could serve as an experienced hand to steer the PC Party through the next provincial election.
Wildose on the move
Intent on moderating its image and flush with cash, the Wildrose Party attracted a big turnout of constituency-level organizers at its annual Leader’s Congress in Calgary earlier this month and is expecting a significant turnout at its Edmonton event on April 20.
As Leader of the Official Opposition, media-savvy Danielle Smith is sounding more moderate by avoiding issues that could alienate her from potential conservative voters who supported Premier Redford’s Tories in the 2012 election.
Serious about avoiding the mistakes that cost her party the election in 2012, Ms. Smith has toned down her skepticism of climate change and will try to avoid vouching for any future “Lake of Fire“-type candidates. While the more extreme conservatives will still be part of the Wildrose Party’s base, their activities will be more tightly controlled and relegated to the background.
At this weekend’s Leader’s Congress in Edmonton, Ms. Smith’s party will launch “Wildrose 2016 Club,” a new fundraising initiative which, presumably, is geared towards helping her party form government in the 2016 election.
Falling behind in fundraising, Premier Alison Redford and MLAs Peter Sandhu and Steven Young count their pennies.
Unofficial political donation records published by Elections Alberta yesterday show that Premier Alison Redford‘s Progressive Conservative Association is not in the robust financial situation its leaders are accustomed to over the past four-decades in office.
Danielle Smith‘s Wildrose Party smashed political fundraising records in 2012, raising an incredible $5,916,565 over the course of the year. Contributing to the $5 million figure was $3,122,670 of revenue reported from the 2012 election and $2,793,895 raised outside the campaign period. In their non-campaign period, the Wildrose Party recorded a $175,133 deficit and $405,361 in net assets.
While the Wildrose Party attracted large donations from medium-sized oil and pipeline equipment companies, the large majority of that party’s donations came from individual donors. This trend suggests the Wildrose has harnessed a fundraising machine similar to the Conservative Party of Canada. With close ties to the federal party, it is no surprise that the Wildrose has chosen to mimic this successful fundraising goal.
Premier Alison Redford
The Conservatives under Prime Minister Stephen Harper were the first federal political party in recent history to succeed in effectively cultivating a large base of individual donors to fund their political operations. This energized base of individual donors helped free the Tories from having to depend on the large corporate donations that for decades fuelled the Liberal Party of Canada.
The test for the Wildrose Party will be whether they can sustain this level of fundraising in the years between election periods.
Meanwhile, Alberta’s PC Party reported a $3,055,621 deficit after last year’s election that had been whittled down to $794,767 in liabilities at the end of 2012. Relying heavily on corporate donations, the Tories raised $1,607,581 during the 2012 election and $2,331,592 in the non-campaign period.
Despite the old saying that Alberta’s PCs strived to always have enough money in their coffers to run two back-to-back election campaigns, the party is struggling with a smaller donor base and growing debt wracked up in last year’s election.
Brian Mason‘s New Democrats reported impressive revenue of $1,380,659 outside the campaign period in 2012, but remain strapped with a $554,883 debt from previous election campaigns. Raj Sherman‘s Liberals reported $478,795 in revenue in the non-election period and a $30,015 surplus in funds at the end of 2012.
Political watchers may remember Mr. Togneri as the aide to federal Conservative cabinet minister Christian Paradiswho, in 2010, resigned over his alleged meddling in at least four different access-to-information requests.
Also recently migrated to Alberta is Mike Feenstra, who was previously employed as spokesperson for Ontario’s Liberal Minister of Natural Resources and Minister of Education. Mr. Feenstra is now employed as the Press Secretary in Energy Minister Ken Hughes‘ office.
Most media and political watchers are focused on today’s release of the provincial budget, but last week Human Services Minister Dave Hancock focused on the human-side of government with the release of the much anticipated ‘Social Policy Framework.’
Dave Hancock
“It’s part of taking an intelligent look at the social policy agenda,” Human Services Minister Hancock told this blogger in a recent interview. Minister Hancock described the framework’s contents as guiding principles for government decision-makers to use when making decisions that could have an impact on social policy in Alberta.
The government undertook extensive consultations before publishing the Social Policy Framework, engaging Albertans through discussions in-person and online.
“The discussion is often part of the solution,” said Minister Hancock. “We are bringing together people who haven’t necessarily been in the same room or had the chance to discuss these challenges together. The process has done that in many different ways.”
“It validates some of the other things we’ve been doing, like the Homelessness initiatives.” he said, while speaking about collaboration with already existing not-for-profit groups to effectively delivering services on the ground. Across Alberta, municipalities are working with local organizations and social agencies to accomplish the provincial government’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness.
Critics like Calgary-Shaw Wildrose MLA Jeff Wilson and Edmonton-Strathcona NDP MLA Rachel Notleycriticized the framework for its lack of specifics and vague wording. Ms. Notley honed in on some specific wording that she found troubling:
“The most specific elements of this document talk about the government moving away from being a service provider, moving away from being a funder, moving away from being a regulator. That says to me we’re going to see a fractured system and an increase in patchwork service delivery.” – NDP MLA Rachel Notley (Edmonton Journal, February 28, 2013)
Rachel Notley
Not surprisingly, Minister Hancock disagreed with claims that the provincial government intends to use the framework to download responsibilities. “It is not downloading or offloading but taking an intelligent look across the social agenda and saying how to we do this well together,” said Minister Hancock.
The resident policy-wonk
A self-described “policy-wonk,” Minister Hancock has become known for holding these types of broad consultation and visioning processes since he first entered cabinet in 1997. Similar broad consultations were held while he served as Minister of Advanced Education from 2004 to 2006 and Minister of Education from 2008 to 2011.
Government media releases tout that more than 31,000 Albertans participated in the Social Policy Framework consultations through in-person meetings and extensive online discussions.
Minister Hancock deserves some credit for taking some big steps in the government’s online consultation for this framework, which included online surveys, stakeholder blogs, and wikis where Albertans could provide feedback and upload their own response documents for public viewing. These types of online tools allow government’s to engage with citizens in ways that were not possible, or very difficult, only a decade ago.
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Hancock on the hyper-partisan Legislature
Asked about the aggressive tone of Danielle Smith‘s Wildrose Official Opposition, Minister Hancock described last fall’s Legislative session “not a shining point for the democratic process.” Minister Hancock, who also serves as Government House Leader, said that he hopes the tone will improve in the spring sitting that began this week.
“I think the opposition will come out of it fairly quickly when they realize that the Alberta public does not connect with it,” said Minister Hancock. “I think it will get better, because I don’t think there is an inhernent value in that kind of partisanship, on either side.”
Alberta’s Legislative Assembly Building (sans covered dome).
After a three-month break, Members of Alberta’s Legislative Assembly will gather today in Edmonton to start the spring sitting.
The commencement of this year’s first sitting will be unusual in that it will lack the traditional pomp and circumstance that comes with a Speech from the Throne. Lieutenant Governor Donald Ethell will not be invited to deliver a traditional Speech from the Throne today. The lack of Throne Speech or accompanying flagship legislation will mean a focus on the provincial budget, to be tabled on March 7. This, of course, is a deliberate move by the Tories.
Doug Horner
Finance Minister Doug Horner will table the provincial government’s 2013/2014 budget on Thursday, and many political watchers are wondering what the document will include.
Over the past two months, Minister Horner and Premier Alison Redford have managed to communicate that Alberta has a revenue problem, a pipeline problem (also known as the unfortunately named ‘Bitumen Bubble’), and finally a spending problem.
The Premier mused about tax increases, and then ruled them out. All these mixed signals will make this week’s budget announcement a highly watched spectacle.
The continuation of the sitting also means that a handful of private members bills left over from last year’s sitting will return to the Assembly floor for debate this spring. These bills were introduced last year by opposition and backbench government MLAs.
Watch Premier Redford focus on her strengths, like advocating on the national stage for a Canadian energy plan and for opening new markets for Alberta’s oil – like the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. As demonstrated throughout her first year in office, Premier Redford is much more effective at being a provincial advocate than being a provincial politician.
Do not expect to hear cabinet ministers or government MLAs make many comments about the fiascos that wreaked havoc for the Tories last fall. Ongoing investigations by Chief Elections Officer O. Brian Fjeldheim, retired Justice John Vertes, ethics commissioner Neil Wilksonson, and Information and Privacy Commissioner Jill Clayton will give the Tories a legitimate excuse to say “no comment.”
Will the Wildrose drive the agenda?
Danielle Smith
In the fall sitting of the Assembly, the newly minted Wildrose Official Opposition ran circles around the large Tory majority. It seemed like every day Wildrose leader Danielle Smith and Airdrie MLA Rob Anderson would have a new scandal or leaked documents to throw at the Tories like a live grenade.
Mirroring the tactics of the federal Conservatives in Ottawa, the Wildrose have brought a more aggressive and hyper-partisan approach than Albertans are used to from their opposition parties.
The official opposition launched a new website and series of radio ads to coincide with the budget debate, asking for Albertans feedback on the fiscal situation. While it is hard to fault the official opposition for their outreach, it is difficult to imagine the Wildrose will change their conservative ideological bent based on this mini-public relations campaign.
Lost in the fray during the fall sitting, these two parties need to remind Albertans that they are still there. Can the New Democrats and former official opposition Liberals succeed in reasserting themselves in the Assembly? I would not count them out.
The four-MLA NDP caucus just finished their province-wide “Broken Promises Tour”, highlighting what leader Brian Mason claims are a string of broken promises from the Tories since last year’s election. Liberal leader Raj Sherman has come out with a string of media releases criticizing the Tories.
Both parties hope that a provincial budget harsh on public services will remind Albertans of the differences between their parities and the governing Tories. The centre-rightish Liberal Party saw a mass exodus of supporters vote for Premier Redford’s Tories in last year’s election to block the Wildrose from forming government. It worked too well for the Tories, leaving the Liberals with a small five MLA caucus.
Last fall, the Wildrose Official Opposition danced circles around the governing Tories. Daily attacks from the Wildrose left the Tories stumbling and stammering to respond. New faces in the Premier’s Communications Office have already brought a more aggressive and partisan tone to their media releases and responses to opposition criticism online. This sitting, expect to see the Tories to counter the Wildrose attacks by taking a more aggressive approach to defending Premier Redford’s political agenda. That means dirt, mud, and more dirt.
Comments made by conservative election strategistTom Flanagan about child pornography on Wednesday night have sparked outrage and condemnation of the University of Calgary professor. Speaking at an event hosted by the reputable Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs in Lethbridge, Dr. Flanagan was recorded telling the audience that viewing child pornography shouldn’t be a crime and that people should not be jailed for their taste in pictures. He described child pornography as a victimless crime (see the video below).
It was shocking to hear these comments come straight out of the mouth of the ‘Karl Rove‘ of Canadian politics. As a member of the right-wing ‘Calgary School,’ Dr. Flanagan helped build Canada’s modern Conservative political machine. While known for his more controversial statements about firewalls, Louis Riel, and aboriginal rights, he was the master architect of the successful tightly-scripted and wedge-issue-centric political campaigns that brought Prime Minister Stephen Harper‘s Conservatives to power in Ottawa.
Shortly after Dr. Flanagan’s comments were made public, he was dropped as a CBC commentator and swiftly denounced by his employer, the University of Calgary. U of C President Elizabeth Cannon said in a statement that “all aspects of this horrific crime involve the exploitation of children.” President Cannon announced that Dr. Flanagan had submitted his letter of retirement on January 3, 2013.
Following the avalanche of condemnation, Dr. Flanagan released a statement:
I absolutely condemn the sexual abuse of children, including the use of children to produce pornography.
These are crimes and should be punished under the law. Last night, in an academic setting, I raised a theoretical question about how far criminalization should extend toward the consumption of pornography.
My words were badly chosen, and in the resulting uproar I was not able to express my abhorrence of child pornography and the sexual abuse of children.
I apologize unreservedly to all who were offended by my statement, and most especially to victims of sexual abuse and their families.
Free from the tight leash of party discipline, three former Finance Ministers are giving plenty of advice to Premier Alison Redford and Finance Minister Doug Horner.
Ted Morton, the former two-term Tory MLA from Foothills-Rockyview and two-time Tory leadership candidate who served as Finance Minister from 2010 to 2011, penned an opinion-editiorial in Wednesday’s Calgary Herald pointing out some common misconceptions about Alberta’s fiscal situation.
While Professor Morton correctly points out that the symptoms of Alberta’s financial woes are not a new phenomenon, his prescription is a tough pill to swallow.
In his column, Dr. Morton dispels the myths that 1) our fiscal problems are just because we are having a bad year, 2) our fiscal problems are just because of the low price of bitumen (also known as the notorious ‘Bitumen Bubble‘), and that 3) this is just about a Budget 2013 deficit.
On his fourth argument, Dr. Morton diverts into a more conservative ideological direction. While he correctly points out the fickleness and limited life-span of some political agendas, the former Finance Minister criticizes his successor for choosing to use financing to fund capital projects. On this point, Dr. Morton appears to share the view of his ideological kin in Danielle Smith‘s Wildrose Party, who spent the waining days of 2012 on a relentless offensive against the government on this very issue.
“Nobody likes to pay more taxes. Nobody likes to pay the taxes you’re paying today. But everybody wants the services,” Mr. Liepert told the Calgary Herald in December 2012.
Meanwhile, disgruntled former Finance Minister Lloyd Snelgrove, who quit the Tory caucus in 2011 citing irreconcilable differences with Premier Redford, told the right-wing Sun News that he does not believe the government has a revenue problem, but if it does then a sales tax should be imposed.
Back in 2010, the last Tory to seriously discuss the idea of a sales tax was then-backbench MLA Doug Griffiths(now Municipal Affairs Minister). Mr. Griffiths was publicly demonized by the opposition for even broaching the topic.
Only two years earlier, another now-former Tory MLA, who is also now one of the government’s most vocal critic of the government, stood up in Alberta’s Legislative Assembly and called for tax reform and the introduction of a sales tax in Alberta:
“I, too, believe that the government of Alberta should look into studying the feasibility of eliminating our provincial income tax and using a consumption-based taxation system in its place, with a provincial sales tax being the likely substitute revenue generator.” – Newly elected Progressive Conservative MLA Rob Anderson in April 2008.
An image released online by the Premier’s Communications Office.
MLA pay remains an uncomfortable issue for Alberta’s political leaders. Yesterday, MLA’s sitting on the Member Services Committee voted to freeze the annual cost-of-living increase to their salary and housing allowance ahead of provincial budget release on March 7, 2013.
“The rationale is clearly we want to lead by example,” Edmonton-Riverview Tory MLA Steve Young told the Edmonton Journal.
A Wildrose image picturing Premier Alison Redford in a less than flattering light.
Yesterday’s pay vote also resulted in more online mudslinging on Twitter’s #ableg hashtag, though this time from an unexpected source.
The Twitter account operated by Premier Alison Redford‘s Communications Staff – @ABPremierComms – tweeted an image featuring an incredibly unflattering photo of Wildrose leader Danielle Smith with a quote she made at a meeting on June 7, 2012 (see image at the top of this post).
While distasteful, the reaction from the Premier’s Office is not unprovoked.
The harsh negative politics and aggressive use of images and info-graphics has helped the Wildrose Party cultivate a significant online following, who have helped spread their message through social media.
One month before Alberta’s Legislative Assembly reconvenes to deal with this year’s provincial budget, Leger Marketing has released a new survey of political party support in our province.
This is only one survey and all political polls should be taken with a grain of salt, but the results will be a tad discouraging for Alberta’s opposition parties. While the survey shows the governing PCs dropping in support from 44% in last year’s provincial election, the opposition Wildrose has dropped from 34% in the 2012 election and the two other opposition parties have only marginally increased their support.
According to the Calgary Herald, the survey of 900 Albertans was conducted January 14 to 20 as part of the PwC Business and Consumer Confidence Index. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
High-drama took place on Twitter’s #ableg hashtag yesterday morning as Premier Alison Redford‘s online communications team took aim at QR77 talk radio host Dave Rutherford. In response to a tweet from Innisfail-Sylvan Lake Wildrose MLA Kerry Towlecongratulating Mr. Rutherford on the 30th anniversary of the show, the Premier’s Communications staff tweeted that the show was “Wildrose Radio.”
The popular radio talk show host has become a vocal critic of the provincial Tories and is seen as a tacit supporter of Wildrose leader Danielle Smith, who is a frequent guest on his show.
Nice to see Prem Communications paying attention to tweets, but let’s understand that @rutherfordshow deals with issues and policies only.
While it might not seem smart to attack a radio program with a large audience across the province, it is not as if the Premier was receiving rave reviews on the Rutherford Show anyway. After being pummelled in the media by the opposition parties in last year’s fall sitting of the Assembly, this could be the beginning of a new and more aggressive communications strategy from the Premier’s office.
Any observer of the #ableg hashtag will have become accustomed almost daily Twitter battles between hyper-partisan Wildrose Caucus staffers and increasingly-partisan Ministerial Press Secretaries, who are now free from the non-partisan veneer of the Public Affairs Bureau.
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During a telephone town-hall to Progressive Conservative Party members last night, Premier Redford took a shot at the Wildrose, claiming that “if another political party had been elected, there would be NO building in this province.”
This comment follows comments by Wildrose critic Rob Anderson about the government’s four-year project to renovate the historic Federal Building in downtown Edmonton.
In fairness to the Wildrose Party, with some high-profile exceptions, its platform in the last election would have would have rolled back spending and stretched out infrastructure projects over a longer period (but not cancel it altogether). – h/tJosh Wingrove
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Last week, I had an opportunity to speak with Premier Redford over the phone for a few minutes following her televised address. I will have some notes about the interview posted on the blog over the next few days.
The event, which is being organized by Edmonton-Mill Creek NDP president Stephen Anderson, Alberta Party president William Munsey, and 2011 Liberal candidate Mike Butler, promotes “citizen engagement, collaboration, and cooperation” as the way of the future for Alberta politics.
In a December guest post on this blog, Calgary-Buffalo Liberal MLA Kent Hehr restarted the latest debate about cross-party cooperation and was stunningly, and strangely, rebutted by Liberalberta Party president Todd Van Vliet in a media release. Liberal leader Raj Sherman remained suspiciously silent during the very public rebuke, leading political observers to believe he sanctioned Mr. Van Vliet’s ill-advised response.
Edit: On January 8, Mr. Van Vliet announced that merger ideas would be debated at his party’s annual convention, scheduled for June 2013.
NDP leader Brian Mason has also spoken out against any formal electoral cooperation or merger with the other non-conservative opposition parties.
The main centre-left opposition parties (the Liberals, NDP, and Alberta Party) earned a combined 21% of the popular vote in the 2012 provincial election, down from 34% in the 2008 election and 39% in the 2004 election. In 2012, the three parties were pushed aside by a reinvigorated moderate Progressive Conservative Party led by Alison Redford and an aggressive conservative Wildrose Party led by Danielle Smith.
Mr. Hehr and Edmonton-Centre Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman have confirmed their attendance on the “Soapbox, Suds, and Wings” Facebook event page, as have 2012 Green Party Senate candidate Elizabeth Johannson and 2008 federal NDP candidate Dave Burkhart.
The low price of oil and natural gas and an election promise of “no new taxes, no service cuts” has put Alberta’s Tories in an unenviable political bind and set the tone for this year’s provincial budget debate.
After decades of aggressive messaging and lobbying from interest groups like Americans for Tax Reform in the United States and its the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and the Fraser Institute in Canada, our political culture has been shaped to include a gag reflex to the concept of increasing tax revenue.
The averse public reactions to tax increases are inevitable and is also strengthened with the increasingly prominent belief that government is inefficient and wasting public funds.
Danielle Smith
This perception has essentially robbed government of its ability to increase its most easily accessible and more reliable source of revenue. Alberta currently has some of the lowest tax rates in Canada. Alberta’s corporate tax rates have remained low even as profits of corporations in the province have climbed more than 300%. We could afford to raise corporate taxes and remain the most competitive jurisdiction in Canada.
In the recent provincial election, the Tories pledged they would not raise taxes, Danielle Smith‘s Wildrose are ideologically inclined to cut taxes (and cut services), and Raj Sherman‘s Liberalbertans have differentiated themselves by calling for increased taxes. Brian Mason‘s New Democrats largely shied away from tax talk, but remained steadfast that natural resources revenues should increase (in Norway, a $600 billion oil fund was created from resource revenues collected and invested by the government).
If you asked most Albertans whether they would support cuts to essential services like health care, education, and public infrastructure maintenance, most would overwhelmingly disagree with the cuts. Alberta is just beginning to recover from the decade-long turmoil caused by short-sighted budget cuts and public sector layoffs made by Premier Ralph Klein‘s government in the mid-1990s.
Albertans have a strong economy and good quality of life that is boosted by strong government programs that improve our health, education, and community services. With a growing population and a booming economy, long-term planning and stable funding, not cuts to government services, are critical to preserving and increasing our quality of life.
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Worth listening to: A recent recording of the popular This American Life radio show highlighted the debate and some of the affects that “austerity policies” have had south of the border.
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As noted in yesterday’s post, Premier Redford’s Director of Communications, Jay O’Neill, announced that he will be leaving his position at the Legislature. Stefan Baranski, a communications adviser to the Premier and formerly an Ontario-based consultant, will serve as the new Director of Communications.
