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Where is the accountability?

I find myself constantly baffled with the way this province is run, whether it be the ongoing health care issues, or particularly the energy sector.

I find myself constantly baffled with the way this province is run, whether it be the ongoing health care issues, or particularly the energy sector.

I have spent many tedious hours trying to understand some of the decisions and future plans of our current Energy Minister, Ron Liepert.

When you mention Liepert at all it is hard to try to look past his history of mishaps. From him instituting the health superboard, which by the way has worked wonders for the province. Just ask the former CEO Stephen Duckett.

Then there was the H1N1 crisis, after which Liepert himself went on to deny that there was ever a mistake made.

Don’t forget about him saying that the biggest reason for cost issues in the health care system was because they had to pay nurses overtime and double time. He instead supported cutting the amount of nurses and trying to push the more nurses to work full time instead of part time.

This just barely covers his short tenure as health minister. It made nobody question when he was finally dismissed of his duty.

Instead of just giving him the boot, however, for some reason our government decided he needed a third chance, this time at being our energy minister.

I’m an open-minded person, so I decided it was only fair to give Liepert a chance at his new role. But it seems it doesn’t make a difference what division you put him in, he always seems to speak with his foot in his mouth.

Every decision he makes always seems to have the interest of big industry in mind.

But why wouldn’t he? After all, his “advisory board” as many may know, is made up of a who’s who of big players from the energy sector.

I’m not going to question the character of anyone who makes up the board, but to say that it is a bit of a conflict of interest is a mild understatement.

Speaking of this board, they get paid for attending meetings. Some even get travel accommodations. Who do you think pays for all that?

Now before I go onto a rant about how well Albertans’ money is being wasted, lets just ask ourselves this question: who voted for Liepert to become the Energy Minister? Who voted for this advisory board to put in place, and who voted for the members of the board?

Oh that’s right, they were all appointed positions. Democracy surely had a hand in all these decisions didn’t it?

This brings me to a few more quotes from Liepert himself. He had the brass to come flat out and say he had no bias as he openly accepted the position of energy minister. What does he consider being advised by the very industry he is meant to monitor? Apparently that does not fall under his rule of bias.

Liepert goes on to show how unbiased he is, like some of the new initiatives he wants to introduce. One of which is going to attempt to shut down public opinion on environmental concerns in the oilfield industry.

After all, it is about educating Albertans, as Liepert says. Good point, so instead of solving the issues brought forth by some of this public criticism of the industry, we can just as easily tell people that the issues don’t exist.

Another focus of Liepert and his offices is going to be streamlining the process of regulation for the majority of the oilsands projects. Instead, he favours getting rid of the environmental assessments that companies would normally have to do because it takes too long.

He also says they come up with similar results.

Something tells me those environmental assessments were put in place to help protect the environment, and the issues that many organizations are trying to fight. But let’s streamline the process in favour of the major oil companies. Liepert has truly shown where his loyalties lie.

Which brings me to my ultimate point: So what?

Liepert has time and time again shown his incompetence to represent the issues this province faces. Some analysts have predicted a creeping takeover of this province by our energy sector, but I find myself wondering; has it already happened?

Accountability is something that I feel truly doesn’t exist in this province. Liepert is a prime example of this. How many Albertans have been repeatedly unhappy with the job he has done whether it was as health minister or now as energy minister. The PC government continues to pass the buck from person to person, industry to industry and at the end of the day, if something doesn’t work the way it was intended, or if we have a crisis here or a crisis there, the accountability for that problem is nowhere to be found.

Ultimately, this is an issue I myself feel passionate about, and Albertans are showing they feel passionate about. We want accountability in our government. It is time for someone to answer for the mistakes they make, and if they continue to make them like the Honourable Mr. Liepert? Well then to put it simply, there should be consequences. This is our province, and our government is meant to serve us, not the other way around!

I would like to apologize as well to Liepert if any of what I had to say offended him, or hurt his feelings. I must also make sure he is aware that in a truly transparent system the heart of the issues and concerns mean more than one person’s inability to handle it.

Ryan Power

Blackfalds