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Pre-election roadshow

In politics, the disaffected are usually the most damning of critics, and the ones most likely to be heard.Take Lloyd Snelgrove for example. Last week, the MLA for Vermillion Lloydminster quit the Alberta Progressive Conservative caucus, leaving a trail of harsh words for Premier Alison Redford and her team.
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In politics, the disaffected are usually the most damning of critics, and the ones most likely to be heard.

Take Lloyd Snelgrove for example. Last week, the MLA for Vermillion Lloydminster quit the Alberta Progressive Conservative caucus, leaving a trail of harsh words for Premier Alison Redford and her team.

Snelgrove, who was finance minister and Treasury Board president under Ed Stelmach, intends to sit as an independent until the spring election, when he will retire.

Until then, we can expect that he will make it his mission to help Albertans keep perspective — his perspective — on the Redford government, both by highlighting its failings and, by inference, bringing focus to the difference between the way Redford operates and how Stelmach and Ralph Klein ran the province.

That may well be helpful in ways Snelgrove never intended.

Nevertheless, Snelgrove’s condemnation of the Redford Tories was well timed: the cabinet team and various MLAs spent four days last week flitting about the province, meeting with special interest groups, glad-handling and smiling for photo-ops. It was as vacuous a gesture as it was obvious, and Snelgrove called them on it.

The expressed intent was “to talk with Albertans about their priorities for the future,” according to a government website.

It felt more like electioneering, on the taxpayers’ dime.

“You have to listen to people all the time,” said Snelgrove. “Not just when it suits your schedule.”

Never mind that the schedule last week was fast and loose: 25 communities in four days; a floating agenda that seemed to change at will; a handful of meetings with boards, councils and institutions in each community; a smattering of new announcements; and a number of regurgitated announcements.

In the end, those four days became the first lightning rod of the spring election (the budget is scheduled for Feb. 9 and Redford is expected to call the election soon after).

Wildrose Party Leader Danielle Smith naturally used Snelgrove’s criticism as a launch pad for her own attacks on Redford’s roadshow, and as evidence that Redford’s government is “off track.”

Alberta Party Leader Glenn Taylor chided the Tories about the timing of the tour. “It needs to be done at the right time,” Taylor said. “The time to consult with the people of Alberta is not a mere two weeks before a budget is to be presented. True consultation is not about giving the appearance of listening, but actually taking what you hear and using it in your decision-making process.”

And so the electioneering begins.

For Redford, the pressure comes from all sides, and from within. Beyond old-boy Tories like Snelgrove who abandoned the party because it dared to change, there are more than a few who did not support Redford in the leadership race last fall but have decided to stay put — for now.

How those fence-sitters react under the pressure of an election campaign remains to be seen.

How they react if Redford loses, or even suffers a loss of seats or diminished popular support, remains to be seen.

Redford defended the cabinet tour last week by saying: “It’s so important for us to continue meeting face-to-face with Albertans in their own communities. It gives us the opportunity to hear from those closest to their local issues and to learn about the community’s hopes for the future. This is the kind of listening and regular interaction Albertans can expect from this government.”

From all of this, the voters of Alberta are left with a challenge as we move into spring: filter the noise, find the message that resonates and cast a vote that is honest.

John Stewart is the Advocate’s managing editor.