The adage says: “If you’re in a hole, stop digging.” That would apply to local political organizers who think that an elected representative’s first obligation is to the party rather than the electorate, or even their own conscience, but it also applies to the government in general.
The fastest route to making your local MLA totally irrelevant (as opposed to just mostly irrelevant, as is the case right now) would be to insist that elected members have no right to switch loyalties. The most effective route to making our legislature a complete waste of time and money would be to insist that once elected under a certain banner, you must support that banner’s program above all things, and to disallow any member to have a change of heart between elections.
People making comments either in favour or in disapproval of the recent defections of former Tory MLAs Heather Forsyth and Rob Anderson to the Alberta Wildrose Alliance referred to courage and integrity.
Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith pointed out that for a Tory MLA to give up the virtual certainty of being elected forever, the perks of power (only Tories are ever appointed to most government committees, along with their extra pay and influence) and the insider’s club of caucus, is a display of courage and integrity.
Government members talked about having the courage to “support the team” during hard times. This being politics, that just means you can be courageous, whatever you do.
But it’s going to take more than courage to get the Tories under Premier Ed Stelmach out of the hole they’re digging so mightily for themselves.
Essentially, the government has to reconcile to Albertans how they built up a $17-billion contingency fund and spent it all pretty much in one year of low revenues, and still managed to run a deficit — while talking about how to cut services for seniors and people with mental illness.
It takes party discipline to survive a downturn like Alberta’s had in this recession. Tough decisions do need to be made and you have to have your people on board to make sure the job gets done.
But we’ve never had an acceptable explanation of how such incredible wealth could just vanish so quickly. We’ve never had an acceptable explanation of why cuts need to be made to education and health care, while billions are still spent on unproven technologies for carbon sequestration.
And we’ve never been asked in any meaningful way what our choices would be, if we had to choose.
The government just hasn’t listened to us on this and people are starting to resent the fact. The minority view never mattered to this government. We’re not so sure that backbench MLAs mean that much, either, except for their loyalty. It’s a small step from there to question who the government is really trying to serve. Witness Bill 50, which strips landowners of their property rights, to speed up the building of a power line for which there is no proof of need and no expression of want.
That’s the hole the Stelmach government is in.
Two votes in the legislature means nothing. Official party status for Wildrose would mean a lot more, not to mention to the New Democrats, who now have one less seat in the legislature than Wildrose and gets a budget for its two-person caucus, while Wildrose does not. The NDP has designated spots in question period to ask their questions and put their view forward in the house. Wildrose, as yet, does not.
Some local party officials have said Forsyth and Anderson should be required to sit as Independents. That’s an abrogation of their civil rights.
As yet, no high-ranking Tory has suggested that turncoats resign their seat immediately and stand for re-election.
Now that would be digging a hole deep enough to bury the Tories for good.
Greg Neiman is an Advocate editor.