EDMONTON — Alberta’s fledgling Wildrose Alliance Party will debate whether it should soften its hardline stance on unions, fight for a new provincial police force, and give students more clout and say in their education.
The three resolutions are among more than 40 motions that will be debated by some 400 delegates when Wildrose members convene for the party’s annual general meeting at a hotel in Red Deer June 25 and 26th.
Party Leader Danielle Smith says she has no concerns about fighting for whatever resolutions are passed.
“I think you’ll find that most of those policies are reflective of what a lot of average Albertans want to see their government do,” said Smith in an interview Thursday.
Despite having just three members in the legislature, the right-of-centre party has been regarded as the main challenger to Premier Ed Stelmach’s governing Progressive Conservatives.
It has been challenging the Tories’ popularity in recent polls, particularly in Smith’s home city of Calgary.
The party pushes for less deficit budgeting, right of recall for politicians, fixed election dates, social assistance tied to work, and the rigorous preservation of private property rights.
In the workplace, the platform as it stands would allow workers to opt out of unions and give them a secret ballot on certification or decertification.
Under an amendment to be debated next week, that would all be wiped out and replaced by a policy that simply says the party would work to make sure labour laws are fair to those within and outside unions.
Smith said the issue is hotly contested among party members.
“We’ve got members of unions who are in our party,” she said. “Clearly there are some who wonder if this (current policy) is appropriate in a province that allows freedom of assembly and freedom of association.”
Another amendment calls for the party to look at creating a provincial police force.
Smith says the sentiment behind the motion is not anti-RCMP, but rather a question of the force’s appropriate role and whether it should focus exclusively on bigger interprovincial issues such as organized crime.
“Is it the best use of our most highly trained resources to have them policing small-town Alberta? That will be the debate we have at the convention. I know there’s a huge amount of respect for the RCMP, but the question in this complicated world is, ’Is this the best use of resources?”’
Delegates will also debate a motion to allow students greater choice to pick their own school and to have government funding follow them.
Under the current system, public schools get about $9,000 per student from the government, while private schools get half that. Under the proposed Wildrose amendment, private schools would get the whole $9,000 — money that would come at the expense of the public system.
“It’s an important distinction,” said Smith, adding it’s also a divisive one.
“I’ve already spoken with the Public School Boards Association (of Alberta). They are already very unhappy with the fact the private schools get any funding at all.”
Another resolution urges the party to create an Alberta constitution.
Smith said the proposal is not a shot across the bow to the federal government. But it would make clear to Ottawa how and when, for example, Alberta would use the Constitution’s nothwithstanding clause.
It would also delineate roles and responsibilities between provincial and local government, she said.
“It would allow us to say ’This how we’re going to govern ourselves,”’ she said.
On health care, one amendment specifically urges the party support private providers within a publicly funded health-care system. The party has always advocated such a stand, but this motion would finally put it down in black and white.
Another amendment supports using private and non-profit facilities to cut the growing list of seniors needing long-term care.
Another urges Alberta cut a deal with other so-called “have” provinces like Saskatchewan and British Columbia to demand a better deal on equalization payments.
There is a motion to support nuclear power, given there are proposals on the table to build a nuclear plant in northern Alberta around Peace River. But it’s not one Smith supports.
“My personal view is I don’t think nuclear is right for Alberta,” said Smith, adding it doesn’t make sense in a province with abundant reserves of natural gas.
Political scientist Duane Bratt said however the policies shake out, the Alliance needs to position itself to the right of centre, but not too far right, if it’s going to be able to attract the voters needed to challenge the Tories in the next election, expected in 2012.
“They need to argue (to voters) that they’re positioned where the PCs should be, that the PCs have moved and more importantly, that the PCs are incompetent,” said Bratt, with Mount Royal University in Calgary.
“Moving further to the right may help certain hard-core supporters, but I don’t think it’s going to attract the votes.”