Recent polls have suggested that the Progressive Conservative government in Alberta is fast losing popular support. As one old-timer told me, “They are lower than a snake’s belly in a wagon rut.” Indeed. Voters are apparently fed up with what they feel have been deceptive answers (or no answers) to key questions, a continuing inability to manage the financial affairs of the province, and arrogance that comes from being in power for far too long. I am not surprised by these feelings, but I am angry that the citizens of Alberta could not see this coming. In the last election, Albertans dutifully marched to the polling stations and gave the PCs a solid majority, despite the fact that the government had clearly established a track record of being irresponsible, inept, confused and, again, arrogant.
An old commodities trader told me years ago that “things are usually as they appear to be.” In other words, if you enter a business and find it dirty and disorganized, don’t believe the manager who tells you, “We never usually look like this.” Rather, it’s most likely that what you see is they way it really is – the business is dirty and disorganized. By that reason, a government that appears confused, incoherent, incompetent and doesn’t seem to have a clue what it’s trying to do is most likely exactly the way that it appears. Keep in mind that this is a political party whose long-range planning extends only to, “What’s for lunch?” Think about it – this is a government that has received one of the greatest revenue bonanzas in the history of mankind, but still can’t balance the budget! A government buried in mountains of cash, but still can’t pay the bills, and balance the budget. If incompetence was an Olympic event, the Tories just won the gold, the silver, and the bronze. Forever.
However, the latest Tory stunt just might turn out to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. I’m speaking of the plan to move Alberta seniors who need continuing care to a facility “within a hundred kilometres of the location of their choice.” Thus, a couple that has lived in Edmonton all their lives now finds one elderly partner exiled to a nursing home in Ryley, while the other elderly partner is left at home, alone. Unbelievable. This is the most ugly, cruel, cynical, and vicious proposal I have ever encountered, and it promises to ensure that the entire province is guilty of elder abuse. While Health Minister Fred Horne has claimed this is a “necessary response to a temporary situation”, I would remind the compassion-challenged minister that income tax was also approved as only a “temporary measure.” Give me a break.
Balancing the budget on the backs of the elderly? This is a government that has lost its way, a government that has lost its soul, and its conscience, and every Tory MLA who supports this nightmare is a disgrace to their constituents, and a disgrace to this province.
When the Nazis launched the Second World War, a great debate began in the British Parliament about Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement strategy with Germany, a strategy now obviously in shreds. After hours of argument, a former Conservative cabinet minister, Leo Amery, stood up and addressed these words to Chamberlain (remember, both Amery and Chamberlain were members of the same party): “You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!” Churchill became PM a few days later.
I wonder if there’s a Conservative back bencher brave enough to say these words in Alberta’s parliament?
