“Find a parade that is going in the same direction, and get out and lead it.” – Ralph Klein
Is it possible to get elected (or re-elected) by doing the right thing? I have my doubts – you have to compromise your principles and cater to the majority. The problem is you don’t always know what the silent majority wants – the vocal majority, the media and the special interest groups control the political rhetoric. Unfortunately, parliamentary democracy is a recipe for mediocrity.
But the real question is – is the message we are hearing from the vocal majority right for the city, province, country or even your local sports club? Can we afford it? Are we creating an entitlement that will come back to haunt us in future years? Are these platforms in the long-term interests of the electorate?
We have lived in the best of times. My generation (seniors) have enjoyed the most advantaged times of any generation in our history. We’ve had well paid jobs, large homes, all the modern conveniences, nice cars, great vacations … you name it. But seniors are always asking for more, more, more!
The most recent Alberta budget was a tough one – nobody seems happy with it – the doctors, teachers, civil servants, pharmacists – everyone has had to take a haircut.
But did the Redford government do the right thing? Well, given the current times, I would argue that by and large, it did. Alberta has taken a $6 billion hit to our revenue stream through no fault of our own; we continue to outgrow our existing infrastructure and our services are stretched to the limit. But we must learn to live within our means. More taxation is the easy way out. More money for government just means less money for the private sector. And we all know that the private sector is more efficient than government by a long run.
Hindsight is 20-20. There are obviously many things that should have been done differently but who knew bitumen prices were going to tank? In retrospect we should never have let our spending get out of control, we never should have drawn down the revenue from the Heritage Fund, we should have been more fiscally prudent. But that’s history. It is now imperative that we turn this ship around before we run aground.
Even though it is a tiny amount, the gesture of putting money back into the Heritage Fund is a monumental step towards saving for future generations. After all it is our children’s money that we have been living on, setting in place all these benefit programs that will keep us in the lifestyle we’ve grown used to. As David Chilton, author of The Wealthy Barber says – “pay yourself first.” Hopefully this will be the new mantra going forward to restore the Heritage Fund to its proper intent.
We all need to take responsibility for ourselves. This mess we are in is partly our own fault. As a society we keep demanding more and more from government, yet we can’t afford all the things government does for us, that we should be doing ourselves. The common analogy of running a household is not all that far off from running a government. If you don’t have the money, you can’t afford it – it’s that simple.
But can a government get re-elected by doing the right thing? Can politicians avoid the cries and shrieks of those special interest groups that continue to demand more? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!
Ken Allred is a former St. Albert alderman and MLA.
