FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.
Ralph rips you off
Klein may be a good politician, but is he a good premier?
By Hamish MacAulayLove him or hate him, Albertans should be angry with Ralph Klein and the way he called the upcoming provincial election. Klein and his fiscally responsible Conservatives have sacrificed taxpayers' money and limited our ability to discuss and understand the future of Alberta for good politics. Thousands of dollars were spent opening a new legislative session so that Jim Dinning could gloat over his final budget speech and Ralph could catch his opposition unprepared in a pointless election where VLT jockeys get better odds than the Liberals. It might be good politics, but it also proves that a Klein government is not necessarily a good government.
A lot has happened in Alberta since the last election. A debt that threatened to destroy Alberta's social programs disappeared faster than Klein at a protest rally. Alberta's spending problem turned out to be a revenue problem after all and the only threat to our social programs turned out to be the people we elected to save them four years ago. Albertans deserve a chance to take stock of their situation - a chance to discuss and even argue about what has happened and where to go next. Instead, Klein has done everything in his power to deny us that opportunity.
Now all we can look forward to is six weeks of a denim-clad, Manning-esque Klein telling us he cares and should be trusted. The reality is that Klein is too good a politician to care or to be trusted. His actions are not guided by principles. He answers only to political expediency. Ralph will tell us, more than once, that his record speaks for itself. It does, but not in the ways he would lead us to believe.
Klein cut government spending and wants you to believe it took a lot of guts. In reality, Ralph set up someone else to take the fall and ensured he could take all the credit. Where possible he delegated the difficult financial decisions to municipalities, school boards, colleges and health authorities by doing nothing more than cutting the money the province gave to each group. The province's spending went down, but Klein could deflect any criticism for loss of services to someone else.
Setting up someone else to take the fall for bad decisions is good politics. It is also bad government because these groups were left ill-equipped to make the decisions we pay Klein and his government to make.
Wherever the Klein government dared to make a decision that required more than cutting the bottom line, it ran into problems. A health system that served Albertans well for decades was gutted without reason and without reasonable alternatives. Refusing to accept professional advice that it was moving too fast, the Klein government made a number of critical errors. Moving fast makes for good politics but it does not always make for good government.
Brian Evans commissioned poll after poll until he got results that say no to gun control. Because few gun control advocates are conservatives and most gun owners are, that makes good politics. Unfortunately, the myth of democracy is that a good government will represent the wishes of the majority.
The list goes on. This government makes as many mistakes as the next one. Good politics, however, lulls voters into a pleasant state of forgetfulness and the negatives disappear. That is why Ralph's political strategy of preventing discussion and debate at all costs makes for good politics. Just try to find a Conservative candidate at an election forum! Sadly, it does not make for good government - and Albertans will suffer the consequences.
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