| The only thing historians will note about the 2001 Alberta election will be the low voter turnout. As in every political contest, the ambitions of the personalities involved will suffer blows or benefit from success. Albertans, however, lack the healthy disrespect for the powers-that-be they need to vote for a change in their social, economic and political landscape.
Alberta’s political makeup is not changing, but the nature of political debate in democracies is. Public debate is slowly shifting from a battle between political parties representing a range of macro-interests to interest groups vying for influence over whoever happens to be in power.
Today, the majority of political debate revolves around the never-ending efforts of interest groups to influence politicians either by swaying public opinion or through direct lobbying. Direct political participation is on the decline, but the resources expended by interest groups in both public relations and lobbying continues to grow.
Elections are meant to be the great accountability measure in a democracy. In Alberta’s environment of prosperous apathy, Albertans can only blame themselves if the next Progressive Conservative government turns out to be a bunch of arrogant, unaccountable yahoos.
In 1997, 16 per cent of Alberta’s population (27 per cent of eligible electors) elected a Progressive Conservative government. The lowest turnout on record was the 1986 election, when less than half of Alberta’s voters bothered to show up, and 15 per cent of the population (24 per cent of eligible electors) voted for Don Getty’s team. Election 2001 is on track to post even worse numbers.
Critics would love to attribute this decline to the claustrophobic one-party nature of Alberta politics, but the decline in voter turnout is echoed across Western democracies.
Despite Alberta’s growing population, the 2001 election features the second lowest number of candidates in an election since the Conservatives came to power. Only the 1989 yawner that re-elected Don Getty had fewer.
There is also one less official political party than in the 1997 election. The Forum Party and Natural Law Party have disappeared from Alberta politics. The only new party is the Alberta First Party, one of the side-effects of the Social Credit’s disintegration.
Not all news is bad on the freedom of choice front: the number of independent candidates has bounced back after a record low in the 1997 tilt. There are 29 independent candidates running in this election, but the number is a little deceiving. Half of the independents (14) are running for parties that failed to meet Alberta’s party status requirements. The Alberta Independence Party is fielding 12 candidates as independents, and the Marxist-Leninist Party, usually involved only in federal elections, is fielding two.
This leaves only 15 truly independent candidates: six in Calgary, four in Edmonton and seven in the rest of Alberta, which is about average for an Alberta election, and well above the 10 independents in the last election.
On the other side of the electoral coin, third party involvement in Alberta elections is at an all-time high. Every group with an issue to grind, even if it has little to do with the provincial election, is throwing their message into the chaotic electoral process. The usual suspects, such as the Alberta Teachers Association and various post-secondary education interest groups, are out hustling. They are joined by groups from across the political spectrum: from the neo-conservative Progressive Group for Independent Business and the National Citizens’ Coalition to the Friends of Medicare and the education-based coalition APPEAL (Albertans Promoting Public Education and Learning).
All these groups may end up spending almost as much as the big three parties combined ($3.3 million) to sell their messages. Unfortunately, the voters will never know how much money these groups spend because they are not required to report their activities. Apparently, like reporting you own a gun, being forced to inform the public how much you are spending to influence their opinion violates your freedom of speech.
The fragmentation of the democratic process these groups represent is affecting traditional democratic participation. Albertans do not have to join a party or vote in an election to be heard. There is always a group available to represent your views on a specific set of issues, and you do not have to worry about agreeing with or caring about all those other stupid party policies.
As long as the politicians in power dutifully follow the opinion polls and media, which party is in power becomes less important, and the ability of informed and involved groups to influence the decision-makers for you grows. If you do not agree with the government’s direction, you had better find four like-minded folks and start putting up those lawn signs and writing press releases. |
