| Saddam, Bush and Blair spend nights dreaming about it. Jean "a drop in every bucket" Chrétien has spent the last year thinking about nothing else. When they have time to reflect in this world of endless crisis, all leaders wonder how their decisions will affect their legacies.
On his easy final lap in politics, is Ralph Klein thinking about his legacy?
Klein is one year from his last election as premier and two years away from his big farewell party – the 2005 provincial centennial. After the centennial hangover, the transition to the next King of Alberta will begin. Much oil will gush, many feds will be bashed, and more health will be reformed before Klein takes his walk in the snow, but the foundation of his legacy is set.
Last week’s federal budget, with its little bit of something for everyone and lack of vision, was an apt finale to Chrétien’s poll-following, care-taking government. Klein has done his share of vision-lacking, poll-following and muddling, too. He has also supervised the birth of a new Alberta industry – gambling – and made the provincial government the most powerful influence in Albertans’ lives.
When Klein became premier, Alberta was a laggard in the world of government-sanctioned gambling. Today, our province leads Canada in gambling revenues. Strip malls across the province have been rejuvenated, filled with new payday loan and cheque-cashing businesses and VLT-fuelled lounges. Every Albertan is touched by gambling – the statistics show its rapid reach into our lives.
At a less personal level, Klein has built his government’s authority and influence to new heights. Part of Alberta’s increased power is a result of the provinces reclaiming some of the authority they lost to the federal government during 50 years of social program growth. However, the majority of this new-found power comes at the expense of local government and institutions.
For example, "Regional Health Authority" is a misleading name. These are provincial health authorities, beholden to the financial and policy decisions of the Alberta government. School boards no longer have control over their revenues and are told by the province where to spend their money. Children’s Services’ two-year experiment with decentralization is over. Municipalities, universities and colleges have been left strapped for cash as the province reduced unconditional grants and increased targeted funding. The Klein government prefers one-time funding for new buildings – there are better opportunities for we-funded-this signs and other publicity – while funding people is just a never-ending commitment that does more for unions than ministers’ egos.
All of this has happened behind a political shell game that Klein has perfected. He deflects Albertans’ frustrations over this centralizing trend with complaints about Ottawa’s bullying and Alberta’s raw deal in the Canadian federation. Klein’s provocative musings about Western alienation and federal arrogance always peak when his health, education and other ministers are out twisting the arms of lesser governments. Last week, Lyle Oberg’s disciplining of school boards and Iris Evans’s Children’s Services re-organization faded behind separatist headlines and cartoons.
Klein’s success in deflecting attention stems from his powerful cult of personality. When Chrétien tries to bribe the provinces to follow federal policies, Albertans fume. When Klein does the same to our schools and hospitals, his public support never wavers. Klein fearlessly wields his power because so many of us still have faith he will do what is best.
This is the legacy Klein will hang around the neck of his successor. With the collecting of power comes the focus of all those who have complaints and grievances. Albertans no longer believe, if they ever did, that their local institutions have real influence over their lives. People know who holds all the cards in this province, and they know who to blame when things go wrong.
All contenders to replace Klein should be wary that they will be the next Richard Reid or Harry Strom, the last United Farmers and Social Credit premiers. Their fate awaits the next premier, if that person cannot soft-shoe shuffle our attention away from the provincial government’s failures and muddling.
None of their failures will be Klein’s concern. The failure of his successor will only amplify his stature, and our current political stupor means the provincial government’s new muscle will not be challenged. Albertans should listen to Thomas Paine’s advice in his 1791 Rights of Man:
"There is existing in man, a mass of sense lying in a dormant state, and which, unless something excites it to action, will descend with him, in that condition, to the grave. As it is to the advantage of society that the whole of its faculties should be employed, by a quiet and regular operation, all that extent of capacity which never fails to appear in revolutions."
Alberta’s Gambling Habit
Percent of households that gamble: 73 per cent
Average household expenditure on gambling: $610
Next highest in Canada: Manitoba at $537 per household
Per person gambling: 1992: $120; 1998: $380; 2000: $526;
Government revenue (millions): 1992: $225; 1998: $813; 2000: $1,182
Government profit (millions): 1992: $125; 1998: $751; 2000: $952
Statistics Canada Fact Sheet on Gambling:
www.statcan.ca/english/indepth/75-001/online/00702/fs-fi_200207_01_a.pdf |
