| Twenty-nine different provincial groups, containing hundreds of thousands of members, have banded together to form a new left-wing lobby group called Public Interest Alberta.
The organization has support from unions, religious groups and non-governmental organizations.
Group spokesperson Larry Booi, formerly head of the Alberta Teachers’ Association, says the organization will fight against further downsizing and privatization of the public sector and will work in general to promote the public interest.
Another goal of the organization will be to challenge the views of right-wing think tanks such as the C.D. Howe Institute and the Fraser Institute, says Booi.
"They are paid to undermine the public sector," he says.
The organization will be non-partisan but Booi says that doesn’t mean it will be apolitical.
Public Interest Alberta began as a joint initiative between the Alberta Teachers’ Association and the Alberta Federation of Labour two years ago and it has rapidly grown since then, says Booi.
"It’s not what you stand for. It’s what you stand up for," says Booi. "We’ve watched the whittling away of public education and health care… the cost of post-secondary education is staggering… the government is swimming in money but their ideology prevents them from making crucial investments."
Booi says people may look cynically at the organization and think it’s only a means of unions protecting public sector jobs. However, he says the organization has a much broader base of support than just unions. He points out only nine of the 29 groups represented are unions.
Booi says the organization is likely the first of its kind in Canada and he says other provinces are watching the fledgling group closely.
"It’s not surprising it started in Alberta because it’s where it’s the most needed," says Booi. "There’s a strong sense we need to do more than watch the erosion. We need to fight."
The new group is especially necessary in Alberta because the province has an "extremely anemic political culture" and the provincial government doesn’t follow the wishes of the people, says Booi.
"We have a false populism where the government says it’s listening to the people but they’re listening to businesses and the wealthy and tarting it up with opinion polls and focus groups," he says.
George Melnyk, a professor of Canadian Studies at the University of Calgary, says he’s not surprised to see groups like Public Interest Alberta springing up in the province.
"For the last 10 years we’ve had a whole litany of privatization. It’s the great song of the government," says Melnyk. "I think that people are saying no. It’s not the best way to go. There is a place for the public sector."
Melnyk says Alberta’s "monolithic political culture" makes it difficult for alternative viewpoints to be heard in the province. Other provinces have strong opposition parties capable of defeating the government, says Melnyk. However, in Alberta that isn’t the case and so people are turning to lobby groups as a way of ensuring there’s a voice of opposition out there, he adds.
"If you can’t change the government you have to change public opinion and you expect the public opinion will affect the government," he says. "You need a diversity of viewpoints and in Alberta that’s often lacking. Those who don’t think like the majority feel they have been marginalized…(Without political debate) you feel like you’re living in a dictatorship of the majority."
Meanwhile Booi says Public Interest Alberta will be watching closely to see how Premier Ralph Klein plans to push forward changes to the province’s health care system. And Booi predicts the future of Alberta’s water supply will also be a big issue for the new organization.
Public Interest Alberta is in the process of hiring an executive director and members have already been nominated for a board of directors. |
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