Genevieve Simms

The acrimony at city council seems to be stepping up a notch these days. There is definitely jostling going on for the 2010 race for mayor. There are larger factors at work, though, that explain the ever-increasing divide at city council.

The U.S. is the largest economy in the world and as such is the ideological compass for the world. Since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, the compass has been pointing heavily in the free-market direction. It was privatize this and cut government that. This was a time when government was asked to step aside to unleash the wisdom of the market. The compass pointed to the far right.

Recent events have shown that not all is right. The first hint was in the 2006 U.S. mid-term elections. The Democrats won 51 per cent of the Senate seats and 53 per cent of the seats in the House of Representatives.

A seismic shift to the left occurred during the recent financial crisis. In the spring of 2008, Bear Stearns, the fifth largest investment bank in the U.S., was allowed to fail and be bought up on the cheap by J.P. Morgan. By the fall of 2008, though, the U.S. government bailed out Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Citigroup, Bank of America and AIG. The wise market began to look pretty dumb. The god of the market was knocked off the pedestal and government intervention was suddenly back in style.

A further shift to the left happened when Barack Obama was elected U.S. president last fall. Through shear eloquence, Obama was able to reframe the political conversation from “me” to “we.” With this, Obama ran on a platform that included real environmental and health care reform. In particular, Obama wanted to make the health care system more affordable and accessible. He also proposed to create five million green jobs in the next 10 years to make the U.S. a world leader in renewable energy and on climate change.

Of note, though, Obama received only 53 per cent of the vote from his fellow Americans, not an overwhelming endorsement. How far left the political spectrum has shifted in the U.S. is debatable. Has there been a systemic shift to the left that will be felt for many years to come or is this just a temporary phenomenon based on the charisma of Obama?

The winds of change have swept across the Canadian border. In January, Prime Minister Stephen Harper introduced a $40-billion stimulus package over the next two years. Incredibly the Conservative government is projecting a $34-billion deficit in the next fiscal year. Harper implemented this despite vowing in October 2008 that he would not run a deficit. The Conservatives also bailed out General Motors and Chrysler to the tune of $4 billion.

Harper has been forced to run a deficit and bail out businesses. The choice was to remain in power and implement policies not on the Conservative platform or to be voted out. Harper decided he wanted to keep his job. Clearly the federal political spectrum has shifted left, but the political failure of Stephane Dion’s Green Shift and the fact that we still have Harper as our prime minister shows Canada still leans to the right.

Has there been a shift here in Alberta? The Alberta Government still seems hell bent on privatizing more of our health-care system. In addition, during the recent oil boom, Premier Ed Stelmach repeatedly refused to touch the brake on the economy. The times though are slightly a-changin’. Despite being illegal, the Conservatives are forecasting a $4.7-billion deficit this year. Government intervention is still a dirty word, though. There is no stimulus package here. In fact the Conservatives are decreasing their spending by two per cent this year. And a deficit is forecasted because of an estimated 11 per cent decrease in revenues.

The winds of change have even blown through Calgary, but those on the far right on city council are not budging. This makes sense. Calgary is the epicentre of the free market ideology in Canada. Calgary’s bread and butter is the oil and gas industry. Another factor is that the economic downturn hasn’t seemed to hit Calgary that hard yet. As of the end of March, unemployment in Calgary was 5.8 per cent, compared to 8.3 per cent across Canada. The price of oil has rebounded beyond $60 per barrel.

The world is moving left and is leaving free market and anti-environmental ideologues behind. Feeling threatened, those on the far right on council are staging desperate last stands on issues like Plan It, the pesticide bylaw, and the Memorial Drive Promenade.

The writing is on the wall. If Harper and Stelmach have had to do an about-face on issues, then eventually even those city councillors on the far right will have to, as well.