Dear Mr. Prentice,
First
off, allow me to congratulate you on your new position as Alberta’s premier designate.
Designate, not “elect,” because the latter would suggest that something
democratic happened here. Far from it. But, regardless, congratulations on
winning the leadership “race.”
(You’ll
pardon my use of sarcastic quotations, indicative of my cynicism with the state
of Alberta’s “democracy.” There’s going to be some cynicism in this letter, but
hopefully it will not overshadow the plain speak and precious, quivering hope.)
Because,
of course, this was not a leadership race. It was a farce. Far more of a farce
than those that saw Ed Stelmach and Allison Redford elected by the people
of Alberta, rather than by your party. Those two instances I purchased a PC
membership to vote for the lesser of three evils. It was exciting. Those were
the only times since moving to Alberta that I have felt my vote counted for
anything provincially or nationally. There was no point in doing so this time.
That’s
because when you declared your intention to govern this province—with any due
respect to misters Lukaszuk and McIver—it became a long, drawn-out, forgone
conclusion. First, because of your celebrity, and secondly because your party—that
is the government, which is one and the same in Alberta, as certainly as it was
in Soviet Russia—adjusted the rules of leadership races to make sure it is the
Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta that chooses the premier of Alberta,
rather than Albertans.
Fine
and well. As a man who does not usually find his values represented by the PC Party, I am used to being frustrated by what our democracy has degraded to in this
province. I roll with it. Your party is so deeply entrenched that when its
members are caught doing something questionable, underhanded, immoral, perhaps
even illegal (thousands of tax dollars spent on private phone calls; marching
with religious groups that promote hate; giving away free party memberships) it
is rarely admitted to, never apologized for. You are, after all, the mighty PC
Party of Alberta. Your only threat comes from those who feel you aren't extreme
right enough, heaven help us.
But,
to my point.
In
your acceptance speech last night you spoke of “new beginnings,” of having “no
excuses,” of “re-earning trust,” of “accountability.”
Forgive
me my quotation marks, but I doubt you.
For
you see, Mr. P-D, you've been “elected” head of a government and a party which
threw its last leader under the bus for getting caught following party policy
(and an itty bit for being a woman, let’s be honest). This is a party that
ever-so-briefly under Redford looked as if it might finally live up to the P
part of PC, riding many plugged-nose left-wing votes for fear of the Wildrose
Party (which there are still conspiracy theorists who believe is a construct of
your own party to keep you in power through leftist propping. Silly, no?) But once
in power, Ms. Redford proved just another PC power monger, appointing inflammatory
ministers like Jeff Johnson to the Education portfolio so she could swoop in
like some sort of deus ex machina to
put out his fires and save the union from itself. That is, until the
party/government needed a scapegoat.
The
second source of my doubt, sir, is in your history as a minister in the cabinet
of the most anti-democratic, anti-Canadian, and dictatorial national government
in our history. You were a part of the Harper machine, a government more
concerned with McCarthyian fear mongering of its opposition than good
governing, a prime minister who has gone to war with our national institutions,
our very Canadian identity, a party that has broken the laws of this nation repeatedly, a leader who has tried to
hide his past of hate-ads against homosexuals so as to stay in power by
appearing to stand for everything as he stands for nothing, a party that felt
Rob Anders was the sort of person who could represent it. In short, the worst
government in Canadian history. And you were a part of its inner circle. And
then you left it for a bank—hardly a saintly transition for us armchair
quotation cynics.
But
you did leave, so here’s hoping.
Mr.
Prentice, you speak of a new future for Alberta. You say this as the head of a
party/government supported by voters who appear to only live for today (as an homage to the past 43 years). Our cities grow outward hilariously, acreages are
the new suburbia, oil companies exploit our resources with no regard for
environmental, health, or Aboriginal impact, and our health and education
systems are overworked to the breaking point in order to stir sympathy for
privatization. Alberta is a land where tomorrow hasn't existed since 1971.
So,
sir, consider: Those of us who are not willing to be complacent, who do not
shrug our shoulders and accept our government and our governance as “the way it
is and always had been” have more power than many may think, for good or ill. We brought Ms.
Redford her majority. Our disgust with your party could see us return to voting
with our hearts for small parties which have little hope of forming the next
government, but whose grabbing of our votes could cost your party its Red
Tory support and thus allow your extreme right opposition to unseat your
bloated, entitled party. This would be to the detriment of us all, for a
Wildrose Alberta would be worse for the future than a Harper Canada. (Which explains
why Stevie likes them better than you.)
But it’s your own party’s
fault.
My plea, Mr. Prentice, is that
you put your money where your mouth is. Your party/government has dug a rut and
furnished it. It would be easy for you to align yourself with the status quo,
to continue to pile filth on Redford’s reputation, and pander to the Right to
bleed off more of those fanatical votes.
Alberta deserves better. Many
feel that today is fine here in this lovely land of ours, but we must accept
that the future exists and it will come no matter how much this
government/party and its voters deny it. You have addressed the future, mister designated premier, now you must accept it. That job begins tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Paul
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