Enough Rhetoric

I think everyone and his dog has had a kick at the Wildrose MLAs' floor crossing in Alberta's Legislature, last week.  Every journalist and coffee shop political analyst has an opinion, and none have been shy at expressing that opinion to the rest of us. 

But I think time's up!  Lets let the politicians on both sides of the Legislature get down to doing what they're supposed to do: legislate! 

In my opinion, a series of by-elections at this time would be counter-productive and a waste of money - and we've got less than two full years before the next provincial general election.  Let's wait until then.  Let's see what these new Conservatives can do. 

As we get closer to that mandated election time, each constituency association; Conservative and Wildrose, will have to decide who will be their candidates.  Until then, we should all listen and watch intently.

The Floor Crossing

The strange happenings in Edmonton these past couple of days has left me totally baffled!  Members of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition in the Alberta Legislative Assembly up and crossed the floor to join the government!

Although I thought Danielle Smith and her Wildrose team never really managed to reach the level of what I thought an opposition party should be doing, they were at least trying.  In my opinion, a strong governing party needs a strong opposition sitting across from them.  The Wildrose party had the potential of being that strong opposition.  There are some excellent, hard working MLAs sitting on the speaker's left, including our own Bruce Rowe!  I thought they were getting stronger as an opposition.  Apparently I was wrong.

The other thing that bothers me is that these Wildrose MLAs were elected by their constituents as Wildrose Party members.  Now, they're crossing the floor to become Conservatives!  I'm hoping they polled their constituents to see if those folks who elected them don't mind that they taking that stroll.  At least they must try to justify that walk across the floor! 

In the late 1960s, a young Peter Lougheed led a handful of Progressive Conservative MLAs to be Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, against the ruling Social Credit government.  The Social Credit majority was so overwhelming, some of the Social Credit members had to sit on the Speaker's left because there was no more room for them on the Government side!

Yet Lougheed plugged away.  His credibility rose higher every time he stood to oppose the government.  Soon after the next election, he and his party was the government!

That short walk across the floor of the Legislature is a short walk for a man, but a long journey across the Alberta political landscape!

A Gentler Time in Politics

There was a gentler time in Canadian politics, where parties respected each other and each others duties.

For example, if the governing party elected a new leader who did not hold a seat in that Legislature or Parliament, usually a member of the government caucus would resign and open up a by-election in a "safe" seat.  The opposition parties would field a "token" candidate in that by-election, and effectively let the new leader run unopposed.  

Other by-elections would be fought tooth and nail to hopefully get the Opposition's message out and increase the number of members on the Speaker's left!  But the opposition realized that if the newly elected leader was defeated in the by-election, the government would have to appoint an interim premier or prime minister while they held another leadership convention, or another by-election. 

The day-to-day business of the government would be severely compromised for perhaps months! 

I believe it is the job of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition to offer legislative alternatives and to criticize the actions of the government.  It is not their job to prevent the government from governing!

In a legislative assembly or parliament, the opposition has many excellent tools in its bag to oppose the government's actions. But I think throwing a wrench into the whole political system should not be one of them. 

But I guess I'm thinking of a gentler time.

Dirty Politics

Listening to the rhetoric coming from all political parties during this election campaign, I find it hard to believe that many of these same folks are going to be our government in a few months!

I hear the leaders of the two front running parties take shots at each other.  Do they realize that they will be facing each other across the Legislature floor?  One will be Premier and one will be Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition!  I wonder if they really understand that.