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Theresa's Tidbits: Stelmach government continues to implode
Theresa Seraphim
for Spotlight
Watching the Stelmach government these days is like watching a train wreck.
Yes, I know – it wasn’t all that long ago that I wrote in this space that Alberta’s premier wasn’t getting it.
But two recent events show that he still isn’t.
In one, a group of Edmontonians concerned about the way the province is dealing with health care is forming a citizens’ group to ask the government to either reverse the changes it has made to the health system – or be replaced.
In the other, two MLAs, Heather Forsyth and Rob Anderson, have quit the Tory caucus and joined the Wildrose Alliance.
Both the members of the citizens’ group and the MLAs said the same thing: they have taken action because they feel the Stelmach government is no longer listening to their concerns.
If it was one person, or one group, saying this, one could say, “So what? Every government has its detractors.” And, of course, that is true; indeed, one of the cornerstones of a democracy is that constituents are free to disagree with a government’s policies and actions.
But here we have a grassroots group that, according to a Jan. 3 Edmonton Journal article, was expecting 200 people to show up for its Jan. 11 inaugural meeting. Here we have two people who gave up the salary and perks associated with being in caucus because they can no longer, in good conscience, support the government of which they have been a part.
At the news conference announcing the floor crossing, Anderson didn’t mince words in telling reporters why he left the PCs.
“I have no interest in investing any more of my life and taxpayers’ money defending poor public policy that has been developed by a small band of out-of-touch government appointees and insiders,” he said in a Jan. 5 Edmonton Journal article.
The PCs, predictably, downplayed the defections – again, giving the impression of not caring what happens.
But the health care group, and the defections, show that disaffection with the Stelmach regime is growing in this province. This is no surprise, considering that the government seems to implement policy before thinking it through (e.g., closing Alberta Hospital beds) and is supporting only itself (e.g., cutting health care and education but giving themselves hefty raises at the same time).
Members of this government have forgotten they were elected by the people.
Hopefully they will remember that if they don’t start listening, in the next election those people can, and will, throw them out.
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