|
Doing
what's right
Commentary by Jeff Burgar
for South Peace News
In Part I last week, we compared rural Albertans
to the distressed estimated 700 grizzly bears in this
province. With few people to speak for them, the
grizzly issue was mostly a “back-burner” item until
recently.
Rural Albertans are in a similar position. We
have barely half of the MLAs, stacked against the
Edmonton-Calgary juggernaut.
The real problem however, is the continuing erosion
of the rural power base. A few weeks ago,
election boundaries were again realigned in a new
proposal. City MLAs will get four more MLAs. Rural
get none.
As years slowly go by, the Edmonton-Calgary
corridor grows. More people there means more
political power. In time, that means even more
MLAs against our declining voices in rural Alberta.
The long-term result, as it is in any diverse large
province or country, is continued concentration of
power in the population centres.
Where the people are is where the votes are.
Where the votes are is where the power is.
The big question is, can a caribou, a salmon, a
well-meaning but financially driven pipeline or
pulp company, stand against that in the long run?
Absolutely not!
Caribou and salmon don’t get a vote, period. The
well-meaning business enterprise can be forced to
rape and pillage simply by the pressure of competition.
If they don’t do the job, someone else can
step in.
Gotta keep those houses in Toronto warm, you
know.
This issue is so complicated, it is not surprising
so few people want to even begin examining it. In
Northern Alberta, and in many parts of rural Alberta,
economic growth masks the long-term impacts
of the so-called “representation by population”
process. My neighbour and I are doing OK,
people say. Let somebody else across town, across
the province, or across the decades, worry about it.
Decades from now, of course, it will be too late.
There is hope. Likely, it will come in the form of
some kind of powerful environmental conscience.
The simple problem is grizzly bears, trees, pipelines
and salmon don’t get to vote.
But there are ways of giving them a “proxy”
vote. One way is a dual representation system. Politicians
would be elected by a combination of
square kilometres and population. Instead of five
MLAs speaking for half the geography of Alberta,
there could be 35. In a sense, this gives every blade
of grass, every tree, bale of hay or grizzly a vote, or
at least, a voice.
A second option is a continuation of today’s environment
movements. Just keep on appealing to urban
residents to basically, pitch in and help with
the topic of the day. Good luck on that one, though.
As a whole, rural Albertans are slowly losing
their voice. Our biggest assets these days are our
wide open spaces and our resources.
And just barely our vote.
Somehow, we have to figure out how to protect it
all.
< Previous
Home
Next >
|
