Dear Editor,
Re: “Hopefully, Premier Smith can stand up to Ottawa”; (June 12/23)
The writer again supports Premier Smith fighting the forces of evil in Ottawa. Of course, he would never ever criticize conservative politicians (blasphemy) because that’s a No-No in rural Alberta. We can always attack the nasty Liberals and the pinko, commie, socialist tree huggers (NDP), but we can’t and shouldn’t criticize conservatives.
Anyone who has a different point of view about the UCP politicians lacks “common sense” (only conservatives have common sense?). As usual, he attacks the pundits and professors Duane Brett and Lori Williams for discussing issues that plagued the UCP leading up to election night.
So, discussing the issue of Ms. Smith allegedly involved in trying to get the Justice Minister involved in a court case concerning a far right pastor who was involved with the Trucker’s Convoy in Coutts, AB was not acceptable (She did violate the Code of Ethics, but violating ethics is no big deal here, but we make “hay” when PM Trudeau does it).
Discussing the lack of financial support for the public sector (doctors, nurses, teachers, social workers, Victim Services, etc (as well for women’s shelters, fire fighters, emergency services, ambulance services) were NO-NOs as well.
When our gov’t had a surplus, we saw money being spent like “drunken_______” prior to the election. Some folks would call that tactic “buying votes”, but that matter should not be discussed either.
Now that Premier Smith has her gov’t, will she go after the “bad guys” in Ottawa when the price of oil goes below the projected budget of $79.00 per barrel? Of course, she will! She won’t blame the oil companies, the Saudis, the Russians, the Chinese, and the US for the decline in oil prices.
After all, attacking Trudeau, the Liberals, and the “bums” in eastern Canada for anything that goes wrong in our province is a traditional pastime.
She won’t discuss the negative aspects of private health care (check the latest health care scandal with HCS Hospitals in the US), nor will she discuss why the gov’t continues to fund private energy companies and private schools. By the way, when will our provincial gov’t publish a quarterly report on the Alberta Heritage Trust Fund? What happened to it? How does it compare to Norway’s Trust Fund?
Will she allow Albertans to hold referendums on funding private schools? On the creation of a provincial police force (replacing the RCMP)? On funding private health care? (Oops! Done so already with supporting private blood services. How’s that going?). On creating a provincial pension fund? Of course, she won’t!
Premier Smith and the UCP would rather make decisions despite the fact that a majority of citizens and municipal governments are opposed to such moves. Who cares about “direct democracy” anyway, eh?
George Thatcher
Olds, AB
