Submission from Allan Garbutt, Cowley

Let me get this straight.

Our premier and her government claim to believe in direct democracy. That is, they will do what the people ask them to do. The citizen petitions and subsequent referendums seem to be an example of this.

For those items that do not generate petitions, I presume the government will use their opinion polls to determine where the voters stand on various issues. Then, they can take those positions to referendums as well. Or, at least they can pass laws that reflect the sentiment uncovered in the various surveys.

Reality looks a bit different.

Few Albertans appear to want an Alberta Pension Plan. At least that’s what I take from the numbers various journalists ultimately pried out of the mislabelled black box called Freedom of Information — not!

But, we are going to have a chance to vote on both issues in October. After, I might add, the government has had several months to put out their views on the issues. Anyone opposed to the government view will, of course, have to fund their own campaign.

I do not know anyone who understands how the government can run ads in Ontario and elsewhere asking people to move to Alberta, and then get upset when lots of people come to Alberta. Nor do I understand how those arrivals can be blamed for the fact that our infrastructure and services, from schools to roads to hospitals, can not keep up with the influx.

It takes about 10 years to build a full-service hospital, and several years to recruit the staff for the new facility. Our UCP government has not built a new hospital in over a decade. Indeed, a couple of years ago they cancelled the only one in planning. They have also created all kinds of uncertainty about working conditions for any health-care professionals who might want to come to Alberta.

Our shortages are not due to people moving to Alberta, but to a government that is allergic to planning for the easily foreseeable results of their policies.

And when there is a petition that opposes government ideas (see the Water Not Coal project), petitioners find an ever-expanding list of barriers erected. When the initial manoeuvres fail, the government suddenly finds “procedural” reasons to avoid putting the very clear position to a referendum.

If, on the other hand, you are pushing a position the government likes (see the separatists), all kinds of adjustments can be made to ensure the petition goes forward. And when progress is stalled by the inconvenient truth that the whole idea is unconstitutional, the blame is placed on the judge who read the law and said no. There is no blame for the petitioners or the government who failed at the most basic task of reading and following the legally defined route.

But none of that should be a surprise when the separatists’ lawyer has been in trouble with the Law Society several times. The same can be said of a government that seems to make a habit of appointing ministers of justice who run afoul of legal and ethical boundaries.

Overall, the impression one gets is of “rules for thee, but not for me.” Perhaps we should go for real change and elect representatives who actually represent the majority of voters, not the small group who are currently in power.

At least that is how I see it.

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