We need to ask ourselves what the horses are even racing for? Don’t be fooled by the bells and whistle of the horse race, this is just a distraction to ensure that democracy continues to be virtually meaningless here in Alberta. 

In fact I would beg to say that with the shift to the right that this province has taken recently, democracy is taking a turn for the worse. Business as usual means that the ‘people’ don’t decide, the market, or more accurately business decides  (the ‘market’ is just a shield business uses to defend its interests when it is convenient) . Democracy in Alberta is a narrow right spectrum of political parties who are funded to ensure that business gets their way.

Incredibly only the NDP provides a different viewpoint and they are at 9% in the polls. The days of the Conservative government creating provincial companies (the Alberta Energy Company was one, but was eventually privatized and turned into Encana) are but a faded memory. Provincially owned oil and gas companies like the Alberta Energy Company were to ensure that the people, who own the oil and gas, the citizens of Alberta, benefitted the most. Stat Oil, Norway’s national energy company, has saved up $400 billion for its citizens. This fund could be used to eliminate taxes forever or to transition to a more sustainable economy. Not here in Alberta. This would be seen as theft.

                                                        They hang the man 
                                                        and flog the woman 
                                                        That steal the goose 
                                                        from off the common.
                                                           But let the greater 
                                                                 villain loose 
                                                       That steals the common
                                                                from the goose. 
                                                        - Folk Poem, circa 1764

Sound familiar?

In Alberta, the service providers, the private oil and gas companies, are calling the shots. It is like they own the oil and gas or something. This would be like someone letting their housekeeper or gardener come in and take over their property and start calling the shots. The Liberals, Conservatives, and Wildrose Alliance are falling all over themselves to ensure this continues.

The new Alberta Liberal energy policy is called practical politics. This kind of politics has a goal of winning. Unfortunately it doesn’t ask why. Does it really matter if it is the Liberals, the Conservatives, or the Wildrose Alliance who gives away your oil and gas or slashes public jobs? Not really. 

We live in the age devoid of new ideas. The best we seem to be able to do is recycle old ones and pretend there wasn't a reason why they were previously discarded.

The right in Alberta is bringing back slash and burn, and the myth of low taxes to stimulate the economy. It ignores the fact that Alberta goes as does the price of oil and gas goes, which is not determined by the market, but an oligopoly called OPEC.  

Instead of adopting new ideas and selling it to Albertans, the Alberta Liberals have chosen to just step into the space left by the Conservatives while the political spectrum shifted to the right. Lazy to the last, the Alberta Liberals just picked up the Conservative playbook and claimed it as their own. This party has no purpose whatsoever.

The problem is a new time needs new ideas and new action. This is why the Alberta Liberal Party should be put out to pasture in the hopes that something more inspiring and fresh will take its place. Please die soon.