There are at least a couple ridings in Alberta that could attract some smart Liberals for the federal election. Voters in that province are not stupid you know. They might also like to send a message to the Prime Minister after what he has helped to do to the province’s economy. The message is simply: Bye-bye Hair.
Canadians are inclined to forget much of what the Hair has done to this country over the past nine years. The effect of that bad stewardship has had an even worse effect on the province that gave him its 100 per cent support. That the Hair’s hopes were hollow is an understanding that came later to the West than the East.
But the voters can hardly send a message via Alberta’s provincial Conservatives in the Alberta election that could be held soon. The basic problem with that is that there is not much provincial opposition. The Wildrose Party has hardly recovered from the loss of a leader and most members who decided that being part of the government was more fun than being the opposition.
And they are still puzzling over the Prentice government promising in last week’s budget that the province can save $160 million on health care just through cutting excess spending and other efficiencies. That is a typical claim of Conservative politicians. If they can do that then some people should be fired for the misspending that was taking place before this budget. You would have to work far harder than those people usually work to misspend $160 million.
The only mistake by Prentice and his finance minister was in not including business in sharing some of the tax increases. This was more an ideological stance than any concern about the level of corporate taxes in Alberta. Alberta already has the lowest provincial corporate taxes in Canada. And, of course, there was no hint in the $5 billion deficit budget of there being a provincial sales tax.
But there are still many Albertans whose sense of entitlement has been shaken. When you take candy from children, they try to retaliate. Premier Jim Prentice might be right to get to the provincial election fast. It is like the theory of pulling off the band-aid quickly. If he can get it over with quickly, under the radar, he can leave the Hair to take the blame.
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Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
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