Alberta NDP vs United Conservative Party

Choosing the lesser of two evils

If you always vote for the lesser of two evils, you will always have evil, and you will always have less.

~ Ralph Nader

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Disclaimer: The following post contains information not everyone will agree with. This was written from an observation based on my own thoughts and opinions of the subject matter whether I agree with a point or not but this is how I see the world.

Where to begin?

Alberta politics has always been a contentious issue for decades and more so, even before I was born. During the 1980’s Alberta’s political landscape encompassed many different parties trying to vie for vote domination and to win a majority in order to govern the people of the province. During the last 30 years that I know of, the nature of that political landscape has vastly changed into nothing more than a grudge match between pocketbooks and personal ideals being shoved down the throats of it’s citizens of who is right or wrong.

What’s worse is that the act of “governing” has gone out the window and the act of what is considered now considered factual is far more biased than ever. During the 1990’s most of the provinces premiers in Alberta had some sort of class to their deliverance of facts on how the province was doing to what their agenda’s were. In the 1990’s then former Premier Ralph Klein was seen as a “hero” to the people when he managed to eliminate Alberta’s deficit and debt and brought the province from the deep red financially, and into the black with major surpluses galore. The only thing is the drastic social cuts that were made back then which additionally caused major problems of their own. Sure the citizens of Alberta got “Ralph Bucks”, but did that really matter? No really as most people didn’t care as that was supposed to have gone back into a failing economy still. Unfortunately for Alberta, after Ralph Klein’s reign as premier, his successor managed to undo all the work that he did and thrust Alberta into one of he largest debts Alberta would see until the pandemic in 2020. Mind you I believe that it was also coincidental that Alberta got screwed at the same time when Jason Kenny was elected. So fast forward a few decades later from the 90’s, and after the election of one of the most controversial Presidents of the United States of America was elected, the shutdown of the planet due to a super virus ran amok and the ideologies of society changing in major ways, not including mass movements of specific ideals from people, the problems on the global stage had filtered down into the provincial side of the political landscape and have changed the way we as people now think, see and interact with others.

Okay, that was extremely brief of a history lesson with other things left out. In Alberta we have a saying about the changing weather “Wait 5 minutes and the weather will change”…point being, even with the “political environment” wait 5 years, and all hell breaks loose.

The PC Party (now the United Conservative Party) had been in power for 44 years before the Alberta NDP led by Rachel Notley took the helm for 4 years in May of 2015 and was defeated in 2019 by the United Conservative Party led by Jason Kenny. During the Alberta NDP reign, the province of Alberta made both strides in the social community via the enhancement of social policies to assist seniors, low income individuals, schooling initiatives and nearly was able to create a balanced budget. Now bear in mind that the Alberta NDP is a party on the left side of the political spectrum. I won’t say “Far Extreme” left but in the middle of center and far left. So most of those ideologies reside in the “social” spectrum of politics. The United Conservative Party on the other hand are very far right and their ideals are literally diametrically opposite of the Alberta NDP. The sad thing now is that Alberta technically only has the two major parties to choose from. Which in my opinion sucks big time.

Now I am the type of person that kind of sits pretty much smack dab in the middle of everything politically. There are view points from the left I agree with and some I don’t, but also there are some from the right I agree with while there are some I don’t. So let’s put this question out there…why does it really matter where someone sits politically? Shouldn’t we all be working toward the same goals? A better society for “ALL” people?

Defining the differences between who and what is right and what constitutes as better

So for those reading this, I tend to be a little blunt on how I see things and I am not always right either but for me it’s not a matter of being right as it is just seeing the world differently. Most will understand the difference between “Right” and “Left” wing but in this day and age, I believe that what constitutes left or right has been greatly distorted. And in my opinion, we have only have the ever changing political landscapes of the United States to blame for what’s going on in Alberta as well. So lets break this down a bit (some of these are going to be pretty subjective as well)

Canada is described as a “full democracy”, with a tradition of liberalism, and an egalitarian, moderate political ideology. Far-left and far-right politics had never been prominent in Canadian society until recent years. The traditional “brokerage” model of Canadian politics leaves little room for ideology. The fundamental differences between left-wing and right-wing ideologies center around the the rights of individuals vs. the power of the government. Left-wing beliefs are liberal in that they believe society is best served with an expanded role for the government. People on the right believe that the best outcome for society is achieved when individual rights and civil liberties are paramount and the role — and especially the power — of the government is minimized. Nevertheless, while the two sides embrace different programmatic beliefs, both are deeply estranged from certain features of society and highly critical of what they perceive as the “spiritual” and “moral” degeneration of societal institutions. Both view society as dominated by conspiratorial forces that are working to defeat their respective ideological aims.

The degree of their alienation is intensified by the zealous and unyielding manner in which they hold their beliefs. Both sides possess an inflexible psychological and political style characterized by the tendency to view social and political affairs in crude, unambiguous and stereotypical terms. They see political life as a conflict between ‘us’ and ‘them’, a struggle between good and evil played out on a battleground where compromise amounts to capitulation and the goal is total victory.

The far left and the far right also resemble each other in the way they pursue their political goals. Both are disposed to censor their opponents, to deal harshly with enemies, to sacrifice the well-being even of the innocent in order to serve a ‘higher purpose’, and to use cruel tactics if necessary to ‘persuade’ society of the wisdom of their objectives. Both tend to support (or oppose) civil liberties in a highly partisan and self-serving fashion, supporting freedom for themselves and for the groups and causes they favour while seeking to withhold it from enemies and advocates of causes they dislike.

So why all the conflict?

See both parties believe that they are right. Then again so does almost any politician. They want to convince you that their side is right, their viewpoint is sound and they can be justified by their actions and want to convince you that their way is the only way while the others just want to subvert you into a “wrong” way of living. Regardless of which party is best or right, it will still come down to what people believe for themselves and which way their ideologies align with one party over another.

Unfortunately, this new political world we live in has caused significantly more damage than I think anyone realizes because things have gone to the absolute extreme. The past President of the United States (Donald Trump), whether you like him or not, did make the world realize how polarized views can get. I personally do not like him and don’t believe in a lot of what he said or did or what he claims he took credit for. But that’s my personal opinion. In case you read this post this far, I’m not a Biden supporter either.

When it comes to Alberta though…okay let’s get talking. I can’t stand Jason Kenny. I believe he should never have been the leader of this province and controversy had surrounded his tenure as premier. I’m also not a fan of Rachel Notley either. See I don’t support the people who run the parties, I support the ideologies that align with what I believe in, even if they are on both sides of the scale.

So here are “my” thoughts and opinions on each…

Jason Kenny: Believed he was the right choice for alberta *cough, not* because he believed he could restore confidence in Albertan through economic changes, pushing his ideals of “my way or no way” and is unfit to be an effective leader because his “values are out-of-step with modern Alberta; and because he gives safe harbour and encouragement to racists, bigots, homophobes and even white supremacists”. In otherwords, he’s very dangerous. He was surrounded but controversy with his ministers who were plagued by unethical problems of their own.

Okay granted I could go on. I am just not a fan of him. As a person with a disability, on low income and fighting for trying to work, he had made it very difficult for those who are on low income, seniors and disability to get a head. But I will give him this to his credit, he did fight for what “he” believed in and stood his ground when confronted. Was he right? Who knows. I personally though do not believe so.

Rachel Notley: Believed in a new Alberta, one with growth, prosperity and a welcoming place for businesses and the energy sector. Which in the end became her biggest downfall. She fought like hell to keep Alberta growing but with the problems of the Kinder-Morgan pipeline, anti-oil protesters and taking over from a government of 44 years that destroyed the province, she had very little to work with and wasn’t able to affect change. She cancelled work placement and employment programs that could have seen many make a better living, agreed in a total lockdown that crippled the province economically and The Alberta unemployment rate was stuck at 7.0 per cent in March, far above the national rate of 5.7 per cent. Calgary’s was 7.7 per cent – the second highest in the country after St. John’s. Meanwhile, the province’s debt ballooned to more than $50 billion.

On the good side she did fight for equal rights for all Albertans, including for increase of indexation for people with disabilities, low income and seniors and brought in an affordable solutions for child care in the province.

Conclusion: Both leaders had their faults and failures, as well as their own triumphs and successes in specific areas but ultimately in the end, the voters (mind you a very small amount) decided they had enough and now we are stuck with a premier (Danielle Smith) who is more out of touch with reality than Kenny and Trump combined.

So now your asking “what do I believe in?” Well, as I said at the beginning…I have my values from both sides but there are some things I don’t agree with either. Will I share that? nope… writers prerogative.

But in conclusion with this topic, we all live in a changing world and if we can’t change with it, then the world isn’t the problem, we are. We cannot expect the world to be created or changed around our wants and desires, we all need to learn to be flexible, hold onto our beliefs but without becoming a complete asshole about it as well.

So for anyone who reads this. I don’t care if you agree with my viewpoints, thoughts and opinions…but learn to be kind to one another whether you agree or disagree.

Be kind whenever possible. It is “always” possible