I was an Atomic Robot Jungle Vixen!

Saturday, May 31, 2003

As part of my commitment to increasing the level of boredom in the world and thus seemingly extending our lives, I'd like to tell you a little bit about politics in Alberta, my home province, in relationship to Canada, my home country from my admittedly somewhat biased liberal point of view. Please skip if you don't want to read my political stuff.
In Alberta, we have a provincial legislature where our MLA's, Members of the Legislative Assembly, work under the guidance of our premier, Ralph Klein. His party is the provincial Progressive Conservative Party.
In Canada, we have a federal parliament where our MP's, Members of Parliament, work under the guidance of our prime minister, Jean Chretien. His party is the federal Liberal Party.
Ralph Klein has been in charge for about 10 years. Jean Chretien has been in charge for about 10 years.
The PC party has been in power for some 30 years straight. The Liberal party has been in power this time around for a little over 10 years, I do believe.
I'm making these comparisons for a reason. You see, according to many Albertans, Chretien and the Liberals are arrogant and need to be driven out of power as soon as possible, but Klein and the PC's, who have been in power for so much longer with little serious opposition are just fine, though trust me when I say they are just as arrogant, if not more so at times. But the hypocrisy doesn't stop there, my friends!
Alberta has a habit of not voting Liberal, so we have long had few voices in government, just in the opposition. Edmonton, my home city, has until the last election had a habit of not voting PC, so we had few voices in government, just in the opposition. I actually read one ultra-conservative columnist write during a federal election that we must vote against the Liberals so we can have a
strong voice in opposition, and during a provincial election we must vote for the PC's so we can have a strong voice in government. Huh. That doesn't sound hypocritical to me in the least. Seriously, why doesn't he just come out and say "Vote for the party I like the best" because after all that's what he's really saying anyway.
Part of the problem in Alberta is that there is a deep and abiding hatred of the Liberal party because back in the Seventies, then prime minister Pierre Trudeau instituted the National Energy Program, which sucked a lot of money from our province and did cost us dearly, and as a faithful Liberal voter I will admit was a horrible mistake. But this was back in the Seventies, and Pierre Trudeau has since passed away. Let it go already. You know what though? We've never been a hotbed of modern liberalism anyway. This has long been a small C conservative province with a large number of rural voters who feel that having to register their guns is the biggest breach of personal freedom since... I would say since marijuana prohibition, but they'd be in favour of that so I guess personal freedom is only okay if it gives you the ability to kill people and animals from a distance.
So there you go. If you got bored reading that, you're welcome. If you're new to my little diary here, I promise I try not to get political very often. This was just something I was thinking about on my way to work tonight. I will tell you that though I will probably be happy the day Ralph Klein is no longer in office, he is a former Liberal, and while fiscally conservative is for the most part still somewhat socially moderate to liberal, so I'm grateful because things could be worse.

posted by Tabby at 5/31/2003 02:33:00 a.m.