by Jeff Burgar
When it comes to both our new federal and provincial governments, I’m still in “Give ‘em a chance to do good” mode.
It isn’t easy.
To all appearances, neither Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or Premier Rachel Notley had any idea they were going to form ruling governments. For Notley especially, sifting through her gaggle of newcomers to find some semblance of intelligence, experience and capability from which to form a cabinet was a daunting task.
Trudeau had a better well from which to draw. And before anybody even had a chance to say anything, he pointed out he was really trying to make it 50-50 male and female. So it was OK to make a few blunders, right?
For both leaders, it also helps to have a compliant media who are mostly like myself. Give them a chance. See what they can do.
Mmmm, well. Bill 6. Syrian refugees. Minimum wage hikes. Royalty review. Carbon taxes. Military spending. Pull back the jets. Or not. More climate stuff.
It really hasn’t been a ground-breaking time of good news for either federal or provincial government.
Worse, every time somebody wants a feel-good story, some dastard throws a monkey-wrench in everything. So we’re going to bring in 25,000 immigrants from the Middle East, then 1,000 idiots show up in Germany playing grab-ass with females.
So we want to bring farms as businesses onto the same playing field as every other business in Alberta.
And then some donkey decides to ram through Bill 6 as a “great idea and damn the complaints.”
It almost looks as if decision-makers are auditioning for that reality show, “What’s the worst that could happen?” The show plays on the complete idiocy of people who really, don’t even consider what might go wrong with their latest, greatest, triumphant plans. The answer of course, is…everything!
Every Boy Scout knows the motto “Be Prepared.” Notley and Trudeau could take that to heart and probably already have. Sailing along humming “Sunny Days” isn’t going to cut it. Doing “What’s best for everybody” isn’t going to sell. Case in point: Forcing Albertans to do their part in fighting climate change while foreign oil makes it way unimpeded to eastern Canada.
These are not good times in Alberta. Last year’s wonderfully generous ideas and plans can easily turn into this year’s disasters when the cupboard is bare and the mood is grim.
In this environment, a steady hand on the tiller takes us through the storm. Those “Give ‘em a chance” moods can quickly turn into “String ‘em up.”