If there’s one thing most of us can agree on, it’s that this federal government has a major spending problem. And when the task of renewing a passport becomes an arduous endeavour that takes months and months to achieve, it begs the question: can we rely on this government to accomplish anything at all in a timely or cost-effective manner?
Here at Alberta Proud – the grassroots, all-things-Alberta machine that advocates for lower taxes, accountable politicians and our best-in-the-world energy – we are seeing everyday Albertans getting increasingly fed up with the disappointment being dished out by the federal government.
Whenever we bring up dialogue around “More Alberta, Less Ottawa,” it’s met with rally cries of support. As the feds continue to print money due to reckless government spending, as grocery prices hit double-digit increases in the last year, and more than 60 per cent of Canadians are struggling to put food on the table – can you really blame any reasonable person for not trusting the federal government anymore?
We are all impacted by it, from every item we purchase to every bill we pay, including our mortgages and rents.
Recently, some disturbing Statistics Canada numbers have indicated that only 40 per cent of Canadians trust the media and less than that trust Parliament. Just this week marked the ninth Liberal MP since 2015 to be found guilty of breaching government ethics. It’s a disappointingly high number that no doubt directly correlates to the tanking of trust in this Trudeau government and a rise in Canadians tuning in to alternative media.
Here in Alberta, we have been through a global crash in energy prices, all the while the federal government has had their hands out for equalization pay. Albertans feel a disconnect from Ottawa and are angered when Trudeau and his team make impactful decisions without proper consultation.
Premier Danielle Smith largely won a leadership race based on her promise to stand up for Alberta and stand up to Trudeau.
All Sovereignty Act semantics aside, the peanut gallery is pretty silent on challenging the concept of standing up to Ottawa’s overreach on such issues as firearms legislation, internet censorship, fertilizer restrictions that would decimate our farming industry, warning labels to put a bad rap on our best-in-the-world beef and the latest and greatest Just Transition plan – laying the federal framework to “transition” our energy workers away from our oilsands and toward “green energy jobs” aka unemployment.
While Premier Smith and the UCP have pushed back with a strong, and eminently true stance that the world needs more oil and gas jobs, and that we have everything right here to become a global supplier for our allies, Albertans are rightly concerned that the federal government could move ahead with this eco-radical agenda without considering the devastating impacts on not only our province, but the rest of the country and the world.
What’s even more alarming is that a tough provincial election is only months away and the Rachel Notley-led NDP have remained silent on standing up for our hardworking energy workers.
Oil prices are now soaring, global demand for our best-in-the-world energy is rising, Alberta has made record debt payments and our credit rating is rising. Our other industries are booming, including agriculture, aviation, financial services, petrochemicals, technology and innovation and tourism.
And we have to ask ourselves, would the NDP policy agenda keep that going, or would it disrupt it all in the name of an ideology?
Meanwhile, the UCP continues to forge ahead with concrete plans to reform our healthcare system, tackle both rural and inner city crime, as well as shout from the rooftops that Alberta is open for business and foster investment and job growth across the industry spectrum.
Will it be enough to restore general trust in the government for the voters? Time will tell, but it’s encouraging to see this government directly address some of the most important issues to Albertans.
Lindsay Wilson is the President of Alberta Proud
