One Alberta Voice

I got The Prentice Plan in the mail today. Talk about propaganda. If you haven't see it, it looks like this: On the inside, the talk about investing in education and healthcare. This from the party that just created a budget where they're capping and cutting in health care and education. I'm at a loss for words.

Here's just one reason the PCs are in the financial state they're in--well, no, let's be fully honest here and say that this is one reason the PCs have gotten Alberta in the financial state its in: After they had promised to freeze salaries, they went and raised salaries for senior government officials , who, let's face it, are already making more than the average Albertan. Deput minister salaries went up by about $20 000. Yes, you read that correctly. Given they already make over $200 000, maybe it doesn't seem like a big deal to them, but to the average Albertan, $20 000 is not only huge but could really change things around for people. But this pay freeze seems to have only been targeted at MLAs. Senior government managers were given a lump sum payment, followed by a 2.25% raise for 2014 and a 2.5% increase for this year. Because they're not already making enough? Gary Mar's combined salary and non-cash benefits totalled over half a million dollars....

I will be writing more over the coming weeks and regret to not have kept up with things on this blog--or even paid more attention to what was going on politically. I will say this right now: It's time for the PCs to go. If I'm going to be honest with myself, I have to admit that perhaps another party won't be able to win. Other than the PCs, we Albertans tend to be quite a mixed bag. Ironically, the party that is closest to the PCs in terms of social and economical positions is the Wildrose Party, which people seem to be very afraid to go with. They'll turn to the increasingly socialist Liberal and NDP (okay, they've always been socialist, but their socialism is getting strong hints of communism) parties who are vastly different from the PCs, so should be way out of their comfort zone, but they are names that they know, so in a way, it is their comfort zone. I firmly believe this election was called so soon so that people would have little chance of getting to...

My lack of posting the past couple of years was not for want of some opinions; there has been plenty going on with Redford alone to warrant posting. Which is why, as I come back to this blog (having finally found the email account tied to it *rolleyesatself*), my first thought after the Wildrose-crossing-the-floor mess was: Where is Redford now? To be honest, my online searching has resulted in me having to say: I don't know. Where she could be sometime in the future is dealing with court and repercussions for illegal activities. The most recent news article I could find was this http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alison-redford-could-face-criminal-charges-review-finds-1.2821834 I suspect there will be enough found to press charges, but not knowing enough about the criminal system and what constitutes worthy evidence, I can't do more than suspect. Well, I can hope, too. While her political career is over and her acts have probably closed many doors to her, it ju...

I just watched this video http://on.aol.ca/video/former-alberta-wildrose-leader-urges-other-members-to-join-tories-518565518  . While I understand this decision was not something done on the spur of the moment, I'm still left scratching my head at why the two parties couldn't work together without the Wildrose having to cross the floor? Danielle Smith is asking Wildrose to switch, which really means that she's asking for the party to become defunct. Is that what Alberta needs? (I'm really asking this for myself.) She does make, I feel, a valid point in having conservatives stick together, but do they all need to be in the same party? Is it really that hard for them to work together if Wildrose is the official opposition? Perhaps I'm naïve or just politically too ignorant; I'm willing to consider those possibilities. This still just sits wrong with me.

Well, well, well. I woke up this morning to the radio hosts talking about Danielle Smith having crossed the floor to the PCs, as well as other Wildrose MLAs. They are not the first to do so. Before I get into my specific thoughts about Wildrose's leader and these other MLAs crossing the floor, let me say that within the past few weeks, I actually said to my husband that I like Prentice as our Premier, that he has brought back "conservative" to the PCs and if he keeps going as he is, I would probably vote PC in the next election (assuming he will still be at the reins). Why? Because I really do feel he has brought back the conservative side of the PCs. Redford was not a conservative. Not in the least. I am not the only one to say it and I thought it before I read others' comments to the same effect. Conservatives tend to "conserve", to keep things the same, to stick to old-fashioned principles, making changes when the population in general is wanting ...

Remember the $83 800 trip that Redford and 5 others were taking to the Olympics to promote tourism and industry? Ah... Well... First, it actually cost just those 6 over $87 000. The full cost of the trip was over $500 000 (yes, you read that correctly, over 1/2 million $) because they for some reason paid the way for artists and performers and chef (why a chef? no clue)--all told, 29 people. Not only that, but because they decided to not send another 18 people who were originally slated to go--the 29 alone is questionable given it's all taxpayer money, isn't it?--they saved some money, but could not "get rid" of some of the hotel rooms, supposedly, which means they ended up paying $113 000 for rooms they did not use. Can we do the math for a second here? $113 000 divided by 18 (let's pretend they all get individual rooms, which would be ridiculous imho, but anyhow) is $6277.78. For 5 days. So let's do more math, let's say it's 6 nights: $6...