Letter to your UCP MLA

 

I’m writing you this letter to voice my deep concerns about the United Conservative Party’s activities. In no particular order:

I’m strongly opposed to the UCP’s push to create an Alberta Pension Plan. We’re being misled by the notion we’re over-contributing to the national plan. We’re being well served by the Canada Pension Plan – one of the world’s best performing pensions and are contributing at the same rate as every other Canadian. It is well managed and diversely invested to ensure stability and reliability. Relying on AIMCO to manage our retirement savings is risky given its poor performance and heavy reliance on fossil fuel investments. The world is decarbonizing and we’ll be saddled with a pension with no foundation. The money spent on promoting this venture (my tax dollars) should have been put to use in more urgent places.

I’m also opposed to the moratorium on renewable energy projects – a multi-billion dollar hit to our provincial economy and an equal visible hit to our reputation as a place where investors were welcome to develop wind and solar generation. I agree that large projects should be carefully sited and there are evergreening, liability, and sunset strategies attached to them. Unlike the multi billion dollar liabilities poorly established oil and gas have burdened our children and grandchildren with.

I’m deeply troubled by the manner with which the UCP has mismanaged our health care system. I’m troubled by how our health care professionals have been disrespected and have reached a point where many are leaving the province or are going out of business. Scores of emergency departments province wide are closed. Front line health care workers are at the breaking point. The pandemic is being ignored and scores of long covid sufferers are unable to work. Wave after wave of respiratory illnesses are sickening thousands and dozens are dying each week. The UCP’s laissez faire approach to Covid, influenza, RSV, and other sicknesses is sickening and killing Albertans and gutting every level of the workforce. Abandoning preventative measures and minimizing the importance of vaccines is ludicrous. The Premier promised to repair Alberta health care in 90 days. It’s not repaired, it’s broken worse than ever.

I’m very concerned by the recent proposed legislation regarding parental rights. This is an affront to the basic human rights of vulnerable young people who are no stranger to persecution. Forcing our schools to reveal the details of children’s gender and sexual identities to parents is reckless and dangerous. I know far too many people who would be violently opposed to having their child declare their gender and sexual status. This will result in children being punished, banished, or worse. Given the large representation of 2SLGBTQ+ youth in the abused and homeless and in suicide statistics bears this out. This proposal is immoral and discriminatory. There are too few places of safety for the 2SLBGTQ+ and this proposal removes more than one.

I’m shocked at the recent event that saw our Premier consort with a mainstream American celebrity known to be racist, intolerant, misogynistic, and an ally to Vladimir Putin. Giving the likes of Tucker Carlson a platform to present his lies and misinformation and then asking him to interfere with our elected Federal government demonstrates our Premier’s ignorance of civics and her propensity to ignore evidence based science. Doubling down on her opposition and ignorance of harm reduction methods that do help save lives. Giving Mr. Carlson her tacit endorsement is an embarrassment and insult to those of us who see him for what he actually is. A performative, disruptive outsider who’s mission is to add gasoline to the fire lit by the extreme right.

These are only five of several topics that I have strong issues with. More include: the push towards coal mining and logging on our watersheds, economic withholding in our power supply causing astronomical power rates, unregulated insurance businesses resulting in huge premium increases, undue influence with resource regulators allowing polluters to ignore their responsibilities, lack of action on the homeless crisis in our province, withholding monies from daycares to cripple the Federal program here, and the overwhelming influence of groups like Take Back Alberta who control the UCP Board and have the ear of the Premier.

 

I’m appealing to you as our MLA to note this letter and know that I’m not alone with these concerns. I cannot understand how you can support any or all of these issues that seem to be a concerted effort to consolidate power in the office bearing Danielle Smith’s name on the door. She is not acting in the best interests of Alberta’s citizenry. She is pandering to a vocal base she does not want to offend. She is supporting her friends in the resource sector and is their mouthpiece to Ottawa. She is the biggest threat to intergovernmental relations with her incessant “Tell the Feds” sovereignty threats. She and the TBA are reaching into our lower levels of government and are building an authoritarian framework that will remove local autonomy and place that power in her office.

Please tell me you have concerns with the way the UCP has behaved since you were elected. Please tell me you’ll take these concerns to the Legislature and support your constituents. Please tell me you’re above populist governance and can see how corrosive the current version of Conservativism is here in Alberta. I was once a staunch supporter of the kind of compassionate Conservativism that existed under leaders such as Peter Lougheed. That no longer exists and I cannot support this iteration of the Conservative brand.

I await your reply in hopes that you share some of these concerns and are willing to carry them to the Legislature and the Premier’s office.

 

 

Respectfully,