Extraordinary
efforts are being pursued by some Albertans to try to change the mind of the 8
month old NDP government in
Alberta. According to reporter Jan
Gerson, in the National Post on January 11, people are actively complaining all over the province.
They are completely
frustrated by some decisions resulting
from the surprising ascent of the new Premier Rachel Notley. Such include the idea
of instituting a carbon tax. Some are also wildly opposed to the proposals to improve farm safety. There are
regional groups all over including, in Grande prairie and Red Deer ”incensed by the NDP’s ceaseless
rat-a-tat-tat legislation” – according to the report.
Some are even trying
to find a way to “recall” Noxley.
The methods include a serious effort to present a petition of 80,000 names to the Lt.
Governor, Lois Mitchell.
Mob rule has been
threatened such that the opposition leader Brian Jean has had to issue a public
plea to keep the tone of debate more civil. Considerable, new unemployment is compounding the problems. But,
George Clark, the leader of the group trying to obtain the petition said – “I’m
trying to help those people direct
that anger into some form of positive action”.
As the article suggests – “Western
Canadian politics have a long-standing affection for direct democracy by which
Alberta’s populace can force its government to hold a plebiscite:” (my comment
– they really mean a binding referendum).
Although clearly
there is no legislation to permit such action now, Clark, is hoping to find a legal arrow
to “lift the spell of the last election and restore Alberta to its
normal state”. One activist named Ben, who would not leave his last name because
of receiving threats, says that he
knows that the petition has no legal force; “and that the Lt. Governor is not
an instrument of the popular will. But he
is doing it anyhow”. “What else do you do, he asks. Its about
accountability”.
Formally instituted Direct Democracy in
Alberta could certainly now be very helpful there, say I.
I'm not convinced this is a good example of Direct Democracy (which itself is likely a good idea). A petition by itself could have been a good example, but unfortunately they committed some major blunders with their other actions.
ReplyDeleteThey told people to join with them because they're going to have a "kudatah". This has provoked much mirth with people saying, "If you can't even spell coup d'etat then you'll probably not have much success engineering one".
That proved to be prescient because the strategy had people giving money to the NDP to become a member so they could "overthrow" it from the inside. Sadly, many people joined the federal NDP rather than the provincial NDP, and were then asking "What do I do now?". And those who did join the provincial party were asked, "How does supporting the NDP with money help overthrow it?". They had no plan beyond that apparently.
The whole thing is a target for mockery which makes it easy to dismiss (rightly or wrongly) by critics. Personally, I wouldn't want to attach Direct Democracy to this "kudatah" as it makes it too easy to lump DD into this farce.
As an aside what other options would you prefer instead of a carbon tax? A carbon tax was supposed to encourage industries to find ways to scrub CO2 from their emissions (i.e. you can't use the air as a dumping grounds for free), but it seems to me the industries have found ways to get the public to pay for that tax rather than themselves paying for it.
ReplyDeleteThere seem to be other options than a carbon tax, and I think this would be good for a Direct Democracy approach rather than instituting a carbon tax carte blanche when other options are available.