Rajey

Every year, the Alberta Legislature press gallery and each caucus creates an amusing, self-depcrecating video for the press gallery Christmas party. Here's the Official Opposition's 2011 video, a Rocky parody that tells the story of Raj Sherman's unlikely trajectory from Tory backbencer to Leader of the Official Opposition.

All the videos were fun this year, and daveberta has posted the Godzilla-themed Alberta NDP video here.

Crossing the Floor: Postscript

Last week I shared my thoughts on Bridget Pastoor's floor-crossing from the Official Opposition to the government benches. Since then I've considered the issue a little more, and it occurs to me that there's another aspect of the whole affair that bothers me even more than the issues I outlined before: the question of playing fair.

After the last election, the collective opposition was reduced to just eleven MLAs: nine Alberta Liberals and two New Democrats. Since then resignations, by-elections and floor-crossings have changed the balance of power slightly; there are now eight Liberals, two New Democrats, four Wildrose Alliance members and one Alberta Party member. That still leaves the government with a huge numerical advantage; they could lose twenty seats and still hold on to their majority.

And yet despite this huge advantage (earned, in our first-past-the-post system, by securing barely more than fifty percent of the vote in the last election), the government still feels it necessary to woo opposition MLAs to their side.

This strikes me as dirty pool. The government doesn't need Bridget Pastoor to carry out its business, yet they cajoled her into crossing the floor anyway, for no other purpose than political gain and to hurt the opposition. It makes you wonder how far they'd go to destroy their political enemies.

Each MLA a caucus loses costs that caucus tens of thousands of dollars in funding - funding that's used to represent Albertans, to hold the ruling party accountable. A tiny opposition can do little to challenge the government if they don't have enough money to do their job.

The Progressive Conservative government clearly considers the Liberals enough of a threat that they feel like they have to use every trick in the book to keep the Official Opposition down. It's like they can't stand the idea of losing, that they'll do anything it takes to stay in power.

From one point of view, I suppose that's understandable. No one likes to lose. Losing means you and your friends lose your job and you have to go and find something else to do. It also means that maybe the province won't be run exactly the way you wanted for a few years.

But is that really the worst thing in the world? Are the Tories so afraid of losing that they don't see the benefits of changing governments every once in a while? Are they that selfish? Do they really find other political points of view so repellent that they recoil in horror at the thought of someone else taking power for a measly four years? Heck, I can't stand Stephen Harper but I don't think the federal Liberals were entitled to stay in power forever, either. If we're lucky, change will bring renewal eventually.

No one likes to lose, but if I were working for government I think I'd have enough humility and enough of a sense of fairness to say, "Hey. Let's play fair. We're strong enough to win without resorting to petty tricks. We have the best ideas, we're the best managers. We're not afraid of the opposition. And if the voters kick us out, well, we'll be back in four years stronger than ever."

Wouldn't the province - the country - be healthier if we acknowledged that winning all the time doesn't exactly build character? Sometimes we need to lose. Sometimes losing leads to greater wisdom and compassion. Losing builds empathy and helps us identify our weaknesses.

When a party becomes so afraid of losing that they're willing to play dirty, maybe it's time to get out of the game - so that the game itself can continue to prosper.

Crossing the Floor

Today Lethbridge-East MLA Bridget Pastoor crossed the floor, leaving the Official Opposition Liberals to join the Progressive Conservative government. Many Albertans are crying foul, arguing that as a matter of principle elected politicians who switch sides should step down so that a by-election can be called, or that the offending politician should at least sit as an independent. These folks argue that the people who live in the constituency elected a Liberal (or a Tory, or whoever), and that they should have a chance to vote on whether or not they approve of their elected representative's new choice of parties.

I can sympathize with that view, but floor-crossing is a longstanding tradition in the Westminster parliamentary system that allows elected officials a way to express immediate support or opposition to a particular party agenda. Ideally such a drastic move should be used only on urgent matters of principle, but of course floor-crossing is often opportunistic. In any event, constituents will have their opportunity to express their approval or disapproval come the next election. No system is perfect; that's democracy.

Personally, however, I'm disappointed in Bridget's choice. I don't believe you can change this particular 40-year-old government from within, as Bridget hopes; after so many years in power, the culture of entitlement is simply too entrenched. After 40 years, Alberta needs a new government, and I'd be saying that even if it were the Alberta Liberals who'd been in power so long. Every so often, the people need to clean house in a democracy, give new people and new ideas a try.

That being said, Bridget is a good person; I've worked with her for almost six years, writing speeches and articles and statements in her voice. (Heck, I spent several hours writing a major keynote speech for her just a few days ago, and don't think I didn't feel a moment of annoyance about that when I heard the news this morning.) I know she cares about seniors and disabled Albertans, and that she'll continue to do her best to represent the people of Lethbridge-East.

But I also hope that the voters of Lethbridge-East will recognize the need for a change in government and elect a new Alberta Liberal in Bridget's stead.

Edmonton Meadowlark Health Care Town Hall

Tonight a small but passionate and knowledgeable crowd gathered in west Edmonton to speak with Official Opposition Leader David Swann, Edmonton-Meadowlark MLA Raj Sherman and Lethbridge-East MLA Bridget Pastoor (two MDs and a nurse!) about the state of public health care in Alberta. The crowd featured patients and health care professionals alike, each with his or her own stories to tell. While the general theme was frustration and unrest, the group was quite sincere in their non-partisan search for solutions, confirming, I think, the general feeling that people just want health care that works and they don't care who fixes it.

Official Opposition Communications Director Brian Leadbetter moderated the discussion while I shot photos. Well, not this one, obviously.

The problem, of course, is that we live in a partisan political system, and from my point of view and that of other Alberta Liberals, the ruling Progressive Conservatives have mismanaged health care to such a degree that they've proven their inability to handle the job. We feel that a change in government is needed before the systemic mismanagement can be addressed.

Sherman and Swann - one an emergency room doctor, the other a former public health officer and family doctor - once again noted that the backlog in emergency room care can be laid at the feet of our province's critical lack of long-term care facilities and supports. In a nutshell, because there aren't enough long-term care spaces, people are being cared for in the acute care beds of our hospitals - at far greater expense to the public. And the acute care beds can't be used for patients that actually need acute care, which is why ER wait times can stretch on for hours or even days.

The MLAs also argued that the elimination of Alberta's health regions and their consolidation into Alberta Health Services has created a host of new inefficiencies in the system and done a good deal of damage to the morale of health care professionals across the board. Sylvia, seen here in the background, raised a good point about how that damage to morale seems to discourage people from voting. Dr. Sherman revealed that while he was in the Tory caucus, his colleagues actively discouraged him from telling people to vote, noting that low turnout helps the party in power. With cynical truths like these, it's no wonder that folks don't vote!

So where are the solutions? Well, Dr. Swann noted that the new Alberta Liberal health care policy will be unveiled shortly. I'm looking forward to seeing how Albertans react to the Official Opposition's proposals. Maybe they'll even provide a reason for people to head to the polls later this year or early next.