It's been common the past few days to talk about why people are voting Wildrose on April 23rd. The best of the bunch is probably Steve C. Britton's:
10. Conscience Rights. Yep. That’s on the list. Why? Because, for a society to be truly free, people must be able to act in accordance with their conscience! Freedom of conscience is already protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and merely means that someone will continue to be free to refer a potential client to another service provider if what the client wants done goes against the conscience of the provider. Without this provision, people will be forced to act against their deeply held religious morals and beliefs. People will be compelled to provide service when they otherwise would not. People would not be free. A state that forces people to do something against their wishes and better judgement is not a state within which I wish to live. The idea of having Official State Morality forced upon me is far more terrifying than the idea of being free to act (or freely choose not to act) in accordance with my conscience.Number one is really all you need, isn't it? Other really good examples have been Rick Newcombe's 40 reasons, and Angry in Alberta's three reasons.
9. Fiscal responsibility. The Wildrose government will balance the budget within this fiscal year – a feat the PC’s haven’t managed since 2008 when Ed Stelmach took the reins of power. In a resource-rich province like Alberta, there is no reason at all that we should have problems with deficits. Even when the oil price tanks (which, given the price of gasoline, it clearly hasn’t)
8. Respect for our service providers. Schools, school boards, doctors, nurses, and all the other public service providers will be treated with respect. They will know the position of the government in terms of contract negotiations for union employees, and they will not be threatened, intimidated, or bullied into silence.
7. Respect for the rule of law. The PC party has – last I saw – 73 counts of accepting illegal campaign contributions. The Wildrose Party, being “fresh”, won’t have the deep “old boy’s club” connections that exist within the PC Party. Also, the Wildrose Party, in government, will be accountable to the public through recall, so if anything untoward starts to surface, the constituents can get rid of the MLA in question. (See #6)
6. Recall and referendum legislation. Imagine being able to pull a corrupt MLA out of the legislature. Imagine holding them to account between elections. You voted for the guy, he’s messing up, or he’s got his hands in the cookie jar. Now you can get him the hell out of there – and he knows it! Imagine forcing the government to slow down on a contentious bill. Imagine forcing the legislature to take a bill to the public rather than ramming it through with little or no consultation with the public. Imagine if that had been possible with the GST back in 1991… Were would the GST be now? It worked for BC, and it can work for here too. And no, a bunch of men won’t be able to force a referendum on invoking the Notwithstanding Clause to delist abortion.
5. Legislated free votes. This is how the legislature is SUPPOSED to work in the first place. Parties have a platform and a shared set of ideals, but inside the confines of the Legislature, each MLA is an independent. They may agree to sit together in caucuses, and agree to support the government as appointed by the Monarch (represented by the Lieutenant Governor) but beyond that, each proposed piece of legislation should pass or fail on its own merits.
4. Standing up for our oil sands. On this front, Danielle Smith is right on, and Alison Redford is, well, bananas.
3. A sense of humour. The campaign bus. ’Nuff said.
2. Respect for free speech. By refusing to punish a candidate for expressing his deeply held religious views, Danielle Smith showed that she respects a variety of diverse opinion. That is refreshing. Alison Redford wanted the guy fired. Why? For telling people what his Christian beliefs are about homosexuality? As Danielle Smith said – Hate Speech is a criminal code offence. If someone thinks a candidate has committed a crime, then call the police. But expressing an opinion about what happens to a person after they die based upon their behaviour during their life? That’s not hate speech. And, quite frankly, by demanding that Danielle Smith punish a person for expressing their opinion, Alison Redford has outed herself as a bigot.
And the number 1 reason I am voting Wildrose:
1. It will piss the bigots, haters, mudslingers, and all the others who are engaging in a campaign of outright terrorism (manipulation through fear) off.
Well, what about Yours Truly? As it so happens, I've been blogging regularly about the horrors of the PC party, and now I present my reasons for voting Wildrose. You could probably also name this why I am not voting for the "Progressive" "Conservatives":
- "Drunk" driving legislation
- "Distracted" driving legislation
- I like keeping my guns. I mean, I really like keeping my guns.
- Trying to tear up contracts for the tarsands
- Giving taxpayer money to teachers unions
- Alan Hunsperger. Yes, the Edmonton Public School Board does need its wings clipped
- Edmonton City Centre Airport
- Redford raising taxes and lying about it
- Redford's war on religion
- Ron Leech was right
- Minimum drink pricing
- Body armour bans
- Drivers license scanning by the Hell's Angels
- Photo radar, red light cameras, and "speed on green" cameras
- Homeschooling
- Conscience Rights
- Giving Albertans their "fair share" of the oil money
- Loosening the shackles on public healthcare
- Alberta Firewall
- Bill 44
- Illegal campaign contributions
- Section three of the Human Rights Act
- Powerlines and property rights
- Al Michalchuk
- PC subservience to unions
- PC overspending
- Premier Mom
- PCs botching immunizations while David Swann lies about it
- No medical exemption for service dogs
- Danielle Smith
- Gary Mar
- Lowering, not raising, the drinking age
- Entil'Zha
