ALBERTA GRITS: A BUNCH OF HAPPY WARRIORS!

As most of you who read my blog know, although I have little time for most of the editorial writers and columnists over at the hapless Calgary Herald, I do read and have respect for a few. One that I have for the most part admired is long-time political columnist Don Braid who I have known and read for thirty years.


But alas, Braid is not always right. His column in yesterday’s Herald “Victim mentality keeps Liberals in doghouse,” is one of his more dismal efforts. Read: http://www.calgaryherald.com/columnists/Braid+Victim+mentality+keeps+Liberals+doghouse/2391128/story.html


He starts off on the right note. He sees the Tories on the ropes and the Alberta right coming apart at the seams. He notes that Alberta Grits are paying down their debt, becoming a presence on the internet, and presenting sound policies. All of this, Braid correctly observes, shows that Liberals in Alberta now have a great chance to move forward, and perhaps even attain power.


From that point on Braid’s column goes all to hell. He predicts that despite those positive signs of potential success, the Grits will fail because of their collective victim mentality which causes them to blame others for their problems. Braid says that the first words one hears from senior Alberta Liberals these days are “Why is the Wildrose Alliance getting a free ride?” The evidence upon which he draws this sweeping conclusion is that he recently met “one top guy” [who , and what makes him a “top guy,” he doesn’t say] who “threw me that question at a party this week.”



Well first of all, “one top guy” doesn’t speak for the whole party. Secondly, you find individuals all the time who are out of sync with any group to which they may belong. For instance, I’m sure you will find one or two Calgarians who might say that Stelmach is a good Premier, but that doesn’t mean that all Calgarians believe he is a good Premier. You might even find a Calgarian who will say that the Calgary Herald is a good newspaper, God forbid, and that sure as hell does not mean that all Calgarians believe that!



Braid continues his diatribe by saying that when the Grits lose they blame the media and also they “blame the voters for being too stupid to see their virtues. And the voters, far from stupid, pick up on the condescension and reject the Liberals once again.”


Well, I have spent more time around Alberta Liberals than the whole of the Calgary Herald editorial and writing staff of the last ten years put together, and I can tell you that this is pure – to put it politely – bullshit. If Braid believes that then he is spending too much time on the Tory cocktail circuit helping them drink their own bathwater.


Almost all of the Liberals that I know – and I know and have known thousands of the critters in the more than 40 years of being an active Grit - don’t blame anybody for not being able to form a government except themselves. They may be disappointed at having not formed a government after an election, but they just get back to work and merrily try to create a winning combination. And always with an abiding respect for the people as well as a smile. They are truly happy warriors, who – as the song goes - pick themselves up, dust themselves off and start all over again.



Alberta Grits are also resilient. The Alberta Liberal Party is the only provincial political party that has had a presence in every Alberta election since 1905 and thus holds the record of being the longest standing party in the history of the province. It has outlasted the United Farmers and Social Credit parties and was alive and well when the pre-Lougheed Tories were protected by game laws. Five will get you ten that the Liberals will survive the Tories once again and if anybody wants to bet money against that one, by all means, give me a call.

WELCOME TO CALGARY'S HOSPITAL HELL: DON BRAID TELLS IT LIKE IT IS

For those of you who believe Calgary is a land of milk and honey, for those of you who swallowed the Klein line of ‘The Alberta Advantage,’ and for those of you who believe that Alberta is rolling in the good life because of petro dollars, I encourage to read Don Braid’s column in today’s Calgary Herald, “Welcome to Hospital Hell. 14 Hours in the Emergency Ward.” http://www.calgaryherald.com/Welcome+Hospital+Hell+hours+emergency+ward/1506017/story.html

Braid in my book is one of the last remaining objective writers of conscience still plying his trade with the Calgary Herald, who tells it like it is. He describes what happens when ideologues take power and put into motion the pet theories of their cronys. In this case, the Alberta government under Premier Ralph Klein attempted to bludgeon the people in Calgary into accepting private medicine by shutting down one active treatment hospital and blowing up another. Neither have been replaced in almost fifteen years. See the demolition and hear the cheering of the brainwashed and brain-dead observers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y4zCNv00OQ

The population meanwhile has grown since by one third - from 750,000 to more than one million.

THE MOTHER OF ALL INSULTS: LEFT ON THE CALGARY HERALD'S CUTTING ROOM FLOOR

Yesterday at about 11 AM I received a call at home from Calgary Herald columnist Don Braid. He wished to interview me along with a few other Liberals about Michael Ignatieff becoming the new leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. I have known Don for almost thirty years and have followed his career as a reporter and columnist for all of that time. Don is a professional. He has interviewed me many times, always with accuracy and fairness. He is a credit to his profession.

We spoke for the better part of a half hour on the impact of Ignatieff’s elevation to the party leadership. I voiced my agreement that with the coming of Ignatieff longstanding divisions within the party were healed and that it would quickly revitalize itself from Victoria to St. John’s. I also opined that the coming of Ignatieff meant that Harper’s days as Prime Minister and Conservative leader were now numbered.

Don’s excellent and objective piece on the Ignatieff succession appeared in this morning’s Herald. See: http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=deab9564-c24e-4a71-b087-a5dd26faebec&p=1

My astonishment of course is that nowhere in Braid’s piece did my name appear. Was I really bad copy during the interview? Was it conducted too early in the morning? Did my erudite wit fail me? Why was I left on the Herald’s cutting-room floor? What about my crumbling self-esteem! Why was I excluded?

I have been a loyal and faithful subscriber to the paper all of my adult years, following in the footsteps of my family before me. Surely there has been no greater supporter and booster of the Herald’s excellent journalistic product over the years. Why, just look at some of my recent blogs, in which the Herald has played a front and center role:


THE CALGARY HERALD'S DISRESPECT FOR THE HISTORICAL RECORD http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2008/07/calgary-heralds-disrespect-of.html


LICIA CORBELLA: ON BEING DEAF, DUMB AND ARROGANT AND A CHIP OFF THE OLD BLACK http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2008/03/licia-corbella-on-being-deaf-dumb-and.html

MENDACITY OR IGNORANCE ?
http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2008/07/mendacity-or-ignorance.html


SACHA TRUDEAU: CALLING IT AS HE SEES IT http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2008/08/sacha-trudeau-calling-it-as-he-sees-it.html


THE CALGARY HERALD AND THE ART OF THE WHOPPER http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2008/09/calgary-herald-and-art-of-whopper.html


THE VERDICT ON STEPHEN LEDREW
http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2008/09/verdict-on-stephen-ledrew.html


HARPER'S MINORITY GOVERNMENT: REMEMBER JOE CLARK http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2008/10/harpers-minority-government-remember.html


MORE TWADDLE FROM THE CALGARY HERALD: HARPER, OBAMA TWO PEAS IN A POD!!!!???? http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2008/11/more-twaddle-from-calgary-herald-harper.html


"DOING A DION:" RECOGNIZING THE AUTOCRAT AND STOPPING HIM IN HIS TRACKS
http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2008/12/doing-dion-recognizing-autocrat-and.html


Alas, did Braid conclude that I was not up to my usual copy standards? Or do the Herald’s editors believe that “he who lives by the pen, shall die by the pen - or scissors?” Probably I shall never know.

But I do recommend the above blogs to those readers who wish to confirm my continued admiration for that great publication.

EDDIE'S WORLD: FALLING APART

So far, the Premier has been able to capture the attention of the Alberta public once. He resorted to the trite bashing of the Federal Liberals for an innocuous statement by a neophyte Ontario MP that, according to Eddie, meant the the Fed Libs would 'take over the oilsands.' The MP, Mark Holland, from Ajax-Pickering, was merely reiterating the sane preaching of former Tory icon and Premier of Alberta Peter Lougheed about adopting a go-slower approach in the development of the oil sands, to maximize benefits to Albertans and to protect the environment. I say 'former Tory icon' Peter Lougheed because since the 'Dumb and Dumber' crowd took over the Tory Party during the Klein and now Stelmach years, Lougheed has been widely regarded by the new Tory power group as a big spender, Fed Lib appeaser, and God forbid, a liberal.

The rest of the public's attention towards the Stelmach Government has been generated by bickering Ministers (Snelgrove and Hancock, with Eddie's big stick Snelgrove saying that Hancock the Health Minister should not talk about more anti-smoking legislation without caucus approval), poor judgment calls (Eddie and the $5000 intimacy payments, and Harvey Cenaiko's feeble attempt at currying Eddie's favour), conflicted policy statements (Energy Minister Mel Knight wanting to export bitumin, and Eddie saying 'wait and see'), embarrassing actions of the deposed King Ralph (taking the cushy lobbying job with a blue-chip law firm with unseemly haste after pocketing a $600,000 severance payment).

The weekend has produced more very dark clouds on Eddie's horizon. His big-stick, big-mouth Treasury Board head, Lloyd Snelgrove wants the oilsands to go nucleur to reduce green-house gas emissions. According to Snelgrove, nuke energy was a natural fit and the only way to keep the oilsands development going and reduce CO2 emissions. Happily, he assured his audience that he wasn't an expert on the subject. Polling indicates that in Northern Alberta, more than half of the population opposes the nuke option. Bruce Cameron, the energetic and smart pollster who conducted the poll said, "This could be the hill on which the Stelmach Government is defined." That metaphor doesn't make sense. 'The hill that the Stelmach Government may die on,' I think is what Bruce - usually a fuss-pot with the English language - meant.

More stormy weather can be expected as a result of the Education Minister Ron Liepert's indefatigable promotion of the P3 policy for schools construction. P3 programs bring in developers to own the land on which new schools are built. They also build the buildings and lease them back to the school boards on long-term, sweetheart deal leases. The developers of course are croneys of the Government. They will have triple A tenants for the duration of the leases, line their pockets for years, and in the end wind up owning the very valuable land on which the schools sit. P3 can be defined as 'Pork, Pork, and More Pork.' The people are beginning to see the program for what it is.

To further complicate Eddie's future, we heard this week that long-time Calgary Herald columnist, Don Braid, is taking over the task of Alberta Legislature columnist, now that Tom Olsen is officially married to the Tory Party as a communications advisor to the Premier. Braid has been in the business for a very long time. He is no fool and will never be a fawning sycophant to any Government, including Eddie's.

And there's worse news for Notsofast. Health Care, botched by Klein time and again, has been in a crisis situation in Calgary for years. Premature babies sent to Saskatoon for treatment, patients dying for lack of fast emergency care, accident victims having to wait for hours for emergency treatment, negligence of overworked medical staffs causing unnecessary deaths, deliveries of premature babies in Calgary having to be transported to Great Falls, Montana hospitals for treatment, very ill-patients cared for in Ward hallways, and other Dickensian true stories have been growing exponentially for years. But there has always been the promise of a major new hospital to be built in the far-south of the City. Well, the Government has dawdled, delayed, obfuscated, and procrastinated to the point that, because of the boom, the costs are now $350,000,000 or so over what was originally anticipated. The 'Dumb and Dumber' crowd in the Legislature are giving pause. Reportedly, they may decide not to cover any shortfall. Defrocked Ministers and other MLA's from Calgary are starting to raise hell. City Aldermen are going ballistic. Columnists are finally coming out swinging. And in a most unnerving signal, for Eddie and his Tories, the editors of the Calgary Sun are finally lambasting the Government in lead editorials, to shape up or be shipped out.

Add to that Grit Leader Kevin Taft's newly released book 'Democracy Derailed,' a tale of the Tories' sense of entitlement and arrogance, acts of petty tyranny and their refusal to be accountable. The book is a must-read, true story. It will make you very angry. It is enjoying brisk sales in Alberta books stores.

The future looks bleak indeed for the Premier.