Thursday, March 09, 2006

Comment on Alberta Liberals

Though I have a hard time defending the Federal LIEberals _ the Provincial Liberals are a different story. First it should be noted that the Provincial Liberals distanced themselves and did not support the Federal LIEberals.

To quote a reply: "... only too often we get lumped in with the federal party, and too many people forget that we don't have anything to do with them. Our leader, Kevin Taft, did in fact tell the media that he would not support or endorse the federal Liberals or Paul Martin in the last election campaign. And he was quite serious about it."

Personally, I think they should change their name, to something like The Progressive Party of Alberta. I had always thought they were like the Federal LIEberals, now it is a party worth researching with an open mind.

When King Ralph threw the liberal book at the page WITHOUT READING IT, and called it "crap" showed that he has only one vision _ his. I went to the Provincial Liberal page and requested a copy:

http://www.albertaliberal.com/

I suggest that one reads it before commenting on the suggestions. One of the suggestions that I like is the following:

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"The provincial government, by its own admission, expects to generate approximately $281 million per year in new revenue thanks to the recent increase of $2.25 per pack in tobacco taxes.

In March of 2002 a coalition of stakeholders from a broad variety of sectors came together under the banner "Wellness Alberta" and advocated the establishment of a wellness fund financed by tobacco tax dollars. The Alberta Liberal Opposition supports this initiative.
The Alberta Liberal Opposition would phase in a Wellness Fund, to eventually distribute $200 million a year to projects aimed at improving health and wellness.

The amount of this fund could be adjusted upwards in future years based upon tax revenue and Alberta’s increasing population. If the tobacco tax eventually becomes inadequate to sustain the fund, then other sources of revenue (such as liquor taxes) could be used. The Wellness Fund would under no circumstances take revenue away from other programs (i.e. acute care, chronic care, etc.)."

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Why would King Ralph not impalement such a policy? At least the money generated by this tax would be a better method going to health care, than by placing the generated tax into general funds.

I am not saying that everything presented by the Provincial Liberals should be implemented, but at least some things could be adopted by King Ralph to make their proposal acceptable to Albertans. This should not be a "one party" policy, it should have input from all three parties - Conservative, Liberal and NDP. Such narrow-minded attitude is not good for any political party - one just has to look how the Federal LIEberals ran things. Perhaps the Alberta Conservatives need to be out of power for a while - like the Federal LIEberals.

The Conservatives have been in power too long under one leader - who did a lot of good - but should not be afraid to work with the opposition, and not be afraid to say, "Let’s look at this more closely." Isn’t that all the opposition parties want - both Provincially and Federally - to at least be listened to? Give the Provincial Liberals a chance to be listened to.

The Federal LIEberals always mocked the opposition - I hope that Harper at least listens to the opposition.

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