Sometimes Question Period is downright funny. Witness this exchange on the provincial debt between Opposition Leader Danielle Smith and Premier Redford.*
Ms Smith: In Medicine Hat earlier this month the Premier said this about debt: it’s not debt; it’s hope. So let’s take some of the Premier’s other quotes and sub in “hope” for “debt” to see if that sentence makes sense. First: Alberta does not have hope, and we will not incur hope. Then there’s this: we cannot come out of the current fiscal situation with hope. And a PC campaign ad: Albertans want to know that we’re not going to have hope.
To the Premier: if debt is hope, when can we once again expect to be hope free?
Ms Redford: You know what, Mr. Speaker? There are incredibly important issues that we need to talk about in this House, and it’s a shame that the opposition won’t take them seriously. I stand by what I said. What we build in Alberta by putting in place infrastructure is schools and roads and health care facilities that matter to the quality of life for Albertans. We have a plan to build Alberta, to rebuild Alberta. We are committed to that, and that is what matters to Albertans, not this.
Or maybe we should just be committed and be done with it.
*Hansard, Oct 28, 2013, p 2485
Susan on the Soapbox 
Now I don’t know whether to feel hopeless or hopeful!
Well said Tracey 🙂 Welcome to the Soapbox!
Redford really doesn’t have a sense of humour. It was quite funny!
I agree Midge…instead of rolling with it Redford was reduced to: “We are committed to that, and that is what matters to Albertans, not this.” All that was missing was: “Take that!”
What is shocking is what the Hansard transcripts don’t reveal–while Redford was talking Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk was flipping through a magazine picking out ties. No respect for the premier, no respect for the Legislature and no respect for the people of Alberta. No wonder the post secondary education budget is such a mess!
I was feeling hopeful last week when I paid off some debts….now I feel debtful, because I may have paid off my hopes!
Perfect! Absolutely perfect! Thanks Liane 🙂
Fret not, Redfraud speaks with a forked tongue. I have said for five or ten years now that the legislative assembly is a waste of tax payers money and it is a poor example of democracy for children to be taught one thing and then see in actual fact what goes on there. U reap what you sow and for albertans it is coming home to roost. The Prem and Lukaszuk will be of on another junket shortly and will not be missed. I have a sickening feeling that we will have a repeat of the events of 1963 with a former mayor and his disrespect for all.
You said it Tom. It’s one thing to have a spirited debate, it’s quite another to be so disrespectful of the Legislature and the people who elected you to loll around reading a magazine while the Leg is in session. If a child tried this in a classroom he’d get a detention; the Minister of Enterprise and Advanced Education, on the other hand, gets a pat on the top of his coif, soon they’ll be throwing policy documents at pages and calling them “crap” (to quote the illustrious Ralph Klein).
This is priceless and Liane made it extra priceless.
I was not going to post a comment because this really is more than an obvious example of what kind of government we have in this province, but the name Lukaszuk always raises my blood pressure. Only Alison Redford would chose her twin to be minister of anything. He has respect for nothing other than his own self. Deputy Premier, imagine! This is going to be two long years but the 2015 election will be easy. Anything other than these people will be a relief even if only a mental one.
Carlos, I’m sure the majority of Albertans share your view that anything other than the PCs would be a relief…in fact I believe that a number of PC members (including MLAs I’m told) share that view as well. Just watch for the exodus as the election draws nearer.
I would like to believe you, but it has been a long 3 decades and nothing has changed. As much as I hate to say this, Alberta is a political desert. The only reason I agree with you that there will be an exodus is only because people will go further to the right. Danielle Smith suddenly got rid of what she calls ‘distractions’ in order to allow that to happen. If you look at what she changed her mind about, she is simple the PCs with a better fiscal objective and a clearer Health Care policy although never in the last election she mentioned the private part of it. She is no dummy and just like the rest of them she wants power even if that means to look like a fascist with a fur coat. She will do well because Alison Redford has hit the wall, unless of course, just like her cousins at the Federal level she cooks the books and suddenly we are 7 billion in the black. From what I have seen she is very capable of attempting something like that.
Carlos, I think you’re right that many PCs will move to the WR, however I continue to hold out hope that those who don’t share the WR ideology will take a careful look at the progressive parties before they decide to wash their hands of politics all together. It’s incumbent on the progressive parties to give these potential voters a real alternative otherwise we’ll lose them altogether for a very long time.
I was simply going to hit the LIKE button but since I can’t find one:
hahahahahahahahaha.
🙂