Muzzled from stumping prior to provincial election call
By Letter to the Editor on February 20, 2019.
A memory from my childhood – I was sent to get a few groceries. We lived two blocks from the hospital. The nearest grocery store was on Seventh Street. It was cold. I trudged along the sidewalk with my bag of goods and, for the first time in my life, saw a flickering television in the store window. Black and white, “The Count of Monte Cristo.” I was mesmerized. I asked if I could just come into the store to watch the show. No. Shut out. Shut out. That’s how I feel today as I see another MLA Report in the News by Drew Barnes. Previously I had asked the editor if I could begin writing for the News again, now that I am officially nominated. His answer had been, “…You’re nominated but not elected…no stumping until the election is called.” OK. I’ll wait, I thought. But then I see Mr. Barnes’ column. In my mind flat out “stumping,” as the editor calls it. An avalanche of “alternative facts,” exaggerations, incomplete information – the usual verbal “slight-of-hand” that has characterized Mr. Barnes’ contributions to public discourse since 2012. So he gets to “stump” and I don’t. An MLA Report is usually a report on the work of the legislature. It’s not supposed to be a sales pitch or a propaganda mud fight. Given the limits imposed on me I do not have the space to discount Mr. Barnes’ fake narrative but anyone with the skills to turn on a computer could quickly see through the political smokescreen presented by Mr. Barnes. The truth is out there, and it ain’t friendly to Mr. Barnes. And would Mr. Barnes like to tell us about his participation in a recent conference, the Freedom Talk conference, which, among many other far right themes, championed the ideas of pushing for more private schooling, redefining school principals as CEOs rather than educational leaders, and drastically cutting funding to public schooling? Wish I could say more. But I’ll wait. Peter Mueller Medicine Hat (The writer has been nominated as the New Democratic Party candidate for Cypress-Medicine Hat) 11-10
Those of us who consider ourselves to be true conservatives are still laughing at the ignorance of the Wildrose and conservative parties, who didn’t learn a thing from the Jim Prentice and Danielle Smith fiasco they pulled off when all floor walkers were defeated. Their supporters say they will do it again and Barnes will be gone and they are probably right. You can’t treat your supporters like morons and then do it again and expect them to forgive and forget it happened.
While they bad mouthed each other in public and Brian Jean, leader of the Wildrose Party fed his supporters the lie that he would never join the Conservatives because they were different, they were being best buddies behind closed doors making arrangements to merge. My true conservative friends saw right through them , they knew that these two buddies from the Harper Reform Party wouldn’t take long before they formed a merger, it was a no-brainer.
It’s no secret that Reformers are all about forcing the people into more and more privatization, while they fill their own pockets and those of their rich friends with the people’s money and Jason Kenney is making it crystal clear that’s what they intend to do. Not only could seniors find themselves paying $500. per month each for health care, young parents could find themselves paying $1,000. per month, per child to send their children to school, especially if Scheer is elected at the federal level.