Conservatives are in crisis, not Canada
By Letter to the Editor on February 29, 2020.
I have read the document called the Buffalo Declaration by its authors and by its supporters. It is a document of anger. The anger is based on Conservatives’ hatred of Pierre Trudeau’s 1981 National Energy Program, which, it is argued in the document, has been a large part of a historical, deliberate and concerted plan by the “Eastern political class” to oppress Alberta as a mere “colony.” The document begins with the statement “Canada is in crisis,” but it is not Canada which is in crisis, it is Conservatives who are in crisis. They are in crisis because they will not understand that in the October 2019 federal election, just over 65% of voters chose political parties which promised climate change action and environmental sensibility in policy far beyond anything the Conservatives proposed, which was almost nothing. Attitudinally, they are still in the 1950s on this issue, and Canadians know it. They are in crisis because they will not understand that the 2015 federal election was lost for them by the rashness of the Harperites, whose policies were unpalatable to a majority of Canadians, a fact admitted by Mr. Harper on election night that year when he said of the Conservatives’ loss “it was my fault.”
Space will not allow a critical response to the 13-page Declaration, but may I say three things? Firstly, much of Conservatives’ anger is related to the impact of world oil prices on the economies of oil-producing provinces, yet no government can control world oil prices.
Secondly, if the “Eastern political class” has historically conspired against Alberta to subjugate this province, why, in 1931, did the federal government transfer its ownership of natural resources to Alberta, in this province, and to Saskatchewan there? The Declaration fails to explain or to even mention this fact.
Thirdly, yes there was a National Energy Program put in place by the Pierre Trudeau government in 1981. It cost the oil industry and Alberta a lot of money. Conservatives remind us, ad nauseam and ad infinitum, of the perfidy and villainy of Mr. Trudeau and the 1981 Liberals. The Declaration describes it as a” …malicious act…” done “…with intent, against the West.” It is striking, however, that the ruggedly individualistic, free enterprising Alberta Advantage Conservatives and their oil industry confreres never breathe one word about the 1960 National Oil Policy of one of the patron saints of Canadian conservatives, John Diefenbaker. His government put in place a policy that required Ontario consumers to pay $1-$1.50 per barrel above the world oil price for Alberta oil. This was done to support a struggling Alberta oil industry, and it succeeded in doing so. The Buffalo Declaration also fails to explain or to even mention this fact. I have never heard of anyone from Ontario complain about this, even conservatives.
Gregory R. Côté
Irvine, Alta.
Your bias is laughable. Everything you write can be summed up by saying “I hate conservatives, now I am going to try to appear objective.”
As my friends point out. Out of a population of some 63,000 people poor old Impala is fighting his support for his Liberal , turned Reformer friend Jason Kenney basically all by himself and apparently isn’t smart enough to understand why. More and more people are pointing out how furious they are with this liar and how he tricked them into believing his lies. They are deeply concerned about how he is treating our doctors, nurses and teachers, some of the most important people in out lives and Impala doesn’t care. Let him destroy their careers who cares is his attitude.
I supported the conservatives fro 28 years, and my parents and two sisters spent countless hours volunteering for them. A brother in law even voluntarily flew their government plane for them. Never got paid.a dime. Lougheed’s mines and mineral minister, energy minister today, Bill Dickie, was a brother in law of one of my uncles. We were proud to support them. Then Klein using Reform policies almost killed my father and completely destroyed our health care and education systems as we knew them.
It’s these damn Reformers who are the problem, but Impala isn’t smart enough to tell the difference. I had former MLAs pointing it out to me. They knew they can’t be trusted and they can’t. Harper was a perfect example. He lied about the Income Trust and screwed Canadians out of $35 billion. He took Canada from a $19 billion surplus to a $151 billion debt.
Now we have Peter McKay another Harper trained Reformer, just like Kenney, wanting to be prime minister and you can bet these mindless Albertans will automatically vote for him. As a friend says ” How can I be a Conservative when there are none left only these damn Reformers.” My question is “Why did these stupid Conservatives allow them to get control of their parties and create this mess in the first place?
What you should really say is that there are very few honest politicians that actually care about the people of Canada. Their main concern is what can I get out of this for myself and how can I get re-elected
You got it. They certainly aren’t like the conservatives under Lougheed and Getty that we proudly supported. The fact is Notley was a lot more like Lougheed than any of them, as a former conservative MLA pointed out. Everything she did helped some segment of our population.