MLA Report: New premier, same direction

By Drew Barnes on February 17, 2023.

Last month, I made it official: I will not be representing the United Conservative Party in this spring’s provincial election.

I have been blessed to represent the good folks of Cypress-Medicine Hat for more than a decade, and I will continue to do so through the spring sitting of the Legislative Assembly, set to begin at the end of February.

My reason for not seeking the UCP nomination is simple: I have no confidence that the UCP is capable of fulfilling its promises to the families and communities in my region, or across much of rural Alberta.

Rural Albertans have always been straightforward with this government in their desire for smaller government, standing up to Ottawa, meaningful democratic reform and decentralization. Unfortunately the UCP, like the Progressive Conservatives before it, has steadily taken our province in the opposite direction.

Much of the blame for this drift lies at the feet of former Premier Jason Kenney who broke more promises than I can count. Three in particular stand out.

The first was his commitment to grassroots politics. Upon assuming the Premier’s office, Kenney turned his back on numerous pieces of membership-approved policy. For example, the UCP abandoned the idea of a return to a flat income tax, and watered down the term of its MLA recall legislation to the point that this key piece of democratic reform may never be used.

Second, under Kenney, the UCP abandoned two key property rights promises. In 2019, every UCP candidate ran on a pledge to approve a Property Rights Protection Act, as well as a plan to hold a referendum on adding property rights to the Canadian Constitution. When it became obvious that the government was going out of its way to avoid this issue, I personally offered my private member’s bill to fulfill this campaign promise. The government refused to proceed.

Finally, Kenney forgot he was elected to stand up for Albertans, not to look for ways to work with Trudeau’s job-killing government. Kenney’s weakness invited the devastating attacks Alberta faces today in the form of the Great Reset and the Just Transition plan to destroy Alberta’s oil and gas industry.

With Kenney’s departure, I hoped that Premier Danielle Smith would forge a new path. And while I do believe the new premier is genuine in her desire to assert Alberta’s provincial jurisdiction, it has become clear her government has slipped back into its previous patterns.

Smith’s key leadership promise to protect Albertans from vaccine discrimination through changes to the Human Rights Act has been completely abandoned. She also campaigned on ending the prosecution of defunct pandemic health regulation violations, but by her own admission she has opted not to enact amnesty legislation. In fact, there have been no legislative changes to better protect the rights and freedoms of Albertans, whatsoever.

On the economy, like the Kenney administration, Smith’s continues to tie Alberta’s industrial carbon tax rates directly to the rapidly rising federal rates, as well as to interfere in the free market with corporate welfare and subsidies. Her recent decision to freeze auto insurance rates (like the NDP did) rather than increase competition within the industry will mean less choice and higher rates for Albertans in the long run.

Many of the problems we face today are a direct result of decades of government centralization of power over what used to be one of the freest economies and societies in North America. The UCP under Danielle Smith has not adjusted course, and the direction of the Kenney administration remains firmly in place.

As a former Wildrose, former UCP, and now an Independent MLA, I have been proud to champion the cause of making Alberta the most free and prosperous jurisdiction in North America. I believe our province will never achieve its full potential without a serious course correction. Now, more than ever, we need to reduce the size and scope of government.

Moving forward, I will continue to support any honest effort to make it happen.

Drew Barnes is MLA for Cypress-Medicine Hat

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