When crafting policy, the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills Wildrose Party Constituency Association should look past ideology to what riding residents really want, president Michael Robertson says.
“I think you have to meet people where they actually are at, rather than trying to talk ideology and politics,” Robertson said during an interview with the Gazette.
“I know we're Canadians and we like to talk about politics – we like to talk about the weather more, especially in a rural area -- but I think it's important that we recognize that politics really does need to be done differently – that it's about good government, not what's good for my political movement.
“I don't want that to sound like rhetoric because I know a lot of people use it that way, but (British philosopher) John Stuart Mill said we should be utilitarian, that we should do what's best for most people.
“While I think that's a bit reductionist, I think that that's really what democracy should be about – doing what's best for as many people as often as you can. And when you can't, you do your level best to fix that.”
Robertson was asked if that means sitting down in coffee shops with people and asking them how they want to be governed.
“Well, with a grassroots party, that has to be one of the fundamentals and I like coffee as much as the next guy. But it's also about getting people engaged with the party – to encourage them to make their voices heard,” he said.
“We're not going to tell them what they should think and they should tell us what they want. We have to lead, but we also have to be led. It's like a teacher who thinks that they need to teach their students, rather than taking the opportunity to learn from them as well; or a farmer who thinks they can force the ground to grow things when it's a collaborative effort. You can plant a seed, but the rains have to come.”
Robertson was elected during an Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills Wildrose Party meeting in Three Hills on Nov. 28.
The 32-year-old Carstairs-area teacher and farmer takes over from Alex Pratt, who helped found the Alberta Alliance Constituency Association in 2004, which later merged with the Wildrose Party in 2008. Pratt will continue to serve as past president and director at large.
“I've always wanted to serve the community and this is a good opportunity to do so. I've been the V.P. of policy for the last seven years,” he said. “It was good timing. Alex Pratt was looking at stepping back a bit and I was asked to step up a bit by some of the members of the board.”
