“There are men (people) running governments who shouldn’t be allowed to play with matches” - Will Rogers: American humorist and entertainer.
Question: Is our premier playing with fire?
Our premier thinks she is “entitled” to over-ride the wishes of most Albertans. In poll after poll, Albertans have stated that they are opposed to her Alberta Pension Plan to replace CPP and OAS. Yet, she continues to push her agenda.
She also pushed for a provincial police force to replace the RCMP despite opposition from most Albertans and most municipalities, and she continues to push for privatization of our health-care system despite opposition from most Albertans and from most health care professionals. She pushed for changes to Alberta’s public education curriculum despite opposition from the public and from our teachers.
She is now pushing to change the rules that govern the licensing of engineers. Tech companies and engineering companies would be allowed to issue their own licenses (“software engineers”) instead of licenses being issued by engineering associations and universities.
Using that logic, will I be licensed to pilot a commercial airline since I have flown (many times) on commercial airlines in Canada and the U.S.? Since I have driven over a million kilometres in my lifetime, will the AMA grant me an auto engineering degree?
Will Alberta’s medical association grant me a licence to practise medicine because I have had numerous meetings with doctors since I was a child?
There are many important issues that the public wants resolved. Such as using some of the $5.5 billion surplus to increase funding for public education. Supposedly, Alberta has the lowest per pupil funding and the largest class sizes in the country (Statistics Canada).
Yet, our government is going to spend $330 million on a new hockey arena in Calgary. Why can’t the hockey fans and owners put up the cash for such an enterprise? The Green Bay Packers (NFL) fans bought shares in their football team. Why not the same for Calgarians, millionaires, and billionaires? Why should public money be used to fund private businesses? Oops! I forgot. The energy companies, private schools and charter schools have been receiving public money for decades.
How about having a referendum on using public money to fund pro sports teams, eh?
How about using some of the surplus money ($5.5 billion) to increase funding for public health care? After all, the population of Alberta is increasing every year, and the cost for most things is going up every year as well. Logically, funding for public services should be increasing every year as well, eh?
Bottom line: Most Albertans do not want CPP and OAS replaced by the premier’s Alberta Pension Plan. They do not want American-style private health-care services to replace our system of universal health care.
They do not want a provincial police force to replace the RCMP, and they do not want public money spent supporting private businesses, such as private schools. Let the people decide via referendums, eh?
George Thatcher,
Olds
