Re: Letter: How long and loud do we have to yell about coal exploration?
Answer: Probably to the next election. We have a premier that really doesn’t respect the opinions of many Albertans. She is trying to bring American political values to our province, creating political parties for municipal governments despite opposition from most municipal politicians.
She is going against the will of the people by going ahead with creating a new police force. She is going ahead with bringing in private health schemes despite opposition from most Albertans.
Notice that she never mentions any of the negative aspects of private health care in America, such as higher costs; higher mortality rates; high insurance premiums; waiting lines for folks who don’t have medical insurance; corruption and fraud by private hospitals, doctors, and insurance companies, etc.
Canadians who have had medical issues while visiting the states know what I’m talking about or those folks who have lived there for many years.
Almost every month there is a scandal involving the “sad” state of affairs with America’s private health-care system.
It’s a system that benefits doctors, insurance companies, hospitals, the pharmaceutical industry, and the lawyers who defend them. It’s a three-plus trillion dollar “cottage industry” that benefits those who have the money (privilege), not a “right” that we have in Canada.
She is still going ahead with allowing mining operations in the eastern slopes despite objections from many Albertans such as ranchers, farmers, hunters, guides, environmentalists, etc. Too bad, Cowboy Bob and Cowgirl Suzie Q. Money talks! Trees, mountains, lakes and streams, and animals, not so much.
We ought to talk to those folks stuck with orphan wells, eh? Guess who will be “saddled” with the $40-plus million dollar clean-up bill for those wells? Not the energy companies, but the good old taxpayers, property owners and municipal governments. That’s the way it works in the good old USA.
She continues to push her Alberta pension plan agenda just like she has done with reducing financial support for public health care and social services, supporting private schools and charter schools at the expense of public education, reducing the role of municipal governments, introducing political parties into local governments, introducing another police force, and passing the costs associated with infrastructure to local governments despite a rapidly growing population.
However, there is a cure for autocratic governments. It’s called the ballot, the vote. Come the next election, Albertans should think twice about electing politicians who won’t listen, except to those supporters with money, and who seem bent on introducing American-style politics and American values into our province.
George Thatcher,
Olds
