Dear Editor,
In reading Kerry Towle’s column of Feb. 13th, I can’t help but wonder if Ms. Towle is toeing the party line on their election strategy, or if she is really that naive. Most of what I have seen in the news about the Wild Rose conservatives are complaints about the Progressive Conservative’s expenses. Although expenses are high, and should be monitored with due diligence, the savings they offer won’t begin to touch the deficit our province faces. Serious cuts to programs which are already minimal are the only real difference you will see on a budget bottom line.
Ms. Towle and the Wildrose Conservatives are playing a game with the public. They are focusing on what it costs for our elected people to run our province. She never mentions that the abuses she despises were part and parcel with many of her upper party members when they were Progressive Conservatives. Her own leaders hero, Ralph Klein never went without anything that was associated with his office.
I was a government employee for years. I know for a fact that when you have any kind of invoice associated to a government, private sector suppliers bilk you for everything they can. How many times have you heard the term “The government has lots of money”?
I also know that contracts such as cell phones, travel vouchers and what not have tariffs set out, and regardless of the occasion or duty, the maximum tariff is what is charged to any government outing.
I would think it safe to assume that the Wildrose Conservatives will eventually form the government in this province. At that time, I suspect you will not see whoever their leader will be flying economy, packing a lunch, buying a minimum number of cell phone minutes, or staying at the Super 8. I suspect you will not see our government officials asking the leaders from other provinces or countries if they could maybe catch a ride, or if they had a spare room in the basement our premier could bunk in on a trade mission. I think the public would be pretty upset if government officials stayed an extra week in another country because an open ended travel ticket costs more.
It is time for the two conservative parties to kiss and make up, and concentrate on some of the serious problems we have going on in Alberta. Our infrastructure is rotting away due to years of neglect. Our oil based economy is still bust and boom. We are abusing our teachers, our health care workers, our sick and our weak.
I suspect the Wildrose conservatives are going to have us be angry with the Progressive Conservatives about expenses, because Ms. Towle and her leaders don’t have a clue how they are going to fix things without cutting more programs, interfering with socialized medicine, raising taxes. Issues that have kept them from getting elected once.
The strategy is clear: Attack, don’t plan, and when we are elected, we can get by for a few years complaining about our party when it went under another name. ALBERTANS DESERVE BETTER! And since we don’t seem able to select another party, let’s have all our conservatives try fixing our province.
Ian McLean,
Sylvan Lake