Hoping for healthy debate

Alberta’s upcoming legislative session will be lively
Originally published in FFWD November 1, 2007 by Drew Anderson in Viewpoint

The new provincial political season is definitely under way with the recent announcement of the government position on oil and gas royalties. At the opening of the new session of the legislature at the beginning of November, the royalty debate will be the primary source of conflict in what will likely be a lively, if not short, legislature sitting.

The opposition parties surely smell blood and will be doing everything in their power to draw more of it as the still-fresh premier attempts to gain control over his image and garner support from unusually cranky Albertans. So far, his performance has been lukewarm, and his polling numbers remain low. With the Liberals still far behind and the New Democrats further away, each will try to convince the electorate of their worth during this legislative session.

Premier Ed Stelmach, who is decidedly more open to discussion than the tyrant who formerly inhabited the premier’s chair, marks a slight shift to the centre for the Conservatives in Alberta. He could be more willing to compromise on legislation, which might be seen as caving in to the opposition, or as a genuine attempt at conciliation. It will all be an attempt to distance himself from Ralph Klein, despite the fact that Stelmach and all of his MLAs were in government by Klein’s side.

The ongoing rhetoric around government accountability, introduced as a major plank in Stelmach’s policy platform, will be intricately tied to the royalty debate and the move towards a more inclusive legislature. This is especially important after the long, dark rule by Klein, who preferred to govern by decree and without much in the way of public consultation. Actually, even the fact that there will be meaningful debate in the legislature is a hopeful, if not limited, return to democracy in this province.

One fundamental difference in governing style is the adoption of all-party committees, announced in April of this year. As shocking as it seems, government policy was debated mostly behind closed doors and only amongst Conservatives under the Klein regime. Now we have some semblance of a functioning democratic institution that will hopefully strengthen in the upcoming sitting, as opposition members acclimatize to their new roles as participants in the government process.

Klein preferred to make announcements on the go, sometimes catching everyone off guard — even, it appeared, his cabinet ministers. This reckless style rarely included any meaningful debate, and was mostly done outside of the legislature, bypassing the opposition completely. A classic example of his disregard for dialogue was when he threw a Liberal-drafted health policy at a 17-year-old page in the legislature after telling the Liberals if they had any ideas on health care to send them over. The page was delivering the material to Klein.

One thing sure to be debated hotly in the legislature is the government’s response to the royalty review, which discarded a large swath of the panel’s recommendations. One panel member reacted by accusing the premier of “blatant deceit” in an interview with the Edmonton Journal.

Stelmach has said repeatedly that the discussion is over and that he will stay the course on his proposal, which doesn’t inspire much faith in his new accountable approach, or in his respect for expert opinion.

Another sign that government may just be doing a window dressing job on accountability is the contentious Bill 46, which would prevent public input into proposed utilities projects. A government that purports to champion accountability, but stifles public input into projects that could directly affect citizens, reeks of a continuation of old, paternalistic Alberta conservatism.

The fact there is the potential for healthy debate in the upcoming sitting of the legislature is cause for celebration, but also concern that it takes so little to make us happy in this one-party province. It is unclear whether this shift reflects an acknowledgement of new strength in the opposition parties, particularly the Liberals who recently won a by-election in Klein’s old Calgary riding, or whether it is just Stelmach trying to be the consummate nice guy and at least pretending to value everyone’s input. He certainly does like his expert panels, though he often ignores their findings.

The true political debate in this province will happen when the premier finally goes to the people of Alberta to seek a mandate to govern. There are pre-Christmas election rumours swirling on the airwaves and in the papers, but with Stelmach trying to inch his poll numbers up and wanting to push through some more pet policies, we might just have to settle for increased debate in the legislature for a little while longer.