10. Conscience Rights. Yep. That’s on the list. Why? Because, for a society to be truly free, people must be able to act in accordance with their conscience! Freedom of conscience is already protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and merely means that someone will continue to be free to refer a potential client to another service provider if what the client wants done goes against the conscience of the provider. Without this provision, people will be forced to act against their deeply held religious morals and beliefs. People will be compelled to provide service when they otherwise would not. People would not be free. A state that forces people to do something against their wishes and better judgement is not a state within which I wish to live. The idea of having Official State Morality forced upon me is far more terrifying than the idea of being free to act (or freely choose not to act) in accordance with my conscience.
9. Fiscal responsibility. The Wildrose government will balance the budget within this fiscal year – a feat the PC’s haven’t managed since 2008 when Ed Stelmach took the reins of power. In a resource-rich province like Alberta, there is no reason at all that we should have problems with deficits. Even when the oil price tanks (which, given the price of gasoline, it clearly hasn’t)
8. Respect for our service providers. Schools, school boards, doctors, nurses, and all the other public service providers will be treated with respect. They will know the position of the government in terms of contract negotiations for union employees, and they will not be threatened, intimidated, or bullied into silence.
7. Respect for the rule of law. The PC party has – last I saw – 73 counts of accepting illegal campaign contributions. The Wildrose Party, being “fresh”, won’t have the deep “old boy’s club” connections that exist within the PC Party. Also, the Wildrose Party, in government, will be accountable to the public through recall, so if anything untoward starts to surface, the constituents can get rid of the MLA in question. (See #6)
6. Recall and referendum legislation. Imagine being able to pull a corrupt MLA out of the legislature. Imagine holding them to account between elections. You voted for the guy, he’s messing up, or he’s got his hands in the cookie jar. Now you can get him the hell out of there – and he knows it! Imagine forcing the government to slow down on a contentious bill. Imagine forcing the legislature to take a bill to the public rather than ramming it through with little or no consultation with the public. Imagine if that had been possible with the GST back in 1991… Were would the GST be now? It worked for BC, and it can work for here too. And no, a bunch of men won’t be able to force a referendum on invoking the Notwithstanding Clause to delist abortion.
5. Legislated free votes. This is how the legislature is SUPPOSED to work in the first place. Parties have a platform and a shared set of ideals, but inside the confines of the Legislature, each MLA is an independent. They may agree to sit together in caucuses, and agree to support the government as appointed by the Monarch (represented by the Lieutenant Governor) but beyond that, each proposed piece of legislation should pass or fail on its own merits.
4. Standing up for our oil sands. On this front, Danielle Smith is right on, and Alison Redford is, well, bananas.
3. A sense of humour. The campaign bus. ‘Nuff said.
2. Respect for free speech. By refusing to punish a candidate for expressing his deeply held religious views, Danielle Smith showed that she respects a variety of diverse opinion. That is refreshing. Alison Redford wanted the guy fired. Why? For telling people what his Christian beliefs are about homosexuality? As Danielle Smith said – Hate Speech is a criminal code offence. If someone thinks a candidate has committed a crime, then call the police. But expressing an opinion about what happens to a person after they die based upon their behaviour during their life? That’s not hate speech. And, quite frankly, by demanding that Danielle Smith punish a person for expressing their opinion, Alison Redford has outed herself as a bigot.
And the number 1 reason I am voting Wildrose:
1. It will piss the bigots, haters, mudslingers, and all the others who are engaging in a campaign of outright terrorism (manipulation through fear) off.
Brilliant and smart post seeing threw the mud, intolerance, bigotry thrown by the PCAA and lazy sleazy media
Now that Redford has told Albertans that the “science of climate change is settled”, which means there no longer is any doubt that Green House Gases are causing Global Warming, there should be no doubt in the minds of Alberta voters, that change is needed on Monday, if the backbone of the economy of Alberta is to be salvaged from her misguided postulations and presumptions.
There are discriminatory practices within some religions and to claim that these practices should be allowed for “conscience reasons” is promoting discrimination. Conscience rights is a complex subject requiring purposeful thought.
Recall elections are a way to have never ending votes. For those of us who vote for the party rather than the individual free votes are not what we want, MLAs are not independent otherwise they should all run as such.
How can land rights as well as Bill 26 not make your list?
We may vote for the same party but it will certainly be for different reasons.
If, let’s say, there are apparent discriminatory practices within a religion, and if, let’s say, those practices are accepted with full knowledge and consent of all involved, then it really isn’t discriminatory. If there is abuse, or exploitation, then obviously all bets are off, obviously. But that really isn’t “conscience rights,” that’s freedom of religion. Conscience rights apply more to cases where there is a professional relationship of some kind, and the client is requesting a service which is contrary to the conscience of the provider.
Recall legislation would be designed to be difficult, but attainable to prevent frivolous recall attempts.
Regardless of whether you vote for the person or the party, te system is such that we do not directly elect our government. We elect the legislature, and then the Queen appoints the government. Each MLA is an independent person, paid for and accountable to the voters, not the party they belong to.
What constitutes discrimination, abuse or exploitation differs according to your personal beliefs. Polygamy comes to mind, are women and children being exploited or abused, societal opinions certainly vary.
Government employees refusing to provide a service for conscience reasons even though the government provides the service should, IMO, constitute cause for dismissal.
“Conscience rights” is not an easily understood topic and politicians determining what those rights are via legislation will be a disaster. Where do the values that would form these “rights” come from? Religion? Political bias? History?
Climate change is a scientific fact, it’s not something you ‘believe in’ or not like a religion. Redford’s ‘misguided postulations and presumptions’? It’s so obvious anyone disputing it, especially in Alberta, just wants to benefit the economy without any guilt to the effects on the environment.
Nobody is disputing the existence of climate change – the climate NEVER stops changing, whether it’s the Holocene Maximum, or the Little Ice Age, or the Snowball Earth, the fact of the matter is the only constant thing about climate is change.
I dispute Climate Change – which is a totally different thing. Climate Change is the political postulation by those on the Left that the climate is being affected by human activity, and therefore we must engage in the Massive Global Transfer of Wealth they all want to happen so dearly.