What Matters to You – The Real and the Surreal

Alberta’s longest-standing premier said it best: when legislators stay too long in the House, they catch dome disease.
If you’re unfamiliar with dome disease, this illness is one where political figures forget the world outside of the Legislature: the real world, the people they serve, and where the rubber meets the road. The obvious remedy for this affliction is to get out of the Legislature and back into the constituency, meeting with real people instead of the political pundits.
I can tell you, in my experience, Premier Ralph Klein’s prognosis was spot on.
I’ve only been back in the House for a few short weeks, but the stuff I hear in there and see on social media is often a massive departure from reality. Heck… if I were to believe all the NDP rants I hear about the sky falling, I’d probably pack up my wife and four kids and hunker down in Cuba.

And that’s just it: the real vs. the surreal!

The government has quite a few new laws that have either passed or are being heard in the House and should be passed in a week.
The first new law made it impossible for taxes, personal or corporate, to be increased without a vote from Albertans: a referendum. Seems like a good idea to me.

The second law on the books directly addresses the possibility of an Alberta Pension plan. If one were to be put in place, it could only happen with a vote from Albertans: again, a referendum. Sounds like a good idea to me. This new law also says that the payments that Albertans made into the plan would have to be either the same or less than the CPP and that the payments made to Albertans from the plan could only be equal to or greater than what they would receive under the CPP currently. Seems reasonable to me. It’s your money. You should get it.

Not so, according to the NDP. How dare we, they say. Folks shouldn’t even be having a conversation about what Alberta’s portion of the CPP is.

Yesterday, coal bad. Today, natural gas bad too!

Right now, we are still waiting for Justin Trudeau’s government to crunch their own numbers in response to the report from Alberta’s government on the matter. I am very much looking forward to seeing what they come up with.
The proof will be in the pudding. They won’t be able to cook the books on this one, and this time, they don’t have veto powers in this matter. Neither do the other provinces.
This time, it will be Albertans making the decision.
On a different note, this week marks the Alberta government’s first use of Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act.
That’s right: we’ve got it and are not afraid to use it.
Justin Trudeau’s environment minister lost twice in the high courts on the matters of his No More Pipelines bill and single-use plastics ban (the No More Drinking Straws law). For some reason, he is still trying to move forward with his ban on electricity production from anything other than what he and Justin Trudeau deem “clean.”
So basically, no natural gas.
I know… First, coal was bad, and natural gas was good. Now, natural gas is bad.
It sort of reminds me of how everyone wanted to get rid of paper bags back in the day.

Guess what?! They can’t re-write the Constitution

Here’s the reality: Alberta’s government will absolutely not let the feds force Albertans to freeze in -30. So, we brought forward a motion using the Sovereignty Act that basically tells the feds “NOPE, we aren’t doing it!”
The Constitution clearly indicates that energy and the electricity generated with it in the provinces are entirely under the authority of the provinces.

Even if JT and his CN-Tower-climber try to make up new laws, they can’t override the Constitution.
In this scenario, I once again find myself shocked at what the NDP said in the Legislature. It’s surreal, like a chapter out of Alice in Wonderland. It’s hard to understand folks who are out of touch with reality. If you want to see how strange the conversations are, just tune into legislature TV for a few hours. It’s something else.
With Christmas time coming and the current Legislature sitting coming to a close, I am grateful to get my own fair dose of reality, kick off the dome disease, and spend time out in Lac Ste. Anne – Parkland.

I look forward to seeing some of you readers at the next town hall or local event. I am grateful you read this little article in the local newspaper or off my website. Let’s keep the conversation going, working together, and keeping one foot on solid ground as we plan for the future.

I’ll be at the Edmonton Gun Show this weekend in Stony Plain, I hope to see some of you there so we can talk about what matters to you. Who knows, we might even talk about the APP (although the opposition would never believe it).

Sincerely,

Shane Getson