Governments that have been in power for too long almost inevitably become arrogant, entitled and overrun with corruption and cronyism. Alberta’s Progressive Conservative dynasty was in power for over 40 years in Alberta and it showed. A Sun media columnist coined the term “Toryland” when referring to the insular, disconnected world that the Progressive Conservatives lived within during their final years in power. They felt the concerns and wishes of the public could be ignored while they pursued their own personal political agendas. The battle to remove the entrenched and dysfunctional Progressive Conservative government was ugly and led to Rachel Notley’s NDP taking power in Alberta for four years.Albertans breathed a collective sigh of relief when Jason Kenney led the newly formed UCP to victory in 2019. The Progressive Conservatives were gone, the NDP was out of power, and surely Alberta would now be in for a period of responsible, principled governance. Alas, within a couple years, the rot of the old Toryland began creeping into the Kenney government. Questionable appointments, sole-sourced contracts, and the return of names that had been swept out of government began souring conservative minded Albertans.Rick Bell saw it coming. He warned in the first year of the Kenney government in no uncertain terms that Albertan’s didn’t want to return to Toryland. Bell’s warnings went unheeded and Premier Jason Kenney found himself turfed from the leadership by the party members in a short but bloody partisan civil war. UCP support levels were so low under Kenney, Alberta appeared to be on the precipice of a return to the NDP. Danielle Smith’s leadership eked out a narrow win in the 2023 general election and again conservative Albertans breathed a sigh of relief.Conservative Albertans can’t let that relief turn into complacency. The same old staffers, advisers and contractors are reappearing in the Danielle Smith government and they appear to be influencing it. Smith is musing about using the Heritage Savings and Trust Fund for corporate welfare and she inexplicably appointed disgraced former Premier Alison Redford to a board position in the Invest Alberta crown corporation.Redford became a symbol of everything that was wrong with the old Progressive Conservative government. From trying to build a personal Sky Palace on top of a government building to using government planes to fly her daughter and friends around to her outright belligerence when speaking to Albertans, Redford’s sense of entitlement and indifference to Albertans' wishes was astonishing. Like Kenney, Redford found herself tossed to the curb by her own party.Of all the old guard members from the Progressive Conservative dynasty, Redford has to be the worst to bring back into the government fold. Albertans haven’t forgotten Redford’s short reign and they haven’t forgiven it.Sovereign North Strategies Inc. conducted a live call survey of Alberta residents with a very large sampling of 4,209 people. They asked if people approved of the appointment of Alison Redford to the board of Invest Alberta. The results were clear as 72% of respondents disapproved of the appointment and 68% said they felt the premier used “bad judgement.”This should serve as a canary in the coalmine for the Smith government. They appear to be blithely walking down the path that Jason Kenney did and if they don’t pay attention to the warnings, Smith may suffer a similar fate as the last few conservative leaders.Now is the time when party supporters need to speak up and gently but firmly remind Smith to do a course correction while she still can. It’s not time to take out the torches and pitchforks by any means, but there are those who will do so quickly if the UCP drifts away from the conservative mandate members entrusted it with.I recently wrote a column criticizing Smith’s consideration of using the Heritage Fund for corporate welfare. I got some nasty feedback from Smith supporters.Rallying the troops and denying it when one’s preferred government is heading in the wrong direction is the worst thing one can do. Respectful critique and warnings must be issued. Look at the cult of supporters surrounding both Justin Trudeau and Joe Biden. Both leaders are wildly unpopular and are on the path to electoral oblivion yet neither of them seem to realize it. That’s because those who support them and who are closest to them aren’t offering them firm but constructive critique.Right now there is only a scent of Toryland appearing in the UCP government but that scent can turn into an overwhelming stench and fast. Let’s hope Smith is being given some warnings and let’s hope she heeds them. Otherwise, we may be seeing a premier named Nenshi in the future.
Governments that have been in power for too long almost inevitably become arrogant, entitled and overrun with corruption and cronyism. Alberta’s Progressive Conservative dynasty was in power for over 40 years in Alberta and it showed. A Sun media columnist coined the term “Toryland” when referring to the insular, disconnected world that the Progressive Conservatives lived within during their final years in power. They felt the concerns and wishes of the public could be ignored while they pursued their own personal political agendas. The battle to remove the entrenched and dysfunctional Progressive Conservative government was ugly and led to Rachel Notley’s NDP taking power in Alberta for four years.Albertans breathed a collective sigh of relief when Jason Kenney led the newly formed UCP to victory in 2019. The Progressive Conservatives were gone, the NDP was out of power, and surely Alberta would now be in for a period of responsible, principled governance. Alas, within a couple years, the rot of the old Toryland began creeping into the Kenney government. Questionable appointments, sole-sourced contracts, and the return of names that had been swept out of government began souring conservative minded Albertans.Rick Bell saw it coming. He warned in the first year of the Kenney government in no uncertain terms that Albertan’s didn’t want to return to Toryland. Bell’s warnings went unheeded and Premier Jason Kenney found himself turfed from the leadership by the party members in a short but bloody partisan civil war. UCP support levels were so low under Kenney, Alberta appeared to be on the precipice of a return to the NDP. Danielle Smith’s leadership eked out a narrow win in the 2023 general election and again conservative Albertans breathed a sigh of relief.Conservative Albertans can’t let that relief turn into complacency. The same old staffers, advisers and contractors are reappearing in the Danielle Smith government and they appear to be influencing it. Smith is musing about using the Heritage Savings and Trust Fund for corporate welfare and she inexplicably appointed disgraced former Premier Alison Redford to a board position in the Invest Alberta crown corporation.Redford became a symbol of everything that was wrong with the old Progressive Conservative government. From trying to build a personal Sky Palace on top of a government building to using government planes to fly her daughter and friends around to her outright belligerence when speaking to Albertans, Redford’s sense of entitlement and indifference to Albertans' wishes was astonishing. Like Kenney, Redford found herself tossed to the curb by her own party.Of all the old guard members from the Progressive Conservative dynasty, Redford has to be the worst to bring back into the government fold. Albertans haven’t forgotten Redford’s short reign and they haven’t forgiven it.Sovereign North Strategies Inc. conducted a live call survey of Alberta residents with a very large sampling of 4,209 people. They asked if people approved of the appointment of Alison Redford to the board of Invest Alberta. The results were clear as 72% of respondents disapproved of the appointment and 68% said they felt the premier used “bad judgement.”This should serve as a canary in the coalmine for the Smith government. They appear to be blithely walking down the path that Jason Kenney did and if they don’t pay attention to the warnings, Smith may suffer a similar fate as the last few conservative leaders.Now is the time when party supporters need to speak up and gently but firmly remind Smith to do a course correction while she still can. It’s not time to take out the torches and pitchforks by any means, but there are those who will do so quickly if the UCP drifts away from the conservative mandate members entrusted it with.I recently wrote a column criticizing Smith’s consideration of using the Heritage Fund for corporate welfare. I got some nasty feedback from Smith supporters.Rallying the troops and denying it when one’s preferred government is heading in the wrong direction is the worst thing one can do. Respectful critique and warnings must be issued. Look at the cult of supporters surrounding both Justin Trudeau and Joe Biden. Both leaders are wildly unpopular and are on the path to electoral oblivion yet neither of them seem to realize it. That’s because those who support them and who are closest to them aren’t offering them firm but constructive critique.Right now there is only a scent of Toryland appearing in the UCP government but that scent can turn into an overwhelming stench and fast. Let’s hope Smith is being given some warnings and let’s hope she heeds them. Otherwise, we may be seeing a premier named Nenshi in the future.
