Dear Editor,
I had to chuckle over the complaints municipal gov’t leaders are having with Mr. Kenny. They should have seen the conflict coming with the way Mr. Kenny’s approached negotiations/discussions with the doctors, nurses, hospitals, teachers, ambulance services, etc.
Remember how the gov’t tried to sneak in coal mining operation in the west country, but was forced to relent after tremendous push-back by ranchers, farmers, ordinary citizens, and “tree huggers” (communists, socialists, liberals, environmentalists, etc.)? Selling off crown land to private developers?
Despite objections from educators and the majority of school boards, Education Minister LaGrange is still planning to introduce a K-6 program. Yes! We want American-style education: Lots of memorization, but little into the who, what, and why. Also, limit the discussion of racism and bigotry in Canada’s past.
Let’s not discuss Black Lives Matter (BLM) or Indigenous residential schools, eh? Let’s be like the southern states that have introduced legislation to prevent teachers from discussing America’s history of bigotry towards Blacks, Indigenous peoples, women, Jews, Mormons, Asians, Hispanics/Latinos, and immigrants.
Remember that Mr. Kenny created the “War Room” (now called the Canadian Energy Centre) at a cost of $30 million, plus a salary of $170, 000+ to the executive of that new department to produce propaganda favouring the energy attacking while attacking anyone critical of the energy sector.
Mr. Kenny must have forgotten that the energy companies, plus billionaire investors, regularly attack environmentalists in the media.
Oh, well! Who needs more money for victim services, police services, public education, public hospitals, emergency medical services, mental health services, fire departments, eh?
Who cares about the need for more money to public service and to public servants? With inflation running at 7.5 per cent or better, a 2.2 per cent raise for public services is a “drop in the bucket”.
Here is some questions I have: How much as the Kenny gov’t invested in the Alberta Heritage Trust Fund since he came to power?
How much does the fund have now?
How about publishing accurate records showing how much money our provincial gov’t has spent on various private companies and individuals since he came to power, eh? Let’s have accountability!
Let’s have referendums on:
1.) Establishing a provincial police force.
2.) On having a new pension program to replace CPP and OAS.
3.) On funding for private schools and charter schools.
5.) For providing more money to private health services at the expense of our public health care system.
There are some matters which are too important to be left up to politicians to decide.
My advice to our municipal leaders: Wake up and smell the coffee!
George Thatcher
Trochu, Alta.
