False Hopes and Fairy Tales

Rob Bernshaw On Highway 6 a few km north of Waterton

Rob Bernshaw, Columnist

The scenario: Modern day Alberta.

Backdrop and props: Brick and mortar kindergarten classroom, innocent cute young and  impressionable little school children.

Lead Actor: current Alberta Premier Alison Redford

Purpose: Political Football announcement in order to kickoff a partisan political attack on the official Alberta Opposition party the Wildrose.


OK now let us get to the title of our made in Alberta story with the possible fairy tale Pied Piper optics of leading impressionable children along a narrow and dangerous path to the future by using the possible False Hope announcement of new brick and mortar schools to be built in various communities across Alberta, This announcement was made by using these cute little Canadians as a kicking tee for the political football being kicked into left field against the Wildrose.

Premier Redford’s words: (Wednesday May 1 2013 Calgary school campaign) “We made this commitment (to build schools) in contrast to an Opposition party that didn’t want to build infrastructure.” (One day later her words in the Edmonton school campaign) “We will not take the approach of the Opposition, which is a build-nothing approach,”

The Wildrose Party immediately produced a press release on Thursday May 2, 2013 refuting Premier Alison Redford’s partisan attack while she publicly announced many new schools to be built across the Alberta landscape.

Excerpt taken from the Wildrose Press release titled: REALITY CHECK: The Redford school of fear and attacks

Here are the facts:

• The Wildrose 10-Year Debt-Free Capital Plan calls for:
• Investment of $48 billion over the next 10 years in roads, schools, hospitals and growing communities;
• Construction of 100 new schools and 60 major modernization projects, as well as $7.6 billion on new health facilities, $10.8 billion on roads and $21.7 billion to support municipalities; and
• A clear and prioritized infrastructure project list so communities know when they will have their project built, thereby removing political consideration from infrastructure decision making.
• In contrast to the PC government’s irresponsible and reckless plan to take on long-term debt to build necessary infrastructure without a clear plan, the Wildrose plan builds what Alberta needs in an objective and prioritized way using cash on hand. 

~source http://www.wildrose.ca/feature/the-redford-school-of-fear-and-attacks/

Remember folks there are no shovels in the ground for these promised schools but yet announcements are made in the hopes to possibly quell the downward slide of popularity in recent weeks of Premier Alison Redford and the Alberta PC party. There is an old adage of ‘promises easily made are easily broken’.

The only thing that we should be looking at in this scenario is without shovels in the ground when and will these brick and mortar schools actually get built? Even if shovels were in the ground circumstances and finances could change as quickly as a bursting bitumen bubble therefore again reiterating ‘promises easily made are easily broken’. Remember the Alamo ,wait that was a long time ago, there are more recent events to compare ‘promises easily made are promises easily broken’.

There was the promised shovels in the ground Police Training College boondoggle in Fort Macleod(which cost us taxpayers $10.26 million to brush it under the prairie wheat fields).

There was the promised Sherwood Park Community Hospital where phase one is already built, the phase two promise has been canceled and the Hospital has now been downgraded to an urgent care facility.
Essentially no more than a glorified walk in clinic.

These are but two examples of the many promises that the current Tory regime has enacted over it’s long and infamous reign.

As the scenario continues to unfold on the political stage of Alberta 2013 the optics of doing a good job by the current long term Alberta Tory regime seem to be getting worse in the minds of all Albertans.

With the optics fading in collective Alberta memories of the heavy handed tactics being employed recently by the long term Alberta Tories against workers desiring to make it home to their loved ones safely at the end of their work day the current Alberta Tory regime has taken a road to a new low in Alberta politics. In order to recruit more PC followers to fill the depleting ranks of the Alberta Tories our current illustrious Premier Alison Redford has chosen (using our precious tax dollars) the very young impressionable residents of our society as a base to launch her attacks against the opposition parties standing up for us everyday Albertans.
Are the brick and mortar schools that have been recently announced as the new treat of the day, being offered as an incentive for up and coming voters or are they an incentive for setting the stage of the parents that already vote in the Alberta of today to vote once again the long term Tory regime back into power in 2016?

Now to avoid misinterpretation of what is being said by this writer, brick and mortar schools are important to the education infrastructure of any society and kudos for the current Premier of the Alberta Tory regime for announcing more schools to be built across Alberta.

But to use little impressionable children seems a pretty low road to take even by this current Alberta Premier, especially when the optics of campaigning on our public tax dollar are clearly evident.

Why use our precious tax dollars to outwardly campaign for the next election in the midst of the current government austerity program with massive cutbacks across many sectors already taking place?

What kind of optics is this in using little children in their campaign to hold onto absolute power?
Then again this is not the first time children have been used to reinforce the ruling regimes power of control over the populace. There have been many youth recruited over the centuries by various regimes in order to achieve those aims. The twist it seems is that modern day regimes are starting to recruit younger as is evident in the optics of the recent school infrastructure announcement by the current Alberta Premier.
With the polls showing falling support towards a government that seems to have lost its way along the journey to the future of Alberta will no road be low enough to take in order to retain the firm grip of power over us taxpayers by our current Premier Alison Redford and the long term Alberta Tory regime?

Remember Alberta to get informed and knowledgeable before any election whether it be the upcoming municipal elections or in the near future the federal and provincial elections which will be upon us before we know it.

Wise choices need to be made when electing people as our representatives and stewards over our very precious tax dollars.

Quote:
Politics: A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
~Ambrose Bierce (Born 1842 time of death uncertain possibly the end of 1913 or early 1914)American satirist, critic, short story writer, editor and journalist. 

Ambrose Bierce was well known for the Cynics Word Book back in the day.

~source http://archive.org/details/cynicswordbook00bierrich

The Pied Piper is a Silly Symphony by Walt Disney that debuted on September 16, 1933

Walt Disney’s Fables – Pied Piper

 Related Links:
http://www.calgarysun.com/2013/01/10/fort-macleod-reimbursed-1026-million-for-scrapped-police-college
http://www.sherwoodparknews.com/2013/03/08/no-hospital-phase-2-is-bs-mayor

P.S.
Is the recently announced $350,000 propaganda mail-out brochure (tax payer funded) in Tory party colors a new fairy tale or an old fairy tale dressed up in campaign garb? If something like the Alberta 2013 budget is so good for Albertans why does it cost so much to sell it? In this writers eyes something that is so good for everyone will essentially sell itself and probably on merit alone.

What do you think Alberta?

More to come...