Thread by @BarbLarochelle

I keep seeing posts by people complaining about NDP doing their job as opposition and ‘always being negative’. This is a go-to UCP retort as well. Alberta has never really had an effective opposition in the last 50 years at least. This is what it looks like. 1/11

I worked as a tour guide in the #ableg. It was the summer of the Universiade games and we had a lot of international visitors. We had our memorized tour script, including little quips and bits of trivia (the portrait eyes that follow you, the rain echo from the fountain, 2/11

the palm trees in the dome, the carillon, the kinds of marble, how the gemstones on the mace start with the letters ALBERTA, etc.) One bit was to point out the ‘opposition’ seats. I think there were 4 at that time. People from all over found that astonishing (and strange). 3/11

One of the opposition members at that time was Rachel Notley’s father. He was universally liked and admired. But there is only so much that such a small group of people can do to hold the government to account. 4/11

We now have an opposition who have been government themselves, who know how things work, who know what questions to ask, who know which stones to look under, and who have people that are very smart, very capable, and very much looking out for ALL Albertans. 5/11

The people who are following UCP’s cue to complain about them should ask themselves this: “What kind of shady shenanigans would UCP be up to right now if no one was asking questions and challenging them? Would we even know about a fraction of it?” 6/11

UCP is *already* ramming things through in the middle of the night, lying about it, paying trolls to gaslight about it, etc. That’s where the negativity comes from. If UCP would be forthright, there would be less need to constantly challenge them and call them on their lies. 7/11

When NDP proposes an amendment to a law, UCP acts outraged that anyone is questioning them, refuses to actually answer any questions about it (they stick to their scripted talking points), and always votes it down, no matter what it is. I am grateful the amendments were 8/11

proposed, at least, because they are eye-opening about the real effects of legislation that is attacking workers’ rights, giving the government sweeping powers, wasting taxpayer dollars, etc. Some push back is working, like the situation of de-listing and selling parks 9/11

There is so much more where the pressure needs to stay on UCP, all the time. People complaining about opposition need to remember:
-that’s their job
-unlike UCP, they are actually representing their constituents
-UCP always says “we take no lessons”, but they should
10/11

-how do you think the pandemic would be going now if no one was pressuring UCP to do the right thing?
-would you like to have your pension stolen and not know a thing about it?
-do liars and cheaters deserve to act *without* opposition? 11/11