Thread by @BrianJeanAB

ALBERTA NEEDS SOMETHING LIKE THE SASKATCHEWAN PARTY
Either the UCP changes to meet this need,
or...
1/23

Politics in Alberta isn’t working and Albertans are suffering because of it.
We’ve lurched from right to far left, back to far right, and now we’re headed to another NDP majority in a little more than 20 months.
2/23

The UCP government’s leadership and its key activists seem blinded by their loathing of the NDP and treat anyone as an enemy who doesn't blindly cheerlead for Jason Kenney on every single decision.
3/23

The NDP and its supporters return this blind anger with gusto.
Notley’s NDP vocally caters to special interests, public sector union bosses, and radical downtown urbanites.
Notley the opposition leader is much less moderate than Notley the Premier ever was. That's worrying.
4/23

Our politics needs to change to get past this mess.
Sadly, both the UCP & NDP have lost the plot.
Albertans want their politicians and political parties to care as much about Albertans, as Albertans care about each other.
Alberta needs something like the Saskatchewan Party.
5/23

Alberta needs a party that cares about and values Albertans, and cares about and values our communities.
Both. At the same time.
Alberta needs something like the Saskatchewan Party.
6/23

While our politicians are stuck dwelling on old animosities, Alberta’s people and places, and the people who make those places special, are feeling ignored.
7/23

It doesn’t have to be this way.
It wasn’t this way when small town conservatives and small town liberals created the Saskatchewan Party to deal with Saskatchewan's failed politics. 8/23

The Saskatchewan Party was set up to value free enterprise while also understanding that protecting Saskatchewan’s towns and communities is a central part of its mission.
9/23

Getting this balance right is so important, and to his credit, Saskatchewan’s Brad Wall did this very well.
Wall ran a government that found a way to put both these equally important caring objectives to work in the service of the people of his province.
10/23

Wall's government listened to its caucus and cabinet and understood the needs of its citizens.
Wall led a less ideological, less angry government than we had in Alberta or in Ottawa.
Wall's government changed Saskatchewan for the better.
11/23

If a party cares about people, it respects their individuality, and their sense of responsibility.
It understands that capable, committed, responsible individuals are important for creating prosperity.
It values how hard work or entrepreneurial spirit can create success.
12/23

And, if simultaneously, a party cares about communities it understands that rugged individualism isn’t enough.
People find meaning in community.
We care about the places we are from.
We care about the people we work with.
13/23

We care about those who dedicate their lives to serving others.
Albertans want each other to succeed.
When a party recognizes that communities matter deeply, it understands that people want to invest in their communities and in the people that make those communities great.
14/23

When a party understands these things, it opens the door to doing things differently.
To reject how the angry left and the angry right are currently doing things.
This opens the door to inviting people to vote FOR things rather than voting AGAINST things.
15/23

It brings us closer to the politics of Lougheed and Klein, who respected their opponents and worked on reminding Albertans that we had to work together to solve our common problems.
16/23

Never forget that when the Klein government turned the corner on Alberta’s finances, they did so by working with all Albertans and by enacting a plan that was fundamentally identical to that of Laurence Decore’s Alberta Liberals.
17/23

Klein invited our public sector workers to join him in acting on the mandate that Albertans had given him.
He emphasized that Alberta’s problems were faced by ALL Albertans and would have to be solved by ALL Albertans.
18/23

A similar path to a civilized and caring politics is available to Albertans today.
Like in 1993, reasonable people can agree that we have problems which need to be solved.
If we work together to solve them, we can make progress.
19/23

And, we can do so in a way that values individual Albertans but also cares about and protects their communities.
The policy solutions Albertans need are available if we can change our political approach.
If we can get a govt that makes caring rather than anger its focus.
20/23

This is the path to fixing our politics.
The UCP can and should still become this type of party.
If it doesn’t, Albertans will need to create one.
21/23

Albertans are facing significant challenges.
Alberta can’t achieve its promise if our politics is dominated by blind rancour and bad manners.
To succeed, we will need a political approach that emphasizes what Albertans have in common.
22/23

We will need an approach that pushes us to work together, rather than pulls us apart.
Alberta needs something like the Saskatchewan Party.
23/23

Let me know what you think. #ableg