So I have decided to get involved with Alberta politics. In pursuit of this personal initiative, I thought it wise to see who the reportedly major parties are and what they stand for. I think knowing what a party stands for will allow me to see if their actions support their words in making them accountable to their respective founding principles.
I dutifully checked out, in alphabetical order, www.albertaliberal.com, www.albertaparty.ca, www.albertandp.ca and www.unitedconservative.ca .
I was discouraged to find no clear statements labelled as “Principles” with the Alberta New Democratic Party, the Alberta Liberal Party or the United Conservative Party. The United Conservative Party did reference its principles in terms and conditions of eligibility for membership as in “support the principles of the UCP”, but I could not readily find any statement of these principles. This means a wannabe UCP member cannot know what principles that membership might support.
The Alberta Party does have a statement of Principles and Guidelines as well as both Vision and Mission statements. The Alberta Liberal Party does have a statement of Values.
Except for the Alberta Party’s stated wish for non-partisan branding of ideas, The Alberta Liberal Party’s statement of Values and the Alberta Party’s three statements largely coincide. They both talk about what kind of government they would bring when elected to form government. This is useful information. However, neither of them tells us what political philosophy defines their principles of governance. How will they, respectively, guide their internal governance? How do they, respectively, intend to govern themselves between elections?
The Alberta NDP and the UCP do neither of these things, meaning they expose their political philosophy strictly through their policy resolutions and their government/loyal opposition actions.
This lack of positioning makes it very difficult to hold any party accountable except through the electoral exercise.
I believe this is far too little, far too late.
All four parties make being a democratic citizen far too challenging. How can the electorate make an informed decision, especially if the electorate were to contemplate political change? Whom does the electorate go to? Why?
M G Klein
October 17, 2018
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Follow Up
ReplyDeleteWhy is this important?
Imagine this scene if you will:
Coming out of a doze in front of the television to hear a voice on your phone thanking you for your purchase which should show up on your credit card account as soon as shipping has been made.
Now you don’t know what you’ve just bought.
A brake check on your car.
Island getaway vacation.
The latest vacuum, cordless of course.
One year subscription to fresh produce of your choice from your local vegetable farmer delivered to your door weekly, organic of course.
That’s what’s going on with retail politics gone mad. You try to find what service you have purchased with your vote, but you won’t know until after the purchase is made.
I think this suggests we have lived in a supply driven society for far too long, perhaps from the beginning. Democracy suggests, nay, Demands, we change this paradigm.
Mike
October 17, 2018