If you are a hyper-partisan on either side of the Alberta election, you may not want to read this column. But I thought I would share my thought process on how I’m going to vote this Monday.
And a whole bunch of caveats. I’ve never done this before. , and I take it very seriously. It’s not because it brings out the colour of my eyes – well not just because it brings out the colour of my eyes. Purple is a combination of red and blue and I wear it to remind myself and others that we are not defined by our political tribe but by our common humanity.
For me, this means not only being in the political centre, but also that I need to engage with politics and elections fluidly and based on the context of the moment, as well as who is running. I have voted for at least four different parties provincially and federally, and for municipal candidates all over the ideological map. And this time, I’m voting NDP.
I’m very cheap, and I hate debt. (I’m proud that Calgary had the lowest residential property taxes in Canada in my tenure as mayor and that we ran a surplus every year). But I also believe in the need to invest in the things that give people a hand up, and that help everyone live a decent, dignified, prosperous life. Chief amongst these are an excellent public education system, access to great health care, and strong and effective anti-poverty and mental health strategies.
Like almost all Albertans, I also believe that climate change is a critical problem, and that many solutions lie in the Canadian energy sector. I am very proud of our resource industry, and I believe that access to clean, safe, and affordable energy is one of the most powerful poverty-fighting tools we have. Canada can make huge contributions to reducing global emissions by displacing coal with liquified natural gas around the world and we need to be much better at building export infrastructure including pipelines.
In all of this, I don’t think the United Conservative Party and the New Democratic Party would disagree with much of what I wrote here (though it’s not clear if the UCP rank-and-file have heard Smith say climate change is real and she would just go a bit slower than Notley). Indeed, their stated policy on most of these items is similar, with a few differences: the NDP would raise taxes on big business from the lowest in Canada to … the lowest in Canada. The UCP would cut personal income taxes and increase the reliance in the budget on oil and gas revenues.
UCP Leader Danielle Smith has spoken favourably of the disastrous school curriculum her predecessor, Jason Kenney, attempted to introduce, and hasn’t said a word about it in the election. She has promised to continue her government’s use of private surgical delivery, despite ample evidence that it doesn’t actually work to lower costs or surgical wait times.
‘ALBERTANS HAVE A RARE OPPORTUNITY’
Notley, for her part, has run a cautious campaign, shying away from major policy pronouncements, and saying that her top characteristic is that she is honest and will stop the endless drama of the UCP government.
Albertans also have a rare opportunity. For the first time in modern history, two people who have both already been premier are running for the job. Truth be told, from my perspective, neither was particularly great at the job.
I struggled with Notley’s government over many issues, from its amateurish stumbling on the electricity file to their massive fumble that cost Calgary the 2026 Olympics. While I must take some blame for that, and the federal government massively mishandled it, the Notley government wavered between disinterest and disdain, ultimately dooming the project.
Now Calgary must find the money to revamp our winter sports facilities, without an Olympics at the end. (Ironically, this was mainly a result of how much Notley and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau couldn’t stand each other, and their staff could not abide giving the other a victory. I was in the room for some of this, and I always smile when I hear conservatives talk about the Notley-Trudeau alliance, having seen the truth).
Mostly though. I saw the Notley years as ones of lost opportunity. For an NDP government, they were remarkably cautious. They inherited a massive global recession and were likely too scared (or just too poor) to make major changes in housing or mental health or empowering cities. They did make major strides on child poverty, cutting it in half, but this had much to do with the federal government and the Child Tax Benefit.
I must give Notley credit for one big thing, though. Conservative governments over a half century have failed to build even one mile of new oil pipeline to tidewater. The Trans Mountain Expansion would not have happened if not for Notley’s ferocious advocacy over a skeptical Trudeau and the ridiculous antics of BC NDP Premier John Horgan, who was intent on scaring away investment, even if he had no power to stop the pipeline. Do I wish TMX had been built with private capital instead of by the federal government? Absolutely. But after Horgan successfully ran off the private owner, this was the only path forward and it would not have happened without Notley.
Enter Danielle Smith. She has been even more profligate in her spending, with no sign of fiscal discipline. She tabled the highest-spending budget in Alberta history, with nothing special to show for it, and reversed a decades-long policy of reducing our reliance on oil and gas revenues. At today’s oil prices, that means the budget will come in at a deficit unless there are massive cuts to services.
‘A QUESTION OF VALUES’
So for many Albertans, this election comes down to two issues: competence and trust. Notley wins cleanly on both.
Perhaps even more important is a question of values.
Smith has been found guilty by the Ethics Commissioner of violating the Conflict of Interest Act after only seven months on the job, and she says and does bizarre things seemingly every day. (I detail much of this here). According to the Ethics Commissioner, she attempted to help a man well-known for his vile comments (including that the 2013 Alberta floods were caused by gay people) escape charges of incitement, even while he was leading a political party opposed to her. Either she didn’t know who she was talking to (showing a shocking ignorance) or didn’t care (a shocking indifference). In either case, she displayed a shocking lack of judgment.
If you need to focus group and poll your response on basic human rights and saving lives before finally doing the right thing, or doing nothing, it’s fair to question your leadership.
I truly believe Smith is an existential threat to our province. There’s never been anyone like her in power in Alberta before. We simply have no idea what she will do as premier, and that scares me more than a few years of a potentially not-great NDP government.
If you are a young person, or you have young people in your life, this is the whole deal. We must build a province where young people feel like they belong, and where they can build the best lives for themselves, not one where they are scared what government might do next to them, their family, and their friends.
‘NOT MANY ALBERTANS VOTE LIKE I DO’
So on this front, it’s clearly Notley who passes the Ralph Klein test: even when you disagree with her, you get the sense she’s essentially a decent person who is trying to do the right thing. The same simply can’t be said about Smith and the people she chooses to surround herself with.
Not many Albertans vote like I do. For many of us, politics is a tribal game. And that tribe has been more often than not, a Conservative one (Conservative parties under different names have ruled Alberta for all but 4 of the last 88 years). So, it’s very hard for Conservative voters to jump to the NDP. Does this mean they are New Democrats now? Have they become socialists forever?
Notley and her supporters have a smart response to this: consider your vote a loan. It doesn’t mean you have to vote NDP forever, but it does mean that the NDP is less risky than the UCP for the next four years. In that time, you can give the NDP a chance or work to reform the UCP back to its Progressive Conservative roots.
Indeed, I would go further. Every political party needs to consider every vote only a loan. For 11 years, I tried to get up every morning, put on my pants and go to work to continue to earn people’s trust and support every single day, simply by trying to make life better for them. The UCP seems to have forgotten that basic lesson, focusing more on firing up their base and sowing division and anger, hoping that will keep them in power.
So, I’m lending my vote to Rachel Notley and the NDP this time. I’ll watch them carefully, supporting when needed and criticizing when warranted, as I will do with the UCP if they win.
But ultimately, I’m voting not for some mythical Alberta of the past, and not out of fear or anger. I’m voting because I love this place, because I stand for dignity and prosperity for all, because I want young people to be proud of where they live and because I know Alberta can be even better.
Oh, and there’s always another Olympics waiting for our bid!
Former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi wrote this opinion column for CTV News
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
