@MyParksWillGoOn?

The famous “My Heart Will Go On” was a title track that Canadian crooner Celine Dion sang and became almost as big as the movie it came from, the 1997 colossal smash hit, Titanic. Fast forward to 2020, which as a year has been about as steady and safe as Jack Dawson’s grip on the piece of wood Rose was hanging onto near the movie’s conclusion and climatic scene.

Now, in response to a campaign by the NDP’s “Don’t Go Breaking My Parks”, (mutilating Elton John’s “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”) where there were concerns raised over the provincial government’s changes to provincial parks including delisting government park areas or privatizing certain aspects of other parks.

Jason Kenney’s provincial government is swathing down government spending on traditional areas (education, health) while putting more emphasis on other areas such as government communications.

Enter the government’s answer to ripping off Elton John, it’s ripping off Celine Dion.

The government unleashed a new marketing campaign: My Parks Will Go On. No, really: @ MyParksWillGoOn

Insert Titanic jokes here.

The provincial government tries to explain to the masses that their beloved provincial parks are safe and that private enterprise won’t slide in with their hotels, theme parks and coal mines to replace chipmunks, babbling brooks, petroglyphs, and pine trees.

Officially, the government’s ironically quiet deputy speaker Angela Pitt from Airdrie stated on social media: “My Parks Will Go On – is a campaign to highlight how the Alberta government is protecting Alberta’s provincial parks and to counter false and misleading information from the NDP and special interest groups. #MyParksWillGoOn.”

While this new, ahem, campaign is smelling like something crossed between blue and limburger cheese, the stench is obvious. In a direct attack on an equally cheesy NDP campaign, this government one is an example of their frat house public relations attitude of “we’re going to get revenge on them.”

It is difficult to know whether they are that infantile in their political marketing campaigns or they have two different sides working against each other. Take for example my heart…. errr… my parks will go on campaign.

One set of ads feature a person sitting on a large table rock overlooking the forest with the #MyParksWillGoOn and one even features cabinet minister Jason Nixon’s family photos of how much enjoyment was had in Alberta parks.

However, there is also an #MyParks’ official tweet which is a slow motion gif of a Chicago Blackhawks’ player pummelling a Minnesota Wild player in an actual hockey fight. If you know the Wilds’ logo you will get the reference.

The players are unidentified as a circle hovers over the faces of both players. The Chicago player has the My Parks Will Go On logo and the Wild’s player has a circle which reads “NDP’s Lies.”

Subtle. It is as logical and intelligent as the last time the UCP was trying to impress the NHL for Edmonton to be selected as a bubble city for the playoffs. The Edmonton promo video hardly used any Edmonton visuals with mostly scenes of other Alberta areas. It was widely panned and mocked.

Now you have a campaign where “nature” is taking haymakers to the face using NHL video which is probably copyrighted.

The UCP’s belief is that you throw reason out the window both in what you explain and how you explain it.

They have felt the need to spend on areas as the

Canadian Energy Centre aka. the War Room which initially was going to cost taxpayers $30 million. The War Room’s budget of $30 million got drastically reduced by 90 per cent after a lot of public backlash, but there still seems to be a lot of emphasis on decreasing of the provincial civil service, privatizing of health services and provincial park areas.

While the government has argued with critics that they are not officially selling off parkland to the highest bidder, there is definite evidence of privatizing services at some parks.

Can’t be proven but it is like there is some sort of North American political text book outlining a new strategy a la: Political Bullying for Dummies that we minions in the unemployed, underemployed or underappreciated-ployed don’t know about. Those with making well under six figures need not apply for the Gold-plated Amazon special entitled section apparently.

Shove it down their throats and they will like it. Those who don’t, get openly mocked and ridiculed by government social media hacks.

The government policies which require finesse: create a study, load it with party supporters to conduct it and tell the masses, “nope, government was right, this is what should be done.”

For many, all of this socioeconomic stress and angst, many collective hearts can’t go on and that is the idea: submission.

Ryan Dahlman is the managing editor of both Prairie Post East and Prairie Post West.