In praise of the middle

Re: “Veering Left,” Letter, April 25.

Adherents of unbridled capitalism, such as Glenn Woiceshyn and the Wildrose party, have always been good at ignoring evidence that doesn’t correspond to their views. Freemarket economics didn’t operate to Albertans’ benefit when electricity prices tripled after deregulation, or when an under-regulated financial sector caused a global recession in 2009. They certainly aren’t doing our neighbours in the U.S. — who pay more than twice what Canadians do for their privatized health care — any favours.

Canada’s strength has always derived from a mix of government programs and market economics. Individual handouts of $300 would have achieved next to nothing.

By contrast, government investments totalling nearly $1 billion will allow for large-scale initiatives that no single person could accomplish, such as improvements in our province’s infrastructure, health care and education.

Capitalism has an important role in our economy, but history has shown that nothing good comes from extremism on either side of the free-market debate. Leave failed experiments such as the HMOS south of the border, and don’t try to say with a straight face that public education is a waste of money.

If talking points from the pages of Ayn Rand are all that Woiceshyn and the Wildrose can muster to combat the supposed intellectual bankruptcy of the left, it’s no wonder they lost the election.