It’s not mudslinging to question the government

There have been some ridiculous allegations thrown about lately regarding politics in Alberta — and no, I’m not referring to a possible conflict of interest by Premier Alison Redford selecting her ex-husband’s law firm to handle a $10-billion tobacco litigation and then denying that she did so, despite written correspondence indicating that she did.

The most outlandish allegations, made by some commentators and politicians, is that it’s wrong for the Opposition in Alberta to oppose and to ask tough questions in the legislature of this government, which has been plagued with scandals on an almost daily basis.

In her Dec. 5 column, my friend and colleague Naomi Lakritz writes that Wildrose opposition members acted like “three-year-olds having a tantrum” when they marched out of the legislature after Speaker Gene Zwozdesky decreed that they could not ask the premier any more questions about the tobacco contract. Lakritz said such questions were akin to “trashing” the premier.

Lakritz then quotes Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk saying: “Albertans are not being well-served by this kind of discourse, this kind of behaviour.”

That’s pretty rich, coming from Lukaszuk. On Nov. 19, Lukaszuk said in the legislature: “While this government has been focusing on building infrastructure ... these bottom feeders have been only poring through receipts and hoping to find something scandalous ...”

Hoping? Sadly, for Lukaszuk and his government colleagues, these so-called “bottom feeders” don’t need to hope to find something scandalous — they have found numerous scandalous and outrageous ethical lapses perpetrated by the Tories. In the last month alone, there’s the $430,000 donation to the Tories during the election by Edmonton Oilers’ owner Daryl Katz, who is seeking $100 million in taxpayer money to build a hockey arena; revelations that the premier’s sister, Lynn Redford, charged partisan PC fundraising activities on her Alberta Health Services expense account; and the charging of two first class flights to the taxpayer by Tourism, Parks and Recreation Minister Christine Cusanelli for her mother and daughter to attend the London Olympics. All this amid the tobacco contract scandal that the Tory speaker is trying to ban discussion on.

And, thanks to a law passed by then-Justice Minister Redford, taxpayers are not allowed to find out what, if any, penalties were levied against these rule breakers who misused taxpayer money. Some of these scandals were actually unearthed by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, newspapers and the CBC. Does Lukaszuk think they’re bottom feeders too?

Lakritz quotes Wikipedia to determine: “The role of the Opposition is to criticize government activity, propose improvements, and present itself to the public as an alternative to the party in office.”

“Oh, dear,” writes Lakritz. “The Opposition doesn’t seem to be doing any of that, does it? Instead of criticizing government activity, they are making personal attacks on the premier. They are not proposing improvements ...”

But that’s simply not true. Neither is it accurate to say that no governing occurred during this session of the legislature as a result of the opposition opposing. Indeed, 10 bills were passed during this session.

According to the legislative library, 102 amendments to government legislation were proposed by the opposition, which includes the Alberta Liberals and the NDP. Fifty of those amendments were recommended by the Wildrose and many of those amendments included ones Lakritz has publicly supported. The Wildrose apparently supported 42 of the other opposition parties’ amendments to the bills and the Liberals and the NDs supported most of the Wildrose amendments. The government, however, unanimously rejected 90 of them.

For instance, the Wildrose party, while largely supporting Bill 3 (the Education Act), wanted to end the nozero policy in schools. That was rejected by the government.

The opposition parties, including the Wildrose, proposed numerous excellent amendments to Bill 7, the Election Accountability Amendment Act, that would have outlawed corporate and union donations to political parties, which would help avoid undue influence or the appearance of such in government. There were also many helpful suggestions on improving property rights and bolstering protection for whistleblowers.

So, when Lakritz alleges that the opposition parties “are not proposing improvements,” clearly she did not do her research.

Indeed, according to the Wildrose Party, Wildrose MLAs spoke for 57 hours debating bills while government MLAs spoke for just 14 hours. The NDP spoke for 12 and the Liberals for nine.

Lakritz writes: “Sure wish they would start acting like the official Opposition. They could begin by wiping their muddy shoes at the door — tracking mud all over the legislature and then picking it up and slinging it at the premier doesn’t make her look bad. It only makes the people doing the mudslinging look bad.”

Hmmm? How is asking legitimate questions about improper use of taxpayers’ money, mudslinging? That is precisely the role of an Opposition. Also, I read Hansard and the most egregious examples of name calling came from the Tories.

Consider the following comment by government House Leader and Minister of Human Services, Dave Hancock who, on Nov. 28, called official Opposition Leader Danielle Smith names.

“The performance today could only be characterized as cheap theatrics by a failed actress,” said Hancock after Smith asked well-founded questions about the perceived conflict of interest by the premier over the tobacco lawsuit contract.

For the Tories — who continue to smear all Wildrosers as homophobes and bigots because of the disturbing comments of two failed candidates during the election — to act like victims because they are being asked reasonable questions about their numerous scandals, broken election promises and ballooning budget deficit, is absurd.

The opposition’s role is to oppose, expose and propose. That’s been lacking for too long in this province and is finally, at long last, taking place. The Tories aren’t used to it and they aren’t handling it well. Neither are some commentators.