Party, government fused into one Don Braid,
Maybe it’s finally happened — the PC government and party have fused into one vast political octopus, cross-feeding and cross-breeding until there’s no longer a sliver of light showing between them.
Exhibit A is a most remarkable brochure being mailed to 1.2 million Alberta households at a cost of $350,000 in taxpayer cash.
The colours on the front and back, bold orange and blue, are much like ones you’ve seen on Progressive Conservative signs for decades during election campaigns.
They’ve appeared on premiers’ tour buses, on lapel campaign badges, on banners and flags.
There’s no mistaking that colour combination. It’s iconic, almost historic. The colours represent elections and partisan politics. To generations of Albertans, they mean party, not government.
Therefore, it seems obvious that any publicity drive using those colours should be funded by the PC Party, not by the taxpayer via the government’s Public Affairs Bureau.
But Premier Alison Redford and her crew have gone ahead and done it — spent $350,000 in a way that not only seems highly partisan, but appears insensitive at a time of cuts to education and people services.
Everywhere, post-secondary schools are cutting back. High schools will lose teachers even as enrolments climb. The money spent on a brochure could save several of those jobs.
While all this happens, the government is set to
A pressing matter for the premier, of course, is the polls showing her with an extremely low approval rating of 26 per cent.
borrow $17 billion over four years.
The brochure, prefaced by a note from the premier, is an effort to make sense of all this. Redford calls the budget “a prudent fiscal plan that reflects the province’s priorities for the future while addressing what matters most today.”
The brochure issue blew up in the legislature Tuesday, as Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith waved a copy at Redford across the isle, scornfully pointing out the PC party colours.
Clearly sensitive on this point, the PCs claimed that the orange and blue are two of six “corporate colours” used by the government.
They might convince a few people, especially the colour-blind, but the simi- larity to the party brand is still striking.
(It’s interesting, too, that they chose the two government colours most like the party ones. Why not use another official pair — the snappy pink and green, for instance?)
This colour claptrap might seem trivial, but it is vital to a democratic principle; public money should not be used to promote a party.
A pressing matter for the premier, of course, is the polls showing her with an extremely low approval rating of 26 per cent.
Her chief political challenge is the party’s leadership review in November. Now this vast mail-out campaign sports party colours. How about that?
It seems that every possible force is already being marshalled for an urgent rescue operation.
The party sent a weekend email to all members of the PC board, as well as riding presidents, to provide “a summation of this week’s top news stories and corresponding key messages.”
The memo spoon-fed all the public relations arguments on the jail guards’ wildcat strike, the 100 kilometres-from-home policy for placing seniors, and higher payments from the energy industry for the new regulator.
Every argument, point for point, is exactly what the government was saying.
In these times of trouble, the government and party almost seem to be merging, but with a single funder: Us.