Notley a quick study of politics’ razzle dazzle
Keep an eye out for the sleight of hand, writes Jordan Katz.
I have always been in awe of the ability of magicians to pull off their seemingly impossible magic tricks. Most magic tricks at their heart, are a combination of sleight of hand with some razzle dazzle to draw your attention away from the trick.
Politicians use their own form of razzle dazzle to draw our attention away from policies that we would otherwise find disagreeable. Our new premier, Rachel Notley, seems to have learned this lesson very quickly. Notley recently gave a speech to business people and leaders of Alberta’s oil industry.
As I read the text of the speech, it occurred to me that with a couple of small exceptions, this is a speech that could have been given by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. No one in their right mind would have expected to hear these words coming from the head of our new left-leaning Alberta government.
There were lines like: “And I’m here today to emphasize that the province has a government determined to defend this advantage, by being constructive at home, and by building relationships around the world.”
She even borrowed this line from the most ardent of conservatives: “Job creators create jobs in the private sector, not government.”
The praise for the speech was predictable from many in business on her pro-oil industry, pro-free enterprise statements.
Could it be possible that the NDP had finally seen the light? Albertans could only be so lucky, but this looks like the Notley version of a political magic trick.
There are usually two key parts of these kinds of political magic tricks. The first is that there will rarely be a policy attached to the feel-good statements. What jumped out at me as I read the speech, was there was no policy attached to any of her remarks.
After being sworn in, Notley moved swiftly on some of her campaign promises that rightfully have businesses across our province concerned. She promptly raised taxes, she doubled the environmental taxes on large CO2 emitters, she has authorized $6 billion in new debt and she is reviewing royalties, which has threatened to put a stop to new oilsands investment.
Our new premier has little trouble making decisions or announcing policies. If she truly believed all those wonderful things she said, why wasn’t there some policy to accompany them?
The other part of the political magic trick is for politicians to say things that sound great, but is in fact ambiguous, or they will offer qualifying statements that really change the meaning.
Here are a couple of examples of how Notley said something that really sounds great, but on closer examination, should worry Albertans.
“We will be consultative and prudent in how we take the province in a different direction.”
“Consultative and prudent” sounds great, but look at the rest of the sentence: “how we take the province in a different direction.” What Notley is really saying here is that the NDP knows what change is coming, but she is prepared to give us our say before she decides to do what she wants.
Look at this statement from her speech: “We will maintain a warm welcome for investors and uphold their right to earn fair returns.”
She used the words “fair returns” in her statement because ultimately, it is her government that decides what is “fair.”
Although I pray I am wrong, everything that I see in that speech screams that Premier Rachel Notley just gave us a little razzle dazzle with some sleight of hand while we were distracted.