Thomson: Faces tell the story,
First meeting for 19 men, two women
To see the differences between Alberta’s new incoming government and the new incoming official Opposition, you could look at their election platforms.
You could review their diametrically opposed views on taxation, for example, or compare their different approaches to the delivery of health care.
You could study the demographics of each caucus, look at the gender breakdown of each or their average age.
Or you could just look at their faces.
On Saturday, NDP Leader Rachel Notley introduced her caucus to the public via a photo op outside Government House. Of her 53 members, 28 are men and 25 are women (with one more woman in a recount battle with a Progressive Conservative candidate in Calgary-Glenmore). Their youngest member just turned 20 and their average age is 40.
A mere glance shows a caucus that is young, diverse and almost perfectly gender balanced.
“Over the years, our province has changed,” said Notley. “Today, we are the youngest province in the country. Together in Alberta, we are diverse, and we are welcoming and we are proud to be Albertans. And now, Albertans actually have a government that reflects that diversity.”
On Monday, Wildrose Leader Brian Jean introduced his caucus via a photo op on the front steps of the Legislature.
Of his 21 members, 19 are men, two are women.
The youngest is 29 and their average age is 49.
Jean tried to have some fun with the photo op by having his members link arms and march up the steps in an imitation of Peter Lougheed’s famous caucus arm-in-arm arrival at the Legislature when the Progressive Conservatives formed the official Opposition in 1967.
But Jean’s photo op was an inadvertent demonstration that the Wildrose caucus of 2015 has obvious similarities with the diversity-challenged PC caucus of 1967.
Lougheed’s caucus had six members — all them white males. Today’s Wildrose caucus is larger and a bit more diverse, but it is dominated by white males.
And then there’s the issue of geography.
The NDP has members from Calgary, Edmonton and the rest of Alberta. The Wildrose was shut out of the major cities Tuesday night.
Jean is doing his best to put a positive spin on his demographically challenged caucus.
“We’re very reflective of all Alberta,” he told reporters. “Certainly we’d like to have seats and we’d be humbled to have seats right in Edmonton or right in Calgary but we don’t have that privilege yet, we’re hoping to have that privilege in four years.
“But certainly we have a very diverse caucus. If you look at the backgrounds of each and every caucus members you’ll see that they have professional roles in many different jobs and many different places right across Alberta.”
Even though 18 of his caucus members — including himself — are rookie MLAs, Jean said he’d be happy if Notley called a session as soon as possible,
“We’re ready to go today,” he told reporters, just minutes after naming six of his caucus members to the Wildrose shadow cabinet, even though Notley has yet to form her own cabinet.
Jean said some of the portfolios are standard, which is why he has, for example, named MLA Pat Stier as municipal affairs critics and rookie Derek Fildebrandt as the finance critic.
Jean has talked a lot about holding the NDP’s “feet to the fire” but even he has been caught up in the honeymoon feeling that seems to have enveloped the Legislature.
He talked on Monday about trying to work with the incoming government and trying to avoid the “fearmongering” politics that proved fatal for the PCs under Jim Prentice last week.
“I think if we do that we will be able to find common ground with Rachel Notley and whatever she wants to put forward in legislation,” Jean said.
Albertans no doubt want their politicians to work collaboratively and, even though the NDP and Wildrose are at odds over taxation and how best to deliver health care, they are remarkably aligned on ways to make the government more open and transparent — putting an end, for example, to big political donations from corporations and unions.
The honeymoon period will be over soon enough. Let’s enjoy it while it lasts.