Politics. You can’t live with it and can’t live without it.

Politics. You can’t live with it and can’t live without it.

We are existing in an age when the universe will not let us get away from politics or the question of how we should govern ourselves. People are trying to avoid the subject but can’t. There are so many people on the planet now and what we do or not do will make or break us. There is a little time yet, but it takes a special kind of selective blindness to ignore all that is happening. It is like hearing your brakes squealing that new brakes must be installed and choosing to save money and not going to the garage.  We know that driving over a cliff after a decline in the road will make us sorry.

Lately, the news media likes to talk about a blue wave taking over province after province. They miss the point that in Canada it was always like that. Historians have been writing about it for over a hundred years. Provincial parties are opposite from Ottawa to balance off the power of the Federal government. Canadians like it that way.

The blue wave is financed by Corporate donations (investments) which are becoming more costly each election as the people demand to enjoy more of the fruits of their labor. It is rumored that here in Alberta Jason Kenney spent more than three million dollars just on beating Brian Jean for the leadership of the United Conservative party. So far the Corporations are viewing the expense as a cost of doing business but some are ready to drop the fight. They invest in politics and receive reduced taxes. However, if the product doesn’t produce much revenue, the reduced tax doesn’t help.

Prince Edward Island had their provincial elections a week ago and for all the donations the Corporate power only won a minority government. It may be a blue wave but not big enough to surf on. The centralist Liberals are in third place after the Green (left) party but if they unite they will have the power. Already the talk is that the Carbon Tax alone doesn’t have enough power to reduce carbon emissions to needed levels. That is a “left” move in today’s jargon.

Most Canadians are joining the worldwide movement striving for a carbon-free environment. It is a bigger movement, stronger than the movement to eliminate the smog in Europe was at the beginning of the last century. When human existence is threatened humans are capable of amazing feats. In the past, it was a fight to reduce coal, and gas won. Now gas is being replaced by renewables.

PEI people are very savvy people and watch the news. They can see that the heartland, including our Capital, Ottawa floods each year. They are well aware of the fact that the forest fire season is on the way, and they know that it wasn’t always like that. They watched us losing the insects and know what it will do. Floods and fires always existed but mostly happened once in a few lifetimes, not year after year.

Here in Alberta, it is a different story. We are the people who produce oil, coal, and gas and our economy was designed to ensure that we will remain fully dependent on the fuels. We had plans to diversify but pushed them aside. Now we have again a government shored up by the fossil fuel industry.

There is no sense complaining about the results of our last elections, it’s a done deal. I, a proud Albertan, will support my democratically elected government and help them succeed with executing the plan they were elected to implement. Mr. Jason Kenney, if you are reading newspapers from Southern Alberta, which you should, here is my pledge. I will fully support you if you do what you promised.

My mother told me a story a long time ago about a farmer who had a horse and cart for extra income. He was a smart fellow and came up with an idea. He decided to feed the horse only half the oats and see if the horse will keep working, and it did. A week later again half the oats and the horse still worked. A week later on  1/8 of feed, the horse still pulled the wagon. On the next week, the horse died. I hope that “The Blue Wave” people who like austerity will remember the story. If they kill us seniors with healthcare cuts, it's OK. I see that in Nova Scotia it is working. If they disable all the kids with education cuts, we can get educated people somewhere else. But if they give corporations tax cuts to remove money from our economy, they will kill us all.

I want to see you build pipelines to market by being tough with the Federal government. I am breathlessly waiting to see how you will force BC to allow a pipeline by not selling them oil (which will force them to buy from the US instead). I want you to build a pipeline east and supply eastern Canada with oil. Forget Quebec, use your connections with the Ford government in Ontario. Mr. Ford publicly said that he is your friend. You Blue Wave guys should do more than waste money in courts on fighting the Carbon tax/Price.

My friend, and now Premier, I encourage you to cut taxes for corporations and bring business and prosperity to Alberta. Mind you don’t forget that you promised to do it without cutting jobs and reducing our services, but by creating jobs and improving my standard of living. Don’t save money like your friend Doug Ford by taking away anesthetics from colonoscopy patients. I may not like you anymore if you do that.

I wish we didn’t have to do politics and that we would be guaranteed a bright healthy future. Maybe someday.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.