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Erin O’Toole’s Promises Austerity Budgets For Ten Years

A poll by Abacus Survey, February 5, gives the Liberals 32 percent support, with the Conservatives polling at 31 percent. Given that Erin O’Toole was recently elected Conservative Party Leader, support seems high considering most of Canada doesn’t know who he is.

A look at his new website shows he will fight for all the forgotten, those people who get up early to feed their families. The men and women who work hard and are proud to work.” He assures his supporters they can count on him.

Billing himself as the best defender of Harper’s legacy of austerity, reaction, and militarism, he hopes to gather more support. No doubt, he isn’t in a position to win if an election were called, but his support is strengthening, even without his claims being tested.

Photos Andre Forget / OLO

It would appear he is borrowing a page from former party leader Andrew Sheer, who billed himself as the common man; the average guy. The Conservative party and the public were quick to dismiss this notion when they discovered he was sending his children to private school on the public dime. The “common man” isn’t able to do that.

Harper was known for his attacks on unions, reductions in social spending and maintaining a running fight with war veterans. Defending Harper’s legacy and representing the working families across the country seems ambiguous, to say the least.

UNIFOR, the largest private sector union in Canada, evaluated Canada’s economic record under the Harper government. In their overall evaluation they said:

Of the 16 economic indicators reported above, the Harper government ranked last (or tiedfor last) among the postwar Prime Ministers in almost half (seven) of the cases. The Harper government ranked second worst in six more of the cases, and no higher than sixth out of nine postwar Prime Ministers in the remaining three cases. In not one of the indicators did the Harper government rank any better than sixth.

This statistical review confirms that it is far-fetched to suggest that Canada’s economy has been well-managed during the Harper government’s time in office. To the contrary, there is no other time in Canada’s postwar economic history in which Canada’s performance has performed worse than it did under the Harper government.

It’s one thing to defend Harper’s legacy as long as he doesn’t copy it. It’s another thing to follow his lead. When his government was stressed by the recession, there were asset sell-offs, major public services cuts, layoffs and left more than 2 million Canadian workers (11.5 per cent) remain unemployed or underemployed. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) reported these cutbacks as the poor and the middle class paying the price of deficit reduction via social program cuts and continued high unemployment. They are collateral damage while the perpetrators get back to business as usual.

His election campaign spoke of “fiscal prudence” and a Fiscal Stability Plan. He wants to wind down emergency benefits and get the country on track to balance the budget in 10 years.

Albertans have been witnessing how a Conservative austerity budget works as implemented by Alberta Premier, Jason Kenney. Reducing business tax to create jobs hasn’t worked in Alberta and O’Toole should be looking at the ways Kenney has handled some of these issues that haven’t worked out the way he planned. Program cuts by the provincial government as well as a federal government, would be devastating to Alberta citizens.

New Alberta coal policy coming next week, energy minister says

Protect Our Parks – Edmonton

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2020 has been a crazy year to say the least. I am honoured by the amount of support that this event has raised and delighted to see just how many people want to stand up for our provincial parks.

This fight is only just beginning. We now have the official opposition taking a stand for our parks with their \"Don\'t go breaking my Parks\" campaign, along with the CPAWs \"Defend Alberta Parks\" cause. This issue is only being brought further into the spotlight here in Alberta.

I understand that many of you will be disappointed by the prolonging of the date for this event again but for multiple reasons we just are not ready to make it happen. The government recently passed a new bill that makes protesting more dangerous and more difficult. For this reason among others, including COVID-19, we will be postponing the event once again. This will no doubt frustrate many if you who just want to stand up for this cause.

I promise you however, that this event will happen this winter, and when it does, we will make a big impact. Myself and the other admins will once again be working to plan this event and gather a diverse group public speakers from conservation and recreation backgrounds. I too am disappointed that this is once again postponed, but it will all be worth it when this eventually happens.

If you know of someone who is qualified and willing to speak at this event, please send me a private message.

One other change to this event is that we will now allow targeted signs to the UCP that explain why this \"Parks Optimization\" plan is bad for Albertans and bad for our ecology. We do ask however, that we keep it \"kid friendly\" and refrain from any extreme vulgar language. If you, like many of us, see the obvious connection between Parks closures in the Rocky Mountains and the cancellation of the Coal Policy, feel free to speak up on that issue as well. It is very obvious that the government wants to dissolve parks status and then allow coal mining in the Livingstone Range and the Bighorn area. SPEAK UP ON THIS!

I thank you for your continued understanding and support.

Get dressed up in your best skiing, climbing, or hiking gear and come down to the Edmonton Legislature Grounds to protest the proposed changes to our Alberta Parks! We are hosting a peaceful and apolitical protest to fight the proposed budget cuts. We want this event to be about our parks, not our parties.

The Alberta government is planning to fully or partially close 20 provincial parks. In the process of doing this 164 sites will be removed from provincial designation and left vulnerable to third party management.

These closures are accompanied by campground fee increases and cuts to services, such as trail maintenance in many prominent cross country skiing areas.

As Albertans, we are privileged to have access to some of the most beautiful and well maintained natural spaces in the world. Environment Minister Jason Nixon says that Alberta can no longer support the \"retail\" side of parks. Nixon has not confirmed whether the 16,000 Hectares proposed by this movement will be sold off, and has asserted that conservation will still be the main priority. However, the proposed changes leave these sites vulnerable, and the future of our parks uncertain. If the Government can threaten 16,000 acres of parkland within their first year of power, imagine the losses that can occur in the next three years.

We believe that everyone should have access to these spaces and we want to make our voices HEARD. We are hosting a peaceful protest in order to bring awareness to this issue. Please join us on March 29th to respectfully share your story of why these natural spaces are important to you and why we should always continue to protect them. In doing this we hope to raise awareness regarding the cruciality of protecting our parks while directing people to forms of action.

Please get in touch with us, if you would like to share your story about why the parks are important to YOU!

FOR THE LOVE OF OUR PARKS!
#protectourparksalberta #protectalbertaparks

some notes-

If you are planning to bring a sign, please make sure to avoid \"political bashing\" and make a sign on recyclable materials. some suggestions for slogans are: we love Alberta parks, protect our parks and don\'t leave us in the dark about our parks.
-this event will go on snow or shine, please be prepared to be outside and bring what you need to be comfortable for an extended period of time (i.e food, water, warm clothes, chairs etc.)
please respect the space we are presenting in as well as the spirit of the event.
please use a pack it in, pack it out mentality and leave the site spotless, recycle your signs etc.

If you would like to sign the petition follow this link:
https://act.leadnow.ca/dont-let-kenney-privatize-nature/

If you would like to do some more reading on the issue check out these articles:
https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/alberta-releases-list-of-parks-to-be-closed-or-partially-closed
https://globalnews.ca/news/6623820/alberta-parks-closures/

If you would like to write a letter to your MLA please check out this awesome template.

Steve MacLellan

Ramble On

Tag Archives: politics

Erin O’Toole’s Promises Austerity Budgets For Ten Years

New Alberta coal policy coming next week, energy minister says

Protect Our Parks – Edmonton