Danielle Smith and the politics of division

Just for fun, and because there is nothing as satisfying as saying "I told you so," let's have a look at Danielle Smith in the media. The way she is spinning her problems now is enacting not just one but two of the things I've talked about in this blog before. One, she says "urban elites" are against her. We can assume the addition of "elite" to urban makes it derogatory, because in the right wing world, there can be nothing worse than being elite, reading Harper's in an independent coffee shop while drinking a non-fat chai latte, or having the kind of social and cultural analysis that can be gained through a Liberal Arts education. Here she goes again with the narratives of persecution. I can't help thinking it's not that smart to point out that smart people don't like you much. The second problem she is once again enacting is her tendency to blame the media. As I've said before, bad policy results in negative media attention; it's not a liberal plot. And in this case, bad policy also resulted in a poor election performance. It's not the urban elites or a liberal bias in media that brought down Danielle Smith. In fact, if we were to go back and study the election coverage, there is a case to be made that if there was media bias, it was favourable to Smith. I also had a good laugh when, the day after the election, Smith admitted she and her party might have to take a second look at their policies. Not their fundamental beliefs mind you, just their policies. I'd suggest you all take a few Liberal Arts courses and look at your beliefs too.

Of course, there is one other I told you so to be had, and that is never mess with abortion in Canadian politics. After the Wildrose loss and the decimation of Stephen Woodworth in Federal Parliament over M312, maybe we will finally be able to move on from this divisive strategy. It is never appropriate to threaten the rights of a whole group of people. All of us in Canada should be secure in our rights whether we are women or gay or immigrants or Liberal Arts students. On that, here is my recap of what abortion meant in the Alberta Election in an April 30 guest blog of mine on Abortion Gang. Of course the media is concentrating on the "bozo eruptions" of the homophobic Hunsperger and the Caucasian Ron Leech as well as Smith's own bizarro decision to out herself as a climate change denier when they tell the story of the fall of the Wildrose. But we all know where it started - abortion, conscience rights and the promise to shut down the Alberta Human Rights Commission. It was this trifecta of issues that created the first chink in the Wildrose armour.

I'm hoping we're past playing the politics of division. Perhaps as long as we have a first past the post system the politics of divide and conquer will win out. But a girl can dream.

Link Byfield - Future Cabinet Minister?

Here's an excellent blog post about Link Byfield, and some of the other Wildrose candidates who have hit the news lately. Link Byfield's history has not been fully exhumed yet as it has here, (maybe this is the "Missing Link" - sorry, couldn't resist) and this is worth the read. Please, pass it around, and thanks to A. Picazo for doing the work. Picazo mentions the internet has been "cleansed" of much information about Byfield. Yup. I've seen this myself about a few other issues I've investigated during this election and it scares me. That's why it's so important that independent bloggers and writers dig this stuff up and keep the history known and knowable. So, thanks A. Picazo. You've done us all a great service.

Danielle Smith says I'm "Some Blogger"

Danielle Smith says I'm "some blogger,"* and not in a nice way. Not in the way someone says, "you're some great friend," or "you're some terrific cook." Nope. Not that way. She's not going to be derailed by "some blogger" to whom a lowly staffer "miscommunicated" and she's not going to be drawn into talking about abortion.

Let's be clear. The lowly staffer, who happens to be the Wildrose Chief Administrative Officer, (C-level executive, as in CEO or CIO) someone who is in charge, someone who one would think knows their policy, answered a question of mine, a lowly blogger. I relayed his answer. "We [Wildrose] respect that Albertans view social issues differently, which is why Wildrose would immediately introduce legislation allowing citizens to put issues like abortion to a citizen initiated referendum. This open and democratic process allows Albertans to tell government what they believe is important." (emphasis added.)

Their current dilemma is not them responding to some blogger - it is them responding to THEMSELVES. They are responding to their own statement about their own policy. The staffer/Chief Administrative Officer did not miscommunicate. He was speaking from a high level, was cordial, concise and absolutely clear, and that is the Wildrose's problem, NOT that he miscommunicated.

And stop with the cop out that abortion is federal jurisdiction. No one asked Wildrose about the status of abortion in law. Health Care is funded provincially. I hope to heavens the Wildrose and its leader understands their role in the provision of health care. Right now, they seem not to. I asked if the party supported choice, what it would do to expand access to abortion in northern and rural areas and if it would continue to fund all medically necessary services including abortion. None of these questions takes Wildrose out of its jurisdiction. If elected, Wildrose will get to decide the what, the where, the how, the how much, and the how fast of health care. And given the leader's past statements that she favours defunding abortion, the questions are more than reasonable.

And by the way, Wildrose still hasn't answered my questions.

If, as Ms. Smith indicates in her bluster on TV, the Wildrose would not put abortion to referendum, I want to know what issues Wildrose would put to referendum. What "issues like abortion" will Wildrose decline to govern on? I want to know.  Or is it the whole referendum policy that the Chief Administrative Officer miscommunicated? Is this a policy or not? Will it be immediately implemented or not?

This is so beyond abortion now. Will Wildrose leave issues like gay rights to referenda? The Wildrose seem to know they can't mess with human rights, yet, they are supporting a "conscience clause" which allows messing with human rights. (Read Liberal Kent Hehr's piece about so called conscience rights and what's wrong with them for a larger discussion.) And they are doing this at the same time as they are promising to dismantle the Alberta Human Rights Commission. Connect the dots.

I didn't open the can of worms, Ms. Smith. Your party did. Your people did. Now you are trying to put the lid back on, scapegoating staffers and insulting bloggers. It's all sounding very Republican to me. It's the fault of the "lamestream" media. It's liberals being all tricksy. It doesn't sound like new politics to me to hear a leader blame someone else and deflect answers to simple questions. This doesn't sound new to me at all. To me it's the same old same old. Another party that won't be transparent, that won't answer questions and that will say anything to get elected.

And let's be clear about one last thing. I am indeed "some blogger."



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*addendum, this was heard by another and reported back to me. I don't have a citation for it, although I trust the source
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The Abortion Monologues is available in print through the website and as an e-book at Smashwords.