If it seems to you like the modern conservative movement is having an identity crisis, you’re not wrong. Nowhere is this more apparent that the waning commitment to free markets.

Generally speaking, small-c conservatives understand that free markets are the most efficient and the most effective way to grow our economy.

The forces of supply and demand create competition, which helps ensure that the best goods and services are provided to consumers at a lowest possible price.

Over the past two weeks, the hot topic in media (besides Trudeau’s latest scandals) has been the subject of creating a provincial pension plan in Alberta.

So far, the debate has centered on financial details. On this front, the case of a provincial pension plan is clear. Albertans can immediately pay less in contributions and collect more in pension payments under a provincial plan.

As many in Medicine Hat have already heard, the City has installed gates to lock the pedestrian underpass to the downtown every night from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.

This underpass has been open every day since I first moved here in 1974, probably much longer. However, the sad truth is that a rising tide of crime, drugs, violence, and homelessness, has changed the face of our City’s core.

Direct democracy:

Hatters deserve the final say on electricity profits

For most Albertans, today’s electricity costs are shocking.

As I noted in a recent column, our province’s electricity prices hit an all-time high in July, up a whopping 128 percent year-over-year.

There are plenty of reasons for this:

Electricity prices in Alberta are out of control.

According to the Statistics Canada inflation report released Aug. 15th, our province’s electricity prices hit an all-time high in July, up a whopping 128 per cent year-over-year.

Attempts to explain the situation away as the side effect of a hot, dry summer do not pass the smell test. Yes, a hot summer has played a role in rising demand, as has the province’s immigration-driven population increase of more than 200,000 people. But compounding these factors has been one of the worst public policy decisions of the past 20 years – the decision to completely abandon coal-fired electricity.

There’s no nice way to say it: public faith in Canada’s democratic institutions is dying.

Evidence of the erosion of trust can be seen in election turnout. Canada has seen 44 general elections since Confederation in 1867. The five lowest turnouts have occurred in the eight elections held since the year 2000. About 38 per cent of voters refused to cast a ballot in 2021.

This figure closely aligns with the 2023 provincial results in Alberta, where 39.5 per cent of voters stayed home. In Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo, less than 42 per cent of voters bothered to cast a ballot.

If you’re a parent or you’ve ever gone on a long car ride with small children, at some point you have likely heard the aptly titled, “Song that never ends.”

For those who’ve forgotten it, allow me to refresh your memory. The lyrics go like this:

“This is the song that never ends.

It goes on and on, my friend!

Some people started singing it not knowing what it was,

And they will continue singing it forever just because…”

There’s an old saying: The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen. This has never been more apparent in Canada.

Over the past 20 years, the federal and provincial governments have been vastly increasing in size and scope, soaking up more and more taxes, running larger and larger deficits, and interfering in our lives like never before.

Albertans have repeatedly called on their provincial government to fight for a fair deal with Ottawa.

These wishes have been expressed democratically not once, but in three consecutive occasions in general elections and referendums. Every step of the way, provincial government conservatives have promised action.

But, to quote my favourite Wendy’s commercial of 1984, “Where’s the beef?”

First off, I want to wish all the best to newly elected MLA Justin Wright. Cypress-Medicine Hat is a wonderful riding filled with good folks who are motivated to support stronger families and communities. My only advice is to put their thoughts and concerns first; when you do, you can’t go wrong.

Do you remember when getting your monthly heat and electric bill didn’t feel like getting a kick in the teeth? Those were the good old days.

With runaway inflation driving up the cost of everything, and a provincial election set for this week, politicians are scrambling to shift blame.

While the NDP are blaming the greedy corporations, and the UCP are blaming Trudeau, neither is offering a real alternative. In fact, when you drill down into each party’s climate change plan, both are promising to make the rising cost of heat and electricity worse for every Alberta family for decades to come.

Liberals or Conservatives.

Starbucks or Timmy’s.

Oilers or Flames. Or (if you must), maybe the Leafs.

There’s a lot that Canadians can endlessly debate. But if there’s one thing on which we all agree, it’s that our healthcare system simply isn’t up to snuff.

Everyone seems to recognize the issue, from the federal and provincial governments; from left-leaning healthcare unions to right-leaning academic think tanks.

Prior to the global recession of 2008, inflation was at its lowest rate in decades. For the last few years, inflation was holding steady. However, today we have been impacted over the last 6months by the highest rates since the 80’s once again. With the BoC drastically raising Interest rates to try and combat inflation, life has become far too expensive

Today, we have a new class of gatekeepers, intent on using their position and influence to feather their own nests. They operate within governments at all levels, particularly in Edmonton and Ottawa.

Every time you see a politician bragging about dumping taxpayer dollars into risky investments that the private sector wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot poll, that’s a gatekeeper.

When you see a Premier pick winners and losers in the market using subsidies or other forms of corporate welfare, that’s a gatekeeper.

I want Bill 1 to ultimately be approved by this Assembly, but more importantly, I want this legislation to work for Albertans. For that to happen, Bill 1 needs to be widely accepted by the public. 

The public wants less hyperbole and more democracy. Why not give it to them?

Unlike the increasingly watered down policies pursued by the UCP’s establishment wing, this list is much more than an optional grab bag of talking points. Rather, it is a reflection of the core values and principles shared by the grassroots of the wider conservative movement. I see these guiding principles as marching orders delivered to me by my bosses, the people whom I proudly represent inside and outside the Legislature.

The Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman famously used the phrase to explain the concept of opportunity cost – that for any choice you make, you must forego something else. Even a supposedly “free lunch” will have some cost associated with it, even if that cost is not obvious.

Friedman also went on to coin the “free lunch myth”, which he described as “the belief that government can provide goods and services at no one's expense.” Unfortunately, this myth seems alive well with our current government.

Governments should be focused on proven alternatives for reducing costs for families, not on carbon tax hikes, corporate welfare schemes, or ideologically driven meddling in the economy.

The fact is folks are stretching to make ends meet. That’s hard enough. In times like these we don’t need governments moving the ends.

Sure, it’s good marketing, but you can understand why the average voter is growing increasingly cynical. If you ask them, Albertans want politicians to be less interested in photo opportunities, and more interested in getting the little things right.

A prime example is the slow-motion disaster that is Land Titles, Surveys, and Foreign Ownership of Land.

As I write this, the backlog for registration has reached an abysmal 16 weeks, as compared to one day in British Columbia and four days in Saskatchewan.