Jun 10
29
Wildrose Party has already become a Wilted Flower
When you lack the intellectual confidence to make good arguments, then you run from confrontation. It is stunning that the Wildrose Alliance Party could not even pass a resolution last week to get rid of the anti-free speech section of Alberta’s human rights code. The degree of spinelessness and fear that is required to hold such a measure back is contemptible. Abolishing the entire human rights commission is a moderate position to anyone who knows Canada’s history and the intellectual foundations of liberty. How the loony left got the upper hand on this policy proposal at the Party’s policy convention is almost serious enough to warrant a Royal Commission. And to think that this is Ezra Levant’s province. He must be disgusted at the outcome on this proposal as well.
This wasn’t the only policy proposal where any real conservatives in the Party were defeated. A proposal on firearms declared that “the ownership of firearms is a form of property rights which should not be denied to any Albertan for any arbitrary reason.” Even Wildrose leader Danielle Smith said that she supported that proposal, but it went down in defeat.
And the list goes on.
What an embarassment the Wildrose Party is to serious conservatives who put some faith in the political organization. The fear-mongers and hand-wringers won the day – those who let liberals do their political analysis for them, to tell them what is moderate, and what is extreme. Good job, you professional political technologists. Chase the people out of the part who have vision and real ideas.
-
Following are excerpts from two articles reporting on the Wildrose policy conference.
Calgary Herald – June 27, 2010
Wildrose shoots for mass appeal: Moderate policy choices show ‘maturity,’ says leader Smith
By Jason Fekete
Wildrose Alliance members rejected many controversial policies and watered down others already in their playbook on Saturday, adopting a more moderate approach that even surprised leader Danielle Smith. The nearly 800 Wildrose supporters who attended the party’s annual general meeting in Red Deer also delivered a strong endorsement for the rookie political leader, with 97.5 per cent of voting members backing Smith in a mandatory leadership review. She also announced “the door is closing” on any Progressive Conservative MLAs looking to cross the floor to Wildrose, insisting the party won’t parachute in anyone once it starts nominating candidates in the fall.
Smith said members of the Wildrose Alliance have learned the lessons of grassroots movements before it – including the Reform and Canadian Alliance parties – and have generally opted for more moderate, big-tent policies that appeal to a wide swath of Albertans and are necessary to form government. “That shows a level of sophistication I didn’t actually expect to see this early on. I know that young parties go through growing phases,” Smith told reporters. “I thought it might take a couple of years for us to be able to develop that kind of maturity,” she added. “You can’t just bulldoze ahead with ideas that don’t have popular support.”
Wildrose members voted down several policy proposals considered by some observers as potentially dangerous for the surging right-of-centre alternative, but did approve a handful of controversial ideas. Resolutions rejected include one that argued ownership of firearms is a form of property rights and “should not be denied to any Albertan for any arbitrary reason.” The party also quashed the idea of pursuing nuclear power in Alberta, and watered down its policy on banning teachers’ strikes, instead opting to examine what services – including education – should be considered “essential services.” And it stepped back from demanding that Section 3 of the Alberta human rights code (which deals with publications and free speech) be axed. Some Wildrose supporters, Tory MLAs and other groups believe Section 3 of the act is providing unjust censorship powers to the Alberta Human Rights Commission, a quasi-judicial agency. Instead, Wildrose members voted to amend the human rights act to “unequivocally protect” freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
“You can’t get any of your agenda implemented if you can’t get elected,” Smith added. “Having the public on your side is a check of whether or not your program is one that ought to be implemented.”
Read the complete article here.
The Edmonton Sun – June 27, 2010
Wildrose skirts the scary stuff: Danielle Smith and Co. make clear they do not want to be classified as an extreme party
By Rick Bell
They don’t want to be Guns and Wildroses. They call themselves a big tent party. They want to “focus on first things first” and have a “program” which they “can defend and avoid pitfalls.” Some have thoughts, disturbing thoughts, of some wacko who will come to the microphone and spacewalk a wild and crazy script, an astronaut shooting into the political ether. It doesn’t happen.
But even Danielle Smith, the Wildrose number one who has found her take-no-prisoners mojo and wins 97.5% on a leadership vote, is willing to at least go for the policy on guns. It is the one where the party is asked to “believe the ownership of firearms is a form of property rights which should not be denied to any Albertan for any arbitrary reason.” “I don’t have a problem recognizing gun ownership as a property right,” says Smith. But the brainwave is defeated. Wildrose Alliance members worry about how the media will see them and how the public will see them. They can see “Wildrose gun-toting rednecks” as the cry of the latte-lifters who dominate the chattering class.
They later vote, but only barely, for the province to maintain “an up-to-date registry of persons” judged by the cops and the courts to be “too dangerous to own and acquire firearms.” They do support recognizing all the swell hunters and anglers. But the mantra is clear. It is sometimes said aloud. It is a part of this party’s DNA. We are not scary. We are not extreme. We are ready to govern. And so, much of what is offered up as party gospel is standard stuff, middle-of-the-road, a little lean to the right. It is the Wildrose not being … God forbid … wild.
The party proposes an Alberta constitution “within the confines of Canadian Confederation” and they want to allow workers on the job site the right to join a union or not. Big cheers come as the rank-and-file go after the photo radar cash cow with a review of traffic policing to “remove all financial incentives to traffic law enforcement in Alberta.” Targeted tax benefits for seniors is a no-go. There is a lot of political massaging going on.
Wildrosers don’t vote to get rid of a section of a human rights law going after speech “likely to expose a person or a class of persons to hatred or contempt.” It is seen by many of us as so broad it’s an outright attack of free speech. But the party only votes to protect freedom of speech and freedom of the press in law, with no details. Explicit support of nuclear energy is not approved though diversification of energy is green-lighted. There is a plan to single out teachers as an essential service so “no child’s right to an education is denied by school strikes or lockouts.” Instead, a Wildrose government would examine what services should be deemed essential. They will “explore the feasibility” of a provincial police force. A whole section on health care is put off for now because it isn’t written properly. Naturally, nixing the use of public cash to fund abortions never even sees the light of day.