Pen Meets Paper April 13'09

Pen Meets Paper
Opinion by Helge Nome
The troubling thing about Bill 19 is the manifest intent of that proposed legislation to take powers that used to belong to the courts and put them into the hands of elected officials, such as “the minister”and give him or her the ability to dictate what you or I should, or should not, do. This was made patently clear by Joe Anglin at the April 8 public meeting in Leslieville. And on the same night some 250 people reportedly showed up at a similar meeting in Innisfail to express their concerns over the proposed legislation.
There is a pattern here; I remember a federal bill that was tabled before the last federal election which dealt with food “safety”, including herbal food supplements, where government officials again were given dictatorial powers to search premises, etc.
We should do well to remember that bureaucrats, not politicians, generally write new bills. And where do the initiatives for these bills come from? I would suggest from vested interest groups with connections into the political party of the day and the bureaucracy. That it why we need to be on guard against initiatives that rob us of our rights and freedoms. We have to exert constant pressure against such attempts and hold our elected politicians fully responsible for their choices.
Alberta has a sick political system where arrogance is rampant and where there is a total dependence upon oil and gas revenues, and regrettably, revenues from casino and VLT gambling for non profit groups. People from these groups spend nights in casinos to create a sense of legitimacy to the gambling that causes so much hardship for gullible people and their families. I think our forefathers would turn in their graves if they realized what is going on today. We are on a slippery slope to a place that is not very nice. The spirit of independence that formed the foundation of The West is wrapped up in a blanket of apathy. It needs to wake up.