A Disenchanted PC Party Supporter

Crammond area resident David Brown, who has been a Progressive Conservative Party supporter all his life expresses his disappointment over the party's recent performance in government under Premier Ed Stelmach


Pen Meets Paper July 13 '09
Opinion by Helge Nome
The recent arbitrary closure of seven helipads at Alberta hospitals, including that of the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton and the Sundre Hospital, goes to show how things have slid out of control during the reign of Premier Stelmach and his associates. Some unnamed provincial bureaucrat evidently took it upon him/herself to issue the order based on guidelines provided by Transport Canada. However, to date, no one seems to have been able to pin the blame on anybody in particular. It is probably a classic case of “duck and pass the buck”.
This is only one of a series of blunders taking place on the watch of the Stelmach Puppies. Several bills have been enacted into law that progressively transfers power away from people across Alberta into the hands of Edmonton bureaucrats, the new Alberta Health Services Board being a good example. Others include Bills 19 (The Land Grab Act), 36 (The “Walk All Over Municipal Governments” Act) and 44 ( The “Shut Up The Teachers” Act). And the latest is a private members bill to set up a Municipal Auditor's Office to do random audits of municipal books after they have already been audited by perfectly qualified auditors. And the naïve MLA that tabled this bill reportedly estimated an annual cost of $400,000-$700,000. How about trying $4 million-$7 million?
At the same time the people of Sundre have been waiting for 4 years for the Alberta Government to make up its mind about restoring the Red Deer River back into its old channel before it hits the town, head on, in its next major flood.
It is pretty obvious, even to the most casual observer, that the Stelmach Puppies are barking up the wrong tree: “The squirrel is preening himself in that old spruce tree over there. Yes, there! He hasn't even been near the new ones you are planting!”