Morton Alberta's best choice for leader

smalltown · 发表于 2006-11-27 12:02

Dinning's refusal to commit to conservative ideals is worrisome

Lorne Gunter, Freelance

Published: Sunday, November 19, 2006 Edmonton Journal

If I were an Alberta Conservative party member, I would choose Ted Morton in next weekend's leadership vote.

I would not be upset if Jim Dinning won. I suspect Dinning the premier would be more impressive than Dinning the leadership candidate has been.

But on the merits of their respective bids, Dinning doesn't deserve to win. Morton does.

What fire there has been in the belly of this campaign -- as opposed to the dyspepsia generated by Lyle Oberg's periodic forays into wingy conspiracy theories -- has been generated by the University of Calgary professor and rookie MLA.

Morton's policy pronouncements -- notably on health care and fiscal responsibility -- have been bold without being over-the-top. Of the eight candidates in the race, he received the highest rating from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation -- albeit only a B because of his refusal to divulge the names of his donors prior to next weekend's balloting and his disagreement with giving voters the right to recall their MLAs in mid-term.

Dinning, by contrast -- likely the best treasurer Alberta has ever had -- received only a D-plus, largely because of his unwillingness to commit to tax cuts and a cap on provincial spending.

And that has been the problem with the Dinning campaign for the past year or year-and-a-half -- its refusal to commit, even to ideas I suspect Dinning supports.

In his four years as treasurer, Dinning took a budget that had a $3.4-billion deficit and balanced it. Yes, he benefited from rising natural resource revenues -- oil and gas prices began to climb during his tenure -- but the main source of the balance he achieved was his ability to cut spending. In his four years, provincial expenditures went from $17.7 billion to $14.3 billion.

He also changed the way the Alberta government reported its revenues and expenditures. To this day, Alberta budgets are easier to read and understand than that of any other province, or Ottawa, thanks to Dinning.

And he mandated such sensible changes as forbidding the province to project revenues greater than the average of the previous five years when deciding how much it had to spend in any fiscal year.

So it is surprising -- so surprising -- that Dinning would tell the taxpayers federation that he opposes limiting the runaway spending the Klein government has engaged in.

Nor is it the Jim Dinning I expected, who Wednesday in Calgary told a crowd of 800 that whatever new health system his government might devise, it "has got to be a publicly funded health-care system." No private choices here. Waiting lists can be lowered and new technologies introduced all within the existing government hospital monopoly.

(Gad, how often have we been fed that empty promise?)

On health care, every other candidate, except Ed Stelmach -- Morton, Oberg, Mark Norris, Gary McPherson and Victor Doerksen -- all rated higher.

I suspect Dinning has been seized by a bout of front-runner's disease: An irrational fear of losing support by saying anything remotely controversial. So rather than being his former, courageous self, Dinning has become all things to all people.

As I said before, I suspect that were he to become premier, he would be very much better than his performance in this race has shown.

But such speculation is not enough on which to hang an endorsement.

Which brings me back to Morton, who not only has presented the best platform, but has the sharpest mind in the bunch. Morton's blunt talk and colourfully rough edges belie a deep intellect, and one of the keenest grasps of the Constitution in the country. He was one of the first to sound the alarm on how activists and powerful interest groups use the charter and the courts to circumvent the democratic process.

If Ottawa ever comes knocking in the next few years for our resources, or tries to rewrite the Constitution, I want Ted Morton on the other side of the door or negotiating table.

And despite all the hand-wringing by rights organizations and professional cause-pleaders about Morton being a "social conservative" committed to imposing his traditional values, he has the consummate Alberta philosophy on moral questions: You agree to leave me alone with my beliefs and I'll agree to leave you alone. And we'll all get along just fine.

Frankly, I wish all the other candidates had a bit of Mark Norris's sunny optimism and his contagious charm. Norris has been the warmest flame in the race. He, in a manner reminiscent of Ronald Reagan, has the ability to put his vision of Alberta's conservative future in a positive, upbeat tone.

It would be a good thing if Norris made a solid enough showing that he remained a force to be reckoned with in the party, enough that the new leader had to adopt some of his ways and ideas -- particularly his idea that the education portion of property taxes should be turned back to local school boards.

Still, next weekend, the best choice is Ted Morton.

Aphrodite · 发表于 2006-11-30 23:31

I'm Supportin' Morton.

老杨 · 发表于 2006-12-1 09:56

埃德蒙顿中文网与Morton竞选办公室联系，问他们是否在乎中国人的选票，是否愿意在中文网站上作广告。他们回答不做广告。

Aphrodite · 发表于 2006-12-1 21:14

There are many reasons why his campaign office elects not to advertise.  That does not by any means imply that he does not want the Chinese vote.

I am supporting him because he is a man with great vision and integrity.  He speaks for the average Albertan, like me.  He will take a firm stance with respect to Ottawa, making sure that they do not unduely raid revenues from Alberta's non-renewable resources. I'm not a member of the corporate elite, and neither is Ted.  Certainly, the lack of corporate funding may prevent his campaign from advertising.  He's running a grassroot campaign supported by average Albertans as opposed to the backroom boys.

In the last few years, we have seen the escalating rate of violence in Edmonton.  It seems like we are becoming the murder capital of Canada.  Yes, that is partly due to our growth.  But what amount of violence is acceptable?  I would say none!  That's why Ted advocates a provincial police force that knows the unique challenge Alberta faces due to its rapid growth.  If a problem occurs in your household, who is in the best position to deal with the problem?  Someone within your household?  Or something that's 3000 kms away?  I think Ted offers some very practical solutions to the problems Alberta faces.  These are just a few reasons why I would support Ted.

Aphrodite · 发表于 2006-12-1 21:27

One more thing. I think that he offers the most practical solution to health care in Alberta. He is preserving the public system while offering choice for non-essential services. This will alleviate the burden from the public system and reduce wait times.

I was at a function where the Health Minister Hon. Iris Evans was speaking. Right now, we already have private health care in Alberta (i.e. elective cosmetic surgery). She has identified that the problem with this is that many of these elective procedures are performed at our hospitals, eating up public resources like hospital beds. So why not just label these elective procedures for what they are - private health care and get them out of the public system. This would free up many hospital beds thereby reducing the wait times in the public system. Ted Morton is by no means getting rid of the public system. He recognizes that equal access to wait times is not equal access to health care. By segmenting non-essential services from essential public services, the public system will become more efficient and would better serve individual Albertan like you and me.

账号		自动登录	找回密码
密码			注册

[亚省新闻] Morton Alberta's best choice for leader