Letter: Politicians must practice what they preach

Re: Mayor of Innisfail angry over abuse of Recall Act

So the mayors of Wetaskiwin and Calgary are getting recall notices, huh? Under the Recall Act, Bill 52, citizens can “recall” MLAs, city councilors and school board members. Why can’t we remember our Prime Minister? Is she ‘special’? What about recalling her ministers?

Or is this a tactic to distract from many of the issues facing our province? Pretending to “care” about our health care, our public schools, victim services support, and shelters for women and children; pollution of our environment, etc.

Remember: ‘perception’ is everything in politics.

Is it okay to condemn the federal carbon tax while ignoring the lack of safeguards for our environment (Alberta Energy Regulator won’t go after energy companies for polluting our environment)?

We can have all kinds of rules, regulations and laws, but if we don’t enforce them, why do we have them?

If we allow politicians to cut “red tape,” who benefits and who loses from these cuts? Look at Boeing in America, where the Trump administration’s “cutting of red tape” benefited Boeing at the cost of 340 lives lost in two major plane crashes. and subsequent accidents by airlines using Boeing aircraft, or the reduction of red tape on the rail industry, caused a dramatic increase in rail accidents.

If our politicians want to introduce ‘direct democracy’ into Alberta politics, they should also have referendums on Alberta’s pension plan, the introduction of a provincial police force, the subsidization of private and charter schools, the introduction of private health care, the introduction of political parties involved in municipal elections, mining activities in the Canadian Rockies (eastern slopes) and in abandoned ‘orphan pits’.

Perhaps we should have a “royal commission” investigate the Heritage Trust Fund to see how it has been managed or mismanaged since its inception. In particular, how has this been managed over the past decade? Moreover, how much has gone to non-public identities, such as energy companies; private schools; charter schools; tournaments, and loans and grants to private bodies, etc.

When our politicians talk about transparency and accountability, maybe they should practice what they preach, right?

George Thatcher

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