Alberta has a proud history of leading our nation forward in the area of democratic reform. This province has continually produced great men and women to champion the democratic causes of senate reform, government accountability, and other meaningful changes. However, we have failed to show leadership on this issue in recent years.
Most Albertans will be disappointed to know that politics in our province has evolved into a process that is almost completely undemocratic. Not only are there no free votes in the Legislature, there are very few free votes in caucus. Virtually all legislation is created and developed by various unelected government appointees with direction from the Premier and a small cadre of Cabinet Ministers whose distinguishing attribute is fealty to the Premier. All other elected MLAs generally have little, if any, real input into the decisions that impact the lives of their constituents.
Final government decisions are highly influenced by the Premier’s chief-of-staff. Formerly a mid-level bureaucrat, this unelected staffer is now paid more than the Premier (nearly $400,000 per year) and has effectively been given the power to override the views of the elected caucus. As a result, we essentially have governance by bureaucratic fiat rather than by democratically elected representatives.
Predictably, this undemocratic system has resulted in policies that are contrary to the majority of Albertan’s small-c conservative sensibilities. From massive royalty hikes on our energy entrepreneurs, to awarding untendered transmission line contracts worth billions of dollars, to failing to protect the rights of free speech of our citizens, to behind-closed-doors salary increases, to the highly questionable $2 billion carbon capture and storage experiment (I could go on) – the advice and words of warning from many caucus MLAs have been largely ignored and dismissed, and extremely poor policy decisions have resulted.
Simply put, our system of governance has become entirely dysfunctional.
Addressing this democratic deficit will take new leadership. I am convinced the current government is too set in its ways to undertake any meaningful reforms on this issue.
I will continue to advocate for the following democratic reforms:
Restore the role of the locally elected MLA by mandating that all votes in the Legislature (other than the annual Budget) be free and unfettered regardless of an MLA’s position in the government.
Institute fixed election dates every 4 years and end the practice of votes of non-confidence. Surely we can respect the judgment of voters when they send minority or majority governments to the Legislature.
Strengthen the ability and resources of an elected MLA to introduce private members legislation on issues important to his or her constituents.
Institute a ‘Citizens Assembly’ to examine what methods of direct democracy (voter recall, citizen-sponsored referenda, etc) would be acceptable to Albertans, and put the Assembly’s recommendations to a provincial referendum vote.
I am also of the view that MLAs need to be accountable for their voting record at the Legislature. In pursuit of this goal, I have designed this interactive constituent website on which I summarize each material bill before the Legislature and then detail how I voted on each bill and why. The website also provides many diverse forums for dialogue between myself and those I represent, including the use of social media such as Youtube, Facebook and Twitter.
