Politicians Ignore the People at their Peril

These are indeed interesting political times. We have a new mayor in Airdrie. Mayor Naheed Nenshi went from a virtually unknown academic to mayor of Calgary in just a few short weeks. A staunch fiscal conservative is now mayor of Toronto. And last week, we saw the largest electoral sweep in the US House of Representatives since 1938.
 

Needless to say, the people are restless.

Since entering politics 3 years ago, I've learned several important lessons, but none greater than this; politicians ignore the people they represent at their own peril.

You see, generally speaking politicians really do want to do a good job for those they represent. There are a few corrupt political leeches out there to be sure, but as a whole and regardless of political stripe, elected officials really do have the best of intentions.

However, there is also a political disease out there that seems to affect most politicians after 2 or 3 terms in office. I call it the 'I-know-best syndrome'.

For reasons that are hard to explain, many long-time establishment politicians really do think they have been endowed with more wisdom than the common voter. Perhaps it stems from the constant jabbering of bureaucrats in their ears. Perhaps it's spending too much time under the 'Dome' (as Ralph Klein always said) and not enough time in their constituencies. Or maybe it becomes tiring for them to do the things necessary to staying in touch with those they represent (i.e. returning phone calls, doorknocking, etc). Whatever the reasons, there are few politicians able to avoid the 'I-know-best syndrome'.

We saw this with the PCs handling of royalties. I can't tell you how many times regular oil and gas entrepreneurs and workers were in my office explaining why the new royalty framework was going to hurt our province. But every time that message was relayed to the Premier and his inner circle it was shut down with a simple, "Of course they're going to say that, don't worry, we know best."

We saw this with the Bill 50 transmission line fiasco where the PCs passed a law that made it unnecessary for transmission line companies to pass an independent Needs Assessment that would have involved input from landowners and others. The reason was simple – the Government felt the hearing would be an annoyance as landowners would be given an opportunity to express their concerns and alternative solutions. Why bother with dissenting voices – after all, they said, "we know best."

With Airdrie's prized integrated ambulance service, Alberta Health Service bureaucrats were permitted by both the former and current health ministers to override local decision-makers and replace our locally run service with a more expensive and less effective one. Why? That's right – they said "we know best."

The Government repealed our province's no-debt laws and launched into an unprecedented period of debt-financing – why? "We know best." They centralized health care away from frontline doctors and nurses into the hands of the Health Superboard – "we know best". They increased their own salaries behind closed doors – "we know best." Ignored the warnings of emergency doctors – "we know best." $2 billion for pumping CO2 into the ground – "we know best."

And now its education. Across this province parents, teachers, school boards and even students are saying they've had enough of politics determining where schools are built. They saw how the 32 schools promised before the last provincial election were largely placed according to where the PCs were vulnerable to the Liberals – rather than in formerly safe PC ridings like Airdrie, Chestermere, Fort McMurray, Spruce Grove and Beaumont. These Albertans are telling us they want schools to go where they are needed and not where powerful PC Ministers want them. And in Airdrie, we have a 3000 person petition, organized by Grade 8 student Leah Moore and local school councils saying that we want our school crisis solved now – and if that means redirecting funds from non-priority government pet projects – so be it.

As I said, these are interesting political times and the winds of change are blowing. If the Government continues to ignore this community and the opinions of regular Albertans any longer, they're going to hear the following from voters at the next election... "Actually, we know best."