Alberta Needs a Strong Opposition Party

I attended a political meeting the other day where both main speakers blamed the government of the day for making a mess of healthcare. It is indeed a mess and several changes in the management have only made the situation worse. Speakers insisted that there was a need for a public enquiry into the muzzling of doctors. No concrete suggestions were made from the podium or from the floor on what could be done to improve the overall situation other than letting medical practitioners speak freely.

The economy of Alberta is dependant on oil and gas. Government of the province derives a substantial portion of its revenue from royalties on the production of hydrocarbons. The province has no sales tax and a low rate flat rate income tax. However, the industry is cyclical and the royalty revenues fluctuate over a wide range. When commodity prices are low the royalty income drops precipitately and a sense of desperation prevails in Albertans and in the government departments. The funding of programs is cut across the board as if there is no tomorrow. Then the pendulum swings, the prices and royalty revenues recover, the cuts are restored and then some. Albertans feel prosperous again, immigrants flood in, an election is called and the Conservatives are returned to power. In absence of a strong opposition party, the efficiency of the programs is never examined and no one cares to see if the services could be delivered better in some other way.

For a government to be effective it needs a strong opposition that forces it to closely examine its policies. The right wing government of Alberta has been at the helm for last forty years. Only challenge to the ruling Conservatives is from Wild Rose party whose supporters are even further to the right. Centrist Liberals have been unpopular in Alberta ever since the Federal government tried to impose some controls on oil industry. That was thirty years but people have long memories, particularly when reminded by the ministers and the industry at regular intervals. As for the left wing parties, every one looks at them as if they have just landed from a different universe. In an atmosphere like this, the government makes major decisions without considering them from all angles. That is why almost every year a new health minister is appointed who changes the system to suit his whim. One year we have one authority to administer the Healthcare system for the whole province, the next year we have fourteen regional authorities. Then we revert to one. Every time there is a change, hundreds of executives depart with enormous separation packages and new ones, some of them old ones being rehired, come in with fatter packages in their contracts. Unfortunately, Healthcare is not the only department operated in this way. Education and infrastructure budgets have their ups and downs although they are not noticed as much by the public. I suggest that if there were an alternative government in waiting to take over after a closely fought election there would be a lot more thinking before changes on this scale were made and there would be some continuity in policies and their execution.

As indicated earlier, the problem in Alberta is that the oil prices fluctuate wildly and so do the government revenues. Governments realize this but make no effort to even out the expenditures based on the average price of oil and gas over a cycle. It is just too tempting to bribe the citizens when times are good and too easy to blame foreign manipulators when the times are bad.

Two simple devices would fix the problem. First, if elections were held on a set time table the governing party would not be able to hold them in good time and guarantee its hold on power. This would provide an incentive for saving in good times and minimize drastic cuts in the expenditures in bad times. Second, Alberta should have a law that sends the royalty income above the average of a fixed duration, say previous ten years, into a fund which can be drawn only in lean times. It needs a selfless leader and an enlightened electorate to implement these policies. Unfortunately, one party regimes like Alberta do not have enlightened electorate and you need two or more parties of similar strength to bring forward great leaders.