Premiers Message to Alberta

[Intrepid1]

Just checking to see if everyone was inspired by the tv broadcast? Did it comfort people or speed up the Wild Rose takeover?

[coppertop]

If people who are enamored by Wild Rose
checked out their policies they may have
a change of heart. They have no policies
just nice motherhood statements.
The premier is being trashed by a very
strong union who are one heck of a lot
more concerned about losing their jobs
than they are about the welfare of
patients at Alberta Hospital. If you
talk to families of many of those
patients, they will tell you their loved
ones will do a lot better in the
community with the proper support
services in place, than they are locked
away in a mental hospital.
The economy is a huge issue in Alberta,
but the glut of natural gas plus the low
prices and now the high dollar are a key
reason for things being so slow in the
oil patch.

[grassfarmer]

Inspired? I fell asleep somewhere between minute 5 and 10 - did I miss anything?

[coppertop]

you missed seeing Premier Ed out walking
with his dog !!!

[mcfarms]

WoW 134000 dollars for that huh? What a Dud. Next time we should vote for the dog at least it seems to have a plan.

[wilagro]

Well, if you want an even more right-wing party then Wild Rose is the way.

Not for me though...I will support the Liberals as I thing this present government has lost its way and this talk from Stelmach did not inspire me in the least. Stelmach is allowing the different dep't heads to run the show and it shows...bad policies in Health, Energy and Education and NO consistent plan from the top down. Its like trying to drive horses with only one "check-rein", they don't know how to pull together.

[coppertop]

I agree that the bureaucrats are running
the show and the Premier has listened to
some very bad advice but I do think that
health care and education need a huge
overhaul. Lots of waste in the systems of
both I am sure.

[Intrepid1]

Well the present government was elected in 1971 and there has no been real opposition since. It can be unhealthy for a politcal system to have total unaccountable control by one party let alone talking in career and generations of bureaucrats. Many of the ministers including our own industry should retire promptly and let new fresh people take over.

[smcgrath76]

CT - I think one of the problems is that
the reforms that are talked about come
from the managers of the sector being
reformed. Since they obviously can't cut
their own overhead, they have to focus on
the people on the ground doing the work.

[perfecho]

I actually like that Stelmac was letting dept heads do their jobs......if not let them go and save the wages. The last leader always overrode decisions and to me, that is not democratic....why elect people if one person in calling the shots anyways. Save the $$$s and elect a dictator.
In saying that, I agree he doesn't have the right dept heads, but he inherited that, the machine came with the position he got, the troubles were already there, there was enough $ to hide them before. And I doubt he can fix them. He will be a transitional sacrifice, nice guy or not.