Dear Editor,
Thanks for printing Eileen Walker’s letter on page 19, Jan. 21 issue of the Ponoka News.
We have had over a month’s silence from press since the nine Wildrose MLAs dared to throw away every Wildrose vote from the last election in the Province of Alberta.
What did they get from the Conservatives? If they had respected their mandate from their voters, if the infighting was too bad, they could have gone independent and still served their communities. Why should party caucuses be given power to kill the most effective dissent Albertans have had in over 40 years?
Without opposition MLAs in the legislature, we never have a healthy voice of dissent, which is critical to good and effective democratic governance.
No system of checks and balances now exists. The result of Wildrose defection is a conservative dictator premiere, and buddies, who hop-scotched by-elections after he took power to become elected. When the whole province’s opposition vote is legislatively disregarded, the result is an outright dictatorship or “coup”, no matter how one colours it; or how technically correct it now appears.
So why would there be talk of a spring election? Prentice fixed the need for the cost of an election when he co-opted the Wildrose MLAs.
We do not need an election to rubber stamp a dirty conservative stunt against an electorate who dared to have a legal vote of dissent at the polls. Now what is a vote at the polls worth?
Our vote is what put the Wildrose MLAs in a position of trust and responsibility in our elected government.
When the MLAs crossed the floor en masse, they ignored the legal mandate of the voters and should lose their seats or jobs in the legislature permanently.
When an oilfield worker walks without notice to an adjoining rig to work for a better boss, he thinks he will not necessarily be welcomed at either place. Company loyalty does count for something.
Too bad the other voters who did vote Conservative were not given another line on the ballot: None of the above.
Stella Friedel
Ponoka