The Wildrose party has found itself facing some turmoil of late, after a couple of missteps put the party in the news for reasons leader Brian Jean would much rather have avoided.
When Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne recently visited the legislature, Wildrose finance critic Derek Fildebrandt went on the attack by lambasting Ontario’s fiscal record, and apparently shouting that the NDP should be inviting Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall instead. Fildebrandt was suspended from caucus for a short period afterwards, after responding to a constituent’s rude comment on social media about Wynne’s sexuality by saying he was proud to have constituents like him. Fildebrandt said he hadn’t read the comment properly, which was a reasonable explanation, but it still didn’t excuse his rude behaviour to a guest in the legislature.
Following this, a Wildrose MLA website posted a blog – co-authored by nine Wildrose MLAs including local MLA David Hanson - that suggested that the lack of incentive for socialist farmers to produce resulted in the Holodomor, the starvation of millions of Ukrainians. The blog then turned to the carbon tax, saying it too would not create incentives for Albertan producers of goods. After critics complained about comparing a genocide to the carbon tax, the post was deleted, and a written apology was issued by the party, saying, “Any interpretation of the column collaborated on by the nine Wildrose MLAs as dismissing the Holodomor as a horrendous act was completely unintentional, and we unreservedly apologize.”
Having an effective and vocal opposition is critical to the functioning of democracy. When the Wildrose sprang up and gained in popularity, it proved itself capable of holding the government’s feet to the fire on everything from hospital food to government waste to property rights.
But to govern requires more than just being on the attack. It’s not good enough to say the NDP budget is weak, without presenting a shadow budget to show how you would do it better, even with slashed natural resource prices. It’s not good enough to say forget a carbon tax, now is not the time, without offering alternatives or how to improve the rolling out of the plan (because there’s certainly room for improvement there). And it’s certainly not good enough to lose the ability to be calm, cool and rational when debating matters of provincial, national and even global importance. If the Wildrose wants to show it is ready to govern, it will need to demonstrate its own clear ideas and that it can be calm, cool and rational in delivering on them.
