A Fresh Start?

In a democracy, an election offers the opportunity for a fresh start, even when the government doesn’t change.

During an election, parties and their leaders are forced to confront feedback from voters, at the doorsteps, in polls and in the final election result. For partisans willing to listen, the experience might inform their approach moving forward.

I believe in second chances, and in the ability of politicians to learn and adapt. After all, it’s in their best interest to take feedback from voters to heart if they want to set themselves up to win the next election.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve tried to extend the Smith government the benefit of the doubt. I believe that Smith imagines herself to be another Ralph Klein, a woman of the people who can take her party’s narrow victory and build on it to re-establish a conservative political dynasty in the province. And there’s some part of her that knows that the only way to do that is to deliver solid, middle-of-the-road government, spiced up with the occasional fight with Ottawa on behalf of oil and gas.

Smith’s words on election night — that she wanted to govern for all Albertans — set the right tone. The Cabinet she appointed last week was more or less the Cabinet you’d appoint if you wanted to pursue the middle of the road.

And yet, other words and actions leave me deeply concerned about the kind of government she plans to lead.

In one of her first media interviews, Smith retreated back to the world of alternative facts, claiming that Alberta’s devastating forest fires this year were the product of arson, not climate change. How can we expect her government to tackle the very real problems the province faces if Smith won’t acknowledge scientific fact? (And no, Don Braid, it’s not OK for the premier to avoid talking about climate change, even if her government is taking some action to address it. Our community’s ability to adapt to rapid economic and environmental changes depends on our collective understanding of those changes. Leadership is required.)

Even after the Ethics Commissioner took her to task for violating the Conflict of Interest Act, Smith saw no problem inviting a Calgary Herald photographer into the kitchen of her family’s restaurant, which was about to be put up for sale. So much for avoiding the appearance of a conflict of interest. [NOTE: I assumed that the photo was a photo op set up by the Premier’s office. Subsequent information seems to suggest it was not. I’m quite unclear on how this ended up in the Herald. I think the point stands, though: there is at least the appearance of a conflict of interest here].

And, it seems, Smith has not instructed her political staff to shift out of election mode. Yesterday, one of her most senior advisors took to Twitter to launch a personal attack against political science professor Duane Bratt, in an apparent attempt to silence or intimidate a critic (and by extension all the other potential critics lurking out there in the academy). This is a continuation of a hugely troubling approach taken by the Kenney government, and documented by Charles Rusnell.

Free speech is a foundational value of democracy, and when government tries to intimidate its critics, democracy is endangered. I hope that the Smith government embraces the opportunity that its fresh start offers to reconsider this approach.

And perhaps Smith could take the advice Bratt implicitly offered in his comments, and signal a fresh start by unblocking the Albertans she blocked on Twitter when they criticized her. This would go a long way in signalling a true fresh start.