Re: rebuttal to Cam Westhead’s criticism of conservative values (Cochrane Eagle, Oct. 27/16)
First, I find it truly amazing that Cam would have the temerity to say the unite the right movement is “out of touch with modern Albertans.” With the NDP currently at less than 20 per cent in the polls it should be obvious to everyone that the NDP are the ones out of touch with Albertans. Clearly what’s happening is that people across Alberta are coming together, in common cause, to oppose the current government. The harder the NDP work to impose their radical vision on the province, the stronger will be the support for the “unity project.”
Next, the NDP record on job creation is impossible to defend. While Cam refers to a few thousand jobs that have been created by infrastructure projects, this pales in comparison to the tens of thousands of jobs that have been lost in the past two years or so. Further, small businesses across the province are, quite literally, closing their doors every day because of rising taxes, the imposition of higher minimum wages and the general economic uncertainty created by the current government. The NDP will point out that it doesn’t set oil prices, but the reality is that its policies are making a bad situation worse. Compare the unemployment rates in Alberta and Saskatchewan, two provinces with similar resource based economies: currently, the unemployment rate in Alberta is 7.9 per cent while in Saskatchewan the rate is substantially lower at 6.1 per cent. Of course, the difference between the two provinces is that Saskatchewan doesn’t have a socialist government.
Further, I must address the straw man argument that the NDP always advances when defending their record: “you must support us to defend front line services” and “conservatives will fire practically every teacher and nurse if they form the next government.” This argument is deceptive and disingenuous because government services at present are only being maintained through debt financing. The problem with this model is that the burden of debt will be transferred to future generations who will have to pay much higher taxes and cope with reduced government services. In other words, in order to protect their base of support and for short term political benefit the current government is quite prepared to punish the next generation(s) for most if not all of their working lives. This is certainly not much of a legacy to leave to our children (and probably their children as well).
Finally, supporters of the unite the right movement are not morons or deplorables. Rather, they are people who support free enterprise and the opportunity that economic system provides to earn a good standard of living through hard work and entrepreneurship. History shows that nations with a private enterprise economy have the highest standard of living. On the other hand, history also shows that the socialist model of high taxation, income redistribution, government management of the economy and the culture of dependency that results from big government is unsustainable. Margaret Thatcher astutely observed …“the problem of socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”
Owen Neal
Alberta Can’t Wait Banff-Cochrane Chapter
