The Unite The Right movement is receiving lots of space in the Cochrane Eagle. After the Legion rally on July 3, last week’s edition predictably published hellfire predictions about impending disaster if right-wing parties can’t join up and boot out those monstrous New Democrats in the 2019 provincial election.
As another not unbiased witness to the event, may I add my perspective on what I consider the dated, delusional and exaggerated speeches made?
We heard Wild Rose leader Brian Jean yearning for the “Alberta that I grew up in.” Conservative leader Jason Kenney questioned the celebration of diversity at federal sesquicentennial events.
He thought it more important to pay homage to the people who first settled here – presumably meaning the good old European White Man.
Local MP Blake Richards also pined for the old-time values that once made Alberta such a great province. And emcee Prem Singh wondered: “Why is it greed to keep all the money you earn?”
This was tasty red meat for the obediently nodding audience, a large portion of whom were old codgers like me. But, when politicians spend so much energy – as this lot does to vilify their opponents in the most hostile – and unsubstantiated – manner, it’s eerily reminiscent of the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the rise of Donald Trump.
At the Legion, speakers couldn’t resist depicting Alberta since the election of the New Democrats in the most abject way imaginable.
In Kenney’s world, about the only policy alternative offered was to repeal the Carbon Tax, and partner with Saskatchewan to sue the Feds over their carbon emission policies.
In other words, destroy what major Alberta energy investors have supported. And, not a word regarding climate change. Oh, I forgot, that’s a hoax, isn’t it?
Weird that the most ideological bunch in Alberta’s recent history would lambaste the NDs for their ideological leanings.
So, in the words of Kenney to the grim-faced reactionaries: Join up, vote for unity, and “get ’er done.” The organizing group has made digital voting so easy that, according to Kenney, members will be able to “vote on a boat in the Okanagan with a beer in your hand.” That neatly sums up the Wild West spirit of this sinking enterprise.
Andy Marshall
