Hypocrisy upon hypocrisy... Even as NDP leader Rachel Notley condemns Premier Danielle Smith for limiting questions at press conferences, Notley herself avoids questions she doesn't want to answer by arbitrarily cancelling reporters who might ask questions she doesn't like. .Now of course, as leader of a political party Ms. Notley is entitled to not talk to anybody she chooses, although it's an unusual tack to take with an election seven weeks away. But, it's her party. .And at the Western Standard we knew something was up, which is why I went to see her at a media event earlier Monday. A few months ago, the Alberta NDP removed the Western Standard from its distribution list for media advisories and news releases. It is customary for political parties to circulate notice of forthcoming press conferences and media events and their positions on matters of the day. Usually, it's a shotgun approach, everybody gets everything whether they want it or not. However, the Alberta wing of the federal NDP decided it didn't want to share this information with us and while it seems a bizarre choice, they are certainly within their rights to exclude our publication or any other from their list, if that's how they feel.. Notley versus Western Standard .It's notable that the Saskatchewan wing of the party also knows how we differ from them on policy, but remains content to share their information.So, in my encounter with Ms. Notley this morning, after wishing her a 'Happy Birthday,' I asked her whether she would commit to restoring the Western Standard to the list..And this is where it got interesting: She wouldn't answer questions from the Western Standard. It turns out that we were cut off from the media releases because we were 'not a real newspaper,' and by the way, our editorial positioning is "homophobic, discriminatory and hateful.".Let the record be clear: We are none of those things. We represent family values, personal responsibility and hard-working Albertans who pay their taxes and play by the rules. .And in thus accusing us of these slurs — nuclear slurs one might say, in this day and age — Ms. Notley here revealed the problem with her branch of the NDP. They present a smiling face. They want you to like them. They want your vote..But they can't take disagreement..So if you do disagree, they won't answer you, they'll just pretend you don't exist..In this, they could actually take a lesson from Premier Smith. During my career, I have seen few politicians accept more unsubstantiated calumny than Smith, but I have yet to see her tell a questioner in a public setting that they're unworthy to ask, that their ideas offensive, and that therefore they shouldn't receive an answer. I have seen Smith take questions on social and cultural questions that must deeply offend her libertarian sensibilities. She treats them all with grace..Self-evidently, Ms. Notley does not..Her problem is that we do exist and that they are profoundly wrong on some things that go to the heart of how we live in Alberta. And they don't have good answers — in some cases, any answers — so instead of engaging, they just shut us down. (And also this morning, Keean Bexte and and Alex Dhaliwal of Rebel News.).Again, we concede their right to control access to their own press conferences..What we do not concede, is any right whatsoever to decide what is a newspaper and what is not..The Western Standard is most certainly a news site — one that often points out things about the NDP that they would rather not become part of the public record..Before I had even returned from her press conference, Western Standard publisher Derek Fildebrandt had nailed it.."Rachel Notley is entitled to decide who she will take questions from and how many, however hypocritical. She is not entitled to decide who is media and who is not. The Western Standard will never retract a story that contains no errors, other than offending her sensitivities," he said..Amen and amen. And we will continue to hold Ms. Notley and her party to account, in the election campaign as she seeks a four-year blank cheque from Alberta's voters and in the years after, whatever the result may be.It's something serious for voters to think about it. If people won't talk to you when they're in opposition, how do you think it will go for you if they form government?
