When it comes to hypocrisy, we all have our struggles. Who among us hasn’t leaned on the horn as someone cut us off, then roared through a speed limit because we too were in a hurry?.However, we’re all not running for the job of Alberta premier, so who cares?.But Rachel Notley is running for Alberta premier however, so we all should care whether she walks her talk. .She doesn't, always..This week, she was quick to lean on her horn when Premier Danielle Smith told the press gallery reporters would get one question, and no follow-up: She made it sound like Smith had something to hide. There are pros and cons to limiting questions; even reporters get impatient if those in front go on a bit. But a week or two before we go into an election, it didn’t make a good story for Smith..Then, not quite in the same breath, and after declaring her willingness to answer all and any questions, Notley had two alternative media-reporters ejected from one of her press conferences and refused questions from the Western Standard at the same event..Some people would call that hypocrisy. At least Smith gives you one question..However, there’s a pattern here..For example, if elected premier, it will ultimately fall upon Rachel Notley’s shoulders to ensure Albertans live and walk in safe neighbourhoods and can trust public transit for a harassment-free ride. That takes an efficient and above all, a well-motivated, police force..Yet, Ms. Notley has yet to apologize for and repudiate the views of candidates who have uttered disgraceful speculations about the character of police in Alberta which, if said of the groups she favours, would have rightly drawn widespread condemnation..Rod Loyola is a case in point. He's the NDP candidate for Edmonton-Ellerslie. In a since-deleted tweet he asserted having an Edmonton Police Services badge, “gives you the right to beat up citizens and not have to face criminal charges.”.Say what?.Then there’s Druh Farrell, who in another deleted tweet, opined that police were probably wife-beaters. She said she “couldn’t help wondering about domestic abuse within law enforcement families. There’s some sick rage there. I would bet it goes home with them and the outcome goes largely unreported.”.Well, we’ll never know, will we? How do you counter such a cocktail of assumption, prejudice and wishful thinking as that?.Failing hard evidence, it simply demands a retraction and an apology and Ms. Notley should have asked for both not only from Farrell, but from Loyola and those other NDP candidates who signed on to a defund-the-police website a few years ago..Instead, Ms. Notley included Farrell in the human backdrop for the same Calgary announcement in which was variously kicking out some media, refusing entry to others and declining answers to Western Standard questions. (Not to mention deciding who qualified in here eyes as legitimate news media... For the record, the Western Standard is accredited by press galleries in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ottawa. We even qualified for the federal media assistance program: All I can think of that would make us more legitimate is to actually accept it. But that, we will not do.).Hint for legitimacy: the point is the question, not who's asking it..Notley's support for police-hating candidates is thus also hypocrisy, if for no other reason than if they feel they are in need of protection, it is to these very same badge-wearing “thugs and wife-beaters” that NDP politicians will appeal. .These candidates should not be contesting seats anywhere in Alberta. And a very good time for Ms. Notley to have made their resignation from candidacy would have been during the mourning which followed the brutal murder of two Edmonton police officers last month, killed while responding to a domestic violence complaint..Of course, she did not..And then there’s the matter of the Alberta NDP’s support for Justin Trudeau’s ‘Just Transition,’ the job-killing, wealth-destroying strategy that threatens the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of workers not just in Alberta, but across the country. We understand the Alberta NDP, being essentially a branch office of the federal NDP, has limited options. Nevertheless, Ms. Notley’s main criticism seems to be focussed not on job loss in Alberta, but upon the tone-deaf instincts of a federal government that would try to legislate this hot potato (for the NDP) in the same few months that she was trying to win government there. 'Please don't do that, Mr. Trudeau! You're playing right into Danielle Smith's hands!!! Save it for later in the year.'.Not an exact quote, but you get the idea..It's not only the great speeches and policy announcements, or even the insidious tweets, that tell you what you need to know about a politician seeking office. It’s also their behaviour..Ms. Notley presents for the most part a charming face to the public..Behind the smile however, there is a striking lack of consistency to the point of hypocrisy..The same instincts that prompt Ms. Notley to arbitrarily say who she will speak to and who she won't, to allow candidates to say outrageous things about some Albertans while casting those who disagree with her as horrible people and whose loyalty to Albertans must always be compromised by her conflicting loyalty to her national party, make her a dangerous choice for Albertans who value freedom — not to mention their personal security and their jobs..I'm glad we saw what we saw this week. Rachel Notley does not walk her talk. And Monday told us all Alberta voters need to know about her, and her party.
