Stewart Jeanes is a businessman.After reading Kathy Kerr’s recent Globe and Mail editorial, The UCP is a Party with Concerns Wildly Divergent from those of Albertans at Large, I have to say the federal government is getting its money’s worth (for once). Ms. Kerr has earned every penny of the Globe’s federal subsidy with a review of the recent United Conservative Party (UCP) Annual General Meeting that can only be described as wishful thinking..For instance, she writes, “Premier Danielle Smith faces an uphill battle with her own party, which appears to be increasingly untethered from Alberta’s current reality.” In fact, the Premier received multiple standing ovations over the three-day event. And with regards to reality, poll aggregator 338Canada puts the UCP ahead of the Alberta NDP. Judging by the raucous booing at the mention of the Government of Canada, I would say it’s Prime Minister Mark Carney who faces an uphill battle with members of the UCP..Let’s review more of Ms. Kerr’s editorial comments. First, she made an odd reference to UCP policy resolutions mired in the 1950s. That’s rich, coming from someone who seems mired in the Russia of 1917. Below is an A.I. overview of Canada’s economic performance in the 1950s..Thanks to the federal government for creating the current hostile regulatory environment, which has led to the cancellation of significant projects such as the $7.9 billion Northern Gateway Pipeline, the $10 billion Keystone XL Pipeline, and the $20.6 billion Frontier Oil Sands Project. Let’s bring back heavy investment in natural resource development à la the 1950s!Did you notice Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, and BC saw the most growth in the 1950s? How sad that Ontario and Quebec are now considered “have-not” provinces and must rely on equalization payments from Alberta. It seems BC will be next now that their lumber industry has suffered another blow. I think we can all agree that the fifties look pretty good relative to the mess Canada is in today. .Further, I had to laugh when Ms. Kerr asserted our Premier “must sell a new direction for her government to UCP members and, more importantly, to the average Albertan.”Of course, UCP members are average Albertans. Similarly, according to the Globe’s editorialist, “Ms. Smith’s party has adopted some radical positions (let me guess — Ms. Kerr views any policy she disagrees with as “radical”) just as progressive opposition groups seem to be gaining traction with average Albertans. The federalist Forever Canadian petition, which garnered more than 430,000 signatures earlier this year, was a wake-up call about unhappiness with the UCP’s flirtation with separatism.”Odd, I thought Albertans’ unhappiness with Confederation was a wake-up call for the federal government. Certainly, former Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault seems to have suffered a rude awakening..OLDCORN: Accountability, not politics — $34 million ‘questionable’ spending at Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations.Next, Ms. Kerr drops the gloves when she has the temerity to add, “And recall petitions aiming to unseat 14 government MLAs signal a mobilization of opposition to the use of the notwithstanding clause in a teachers’ strike.”A mobilization of opposition? And here’s me thinking it was sore losers treating the last election as their mulligan. One can speculate as to who is doing the mobilizing. I suspect progressive opposition groups like the NDP, ATA leadership (but not necessarily teachers), and public sector union leaders (but not necessarily members) are involved. The whole affair strikes me as less than organic. Finally, Ms. Kerr seems to object to Premier Smith receiving standing “ovations for banning graphic images in school library books and restricting surgery and puberty blockers for transgender children.”.If so, wouldn’t Ms. Kerr’s objections to protecting children from pornography, puberty blockers, and genital mutilation make her a radical? Certainly, that’s my view. For those parents who feel compelled for some odd reason to provide pornography to their children, they are free to do so at home.Overall, the Globe editorial is an amusing treasure trove of ham-handed biases against Alberta’s United Conservative Party. But when I dig deeper into that bias, I worry something much darker is at play. I will explain. I was born in October of 1962 — the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I’m a child of the Cold War, and actually had a neighbour with a bomb shelter. Growing up, we all mocked Soviet journal “Pravda” as the Propaganda Wing of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. For a laugh, everyone would also refer to the heavily subsidized CBC as the Propaganda Wing of the Liberal Party of Canada (many a true word is spoken in jest). Now, however, the majority of journals and electronic media in Canada rely on federal largesse. One Soviet propaganda method is called The Firehose of Falsehood, a technique where many messages are broadcast rapidly and continuously over multiple news and social media channels without regard for truth or balance. I know, I know — your “conspiracy theorist” senses are tingling. Call me crazy, but you don’t have to look very hard to find a wide range of criticism from multiple, subsidized sources against the one provincial party and leader calling Canada’s government out for mismanagement. The collage below consists of just nine of the many negative headlines published in the week since the UCP AGM — it’s a veritable firehose of negativity. Who stands to gain if Albertans are convinced Danielle Smith and the UCP are a liability instead of the asset they clearly are? Obviously, the federal government subsidizing the journals benefits from negative press directed toward Alberta and Danielle Smith. Naheed Nenshi and the NDP are a much more malleable option for Alberta’s government than the incumbent — at least from the federal government’s point of view. .To test my theory, I tried to find similar headlines regarding the Parti Quebecois annual general meeting — a fruitless search — even though they are at the top of the polls, and promise another referendum on independence, if not a unilateral declaration. Albertans should not allow themselves to be victimized by the federal government’s propagandists. Ask yourself, what does the author of a news piece or editorial want you to believe, and who benefits if you believe it? In the case of Albertans being bombarded with negative UCP press, it is very clear Albertans will suffer if the NDP is once again given a chance to run high-flying Alberta into the ground.Stewart Jeanes is a businessman. He moved to Alberta for two years, thirty-seven years ago. He admires Albertans for their entrepreneurial spirit and the ambitious people from all over the world who choose to be Albertans.
