ATHABASCA — Running federally as a non-Conservative in rural Alberta is much like Sisyphus forever trying to push that boulder up the hill — just when you think you're making some progress, it all comes crashing down.
Lakeland Liberal candidate John Turvey knows going up against incumbent Conservative Party of Canada MP Shannon Stubbs will be a challenging, if not futile exercise Sept. 20, but it's one that needs to be done.
“We are going to have some people within the electoral district of Lakeland who would prefer to mark a Liberal candidate on their ballot and they can only do so if there is the name of a Liberal nominee or mid-liberal candidate,” Turvey said in an Aug. 20 interview. “That's really the purpose of this exercise.”
An economist by trade, Turvey has taught the subject at Lakeland College since 2016 and previously at the University of Alberta (U of A) School of Business. He got his Master of Arts in Economics from the U of A as well.
“I find the Liberal fiscal policies to be the most efficient and the most effective. Basically, they follow the textbook, whereas I find Conservatives will wing it back and forth,” he said.
"(Conservatives are) rather opportunistic and they will follow the populist direction. For instance, they're great believers in free market, but yet they interfere in the markets whenever it suits their political advantage, not saying the Liberals don't, but the Liberals are allowed to because it’s not hypocritical for them – that's part of what they do; they're more Keynesian.”
Keynesian economics, named after English economist John Maynard Keynes, argues that demand drives supply and that healthy economies spend or invest more than they save. Keynes also believed governments should increase spending and lower taxes when faced with a recession, in order to create jobs and boost consumer buying power.
“I really didn't think (Harper’s) economic policies were very good. He violated the fundamentals of what we would consider to be prudent fiscal policy,” he said. “That might lead to some interesting discussions once we move into the campaign more.”
And even though Turvey doesn’t need to use daycare he knows it will help lower income families to raise themselves out of poverty when there is a $10/day daycare system.
“The Liberal proposal is far superior in the long-term and the short-term than what the Conservatives are proposing, and it's superior to what the NDP have proposed in the sense that it has more substance and is focused on long-term growth and expansion of childcare facilities,” he said.
Beyond finances though, Turvey sees a need for change, from any party, about fulfilling promises made to Indigenous Canadians.
“When it comes to the First Nations issues the time is long past for making empty promises, any promises made from now on are going to have to be honoured,” he said. “There has to be a viability to it and also, it has to be channeled through First Nations leadership and management, there's no other way that we're going to get these things done, and it's pointless to do it otherwise.”
As for leading us through the pandemic, Turvey thinks all of government, leading and opposition parties alike, deserve credit.
“We're back at a familiar wealth level (and) our economy is not even on stream yet. We've got nothing to do but grow at an astronomical rate. This is a time when Canadians should be so incredibly happy and optimistic,” he said. “As an economist, I just can't imagine a better place to be in the world than in Canada right now and, yes, a lot of it I attribute to not just the Liberal government, but the Conservatives and NDP for standing by the Liberals.”
