2015 was a tumultuous year in provincial politics that saw the four-decade Progressive Conservative dynasty fall.
And while many obsess over the New Democrats rise to power, for many in rural Alberta the search for a new political voice brought to power the fledgling Wildrose Party and Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken.
“What we saw in the 2015 provincial election was that Albertans were tired of power in politics,” van Dijken said. “Politicians were putting their interests first, ahead of the people. It’s easy for that to happen in a long-serving government; they start to believe that they know best.”
Wildrose preach small government and reduced spending, one of the reasons, he claims that the party’s message has resonated so strongly with rural Albertans.
It’s also one of the reasons he predicts so much success from the riding in 2016.
“Rural people are very much independent-minded,” van Dijken said. “There are times where government oversteps its bounds and rural Alberta understands that a little bit better because they are so tightly knit together in smaller communities.”
That mentality has served Westlock well since the election, he said. Much of the policy put forward by the new government has had far-reaching effects on rural areas, including the Bill 8 education reforms and Bill 6, which contained dramatic alterations to farm safety regulations.
Both bills were slammed in the media for their lack of public consultation, and widely protested, both at the Legislature and in town halls around the province.
Van Dijken said he was proud of rural Albertans reaction to the government’s lack of consultation.
“Albertans are not ready to let the excuse of ‘being a new government’ give [the NDP] the excuse of implementing far-reaching legislation that impacts their lives,” he said.
“Seven months in, I’m hearing loud and clear that [constituents] are worried about the direction that the new government is taking.”
While he points to clear victories for Albertans, such as the elimination of pay increases to high-ranking legislative officers last fall, he claims that our current government is quickly learning many of the tricks that brought about the PC’s downfall.
“When we first started out, we hoped that this government would be willing to cooperate and recognize that we are there to help,” he said.
That offer, he said, has gone largely unaccepted, said van Dijken. And it will be especially perilous for the government to ignore the Wildrose’s message as oil prices slump and profits turn sour, he added.
Many of the NDP’s most recent policies, $15 per hour minimum wage, a $3 billion carbon tax, and the looming shadow of a royalty review, will put undue strain on an economy that’s already being viewed, globally, as a risky investment.
“I would say [these types of decisions] lead to a slow death. These policies are doing damage to sectors across the economy. We see where investment dollars are leaving in search of more business friendly environments,” he said.
“[These downgrades] have everything to do with perceived instability. Investment goes to where the climate is the most stable and with the way we’re doing government right now, nobody really knows what to expect.”
Such policies, he explained, are irking voters in Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock for a reason: in a province ruled so long by fiscal conservatism, the experiment may have lasting effects.
“NDP public policy is going to have an impact on all of our lives, now and into the foreseeable future, based on the fact that they are willing to take on so much debt,” he said.
Runaway spending even has many in the province crying for a recall. The Wildrose have already proposed legislation that would allow voters to petition an election, although van Dijken falls short of publicly endorsing a reelection.
