| A hard lesson learned |
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| Local Content - Editorial |
| Written by production |
| Wednesday, 03 February 2010 19:29 |
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On Jan. 19, Republican Scott Brown beat out democrat Martha Coakley in a Massachusetts special election to fill the seat left vacant following last year's death of Sen. Edward Kennedy. Coakley ran a lackluster campaign, did very little to reach out to the people, canceled a meet-and-greet at Fenway Park to greet supporters because it was too cold; even though it was not too cold for her supporters to turn out to meet her. Kennedy held seat for 47 years and the last time the people of Massachusetts elected a Republican to the United States senate was in 1972. Sound familiar? It should. The Conservative Party of Alberta has continuously led the province since 1971 under the leadership of Peter Lougheed (1971-85), Don Getty (1985-92), Ralph Klein (1992-06), and Ed Stelmach (2006-present). For Coakley, assuming the senate seat would be an easy win proved to be more costly than one might think. She did not merely lose the seat for the democratic party, but a Republican win gave her opponent's party the 41st vote in the 100-member Senate and thus, the power to filibuster Democratic initiatives. Coakley's out-of-touch campaign was magnified with the public when she stated that she preferred to campaign among elected officials behind closed doors rather and get out and meet people. When Kennedy's widow called Coakley to offer to volunteer during the campaign, Coakley snubbed Kennedy...twice. One of her campaign ads actually misspelled "Massachusetts". Coakley did not stop there in offending the people of Massachusetts. During a radio interview, she was asked who Curt Schilling was. Now, it is forgivable for people in Alberta to not know, but anybody in Massachusetts better know who the pitcher who helped the Red Sox win the World Series in 2004 and 2007 is. Coakley's response to the question: Another Yankee fan. It is unclear whether she truly did not know or if she was making a joke about Schilling, who is a staunch Republican and considered running for the Senate seat himself. Regardless, Coakley clearly was not in touch with the people who she was banking on to win her the Senate seat and the people of Massachusetts responded and voted in favour of Republican Brown, who for the most part, campaigned as an Independent. So, what does a special election in New England have to do with politics in Alberta? Perhaps nothing directly; but the parallels are certainly there. As Coakley felt the election would be an easy one to win for the Democratic party and ran a lackluster campaign, Alberta's Conservative party too, have been getting awfully comfortable in their seats. If Coakley preferred to run her campaign behind closed doors, amongst elected officials, then how does one think she would conduct herself once elected? Look no further than the Stelmach government which holds continuous focus groups, committee meetings, and closed-door sessions without reaching out to the general populace. Issuing gag orders and conducting business from a central office in Edmonton does nothing to ensure the trust, respect and ultimately, the vote of the people of Alberta. Like Coakley, Stelmach too avoids interaction with the "little people", has a habit of not attending public engagements, and seems to be quite comfortable behind a closed door. Still, he has managed in his short time in office, to alienate the petroleum industry, dismantle the province's health system, and also like Coakley, remains out of touch with the needs of the people of Alberta. Currently, the Conservatives hold onto 68 seats in legislature, the Liberals hold nine, Wildrose have three, the NDP have two and one seat is held by an Independent. Stelmach has two short years to get out of the meeting rooms and find out what it is Albertans really want. Time will tell if he will actually be able to reverse some of the damage he has created in this province. The people of Massachusetts bucked the trend and voted against what was expected. Albertans can and will do the same. |