In December, I won the leadership of the Alberta Liberal Party, the oldest, most durable political institution in Alberta. 

Since that time, I’ve dealt with a lot of issues, none more fascinating than coming to understand the role of Leader of the Official Opposition. It’s a heavy burden for anyone, because as unlikely as some of you may think it is, the role of Leader is to take over leadership of Her Majesty’s government if the current Premier is not up to the task.

This session, this Premier and this administration showed that they are not, in fact, up to the task.

My mission as Leader of the Official Opposition is to fight for a healthy Alberta. Healthy people, a healthy economy, a healthy society.

With a couple of exceptions, this session was not a good one for Alberta’s health, in any sense of the word.

Because the Stelmach administration followed their old pattern: they forgot about the law of unintended consequences.

Poor planning, overspending, a failure to save for the future and overdependence on oil and gas revenues led to the largest budget deficit in Alberta history. Years of Tory mismanagement led Alberta into this mess; they should have been far better prepared for the inevitable decline of oil and gas revenues.  The Alberta Liberal sustainability fund, which the Stelmach administration implemented, is the only thing that prevented Alberta from slipping back into debt, and the budget amendments we proposed could have shaved $50 million off the deficit, had the government passed them.

The parental opt-out clause in Bill 44 has not only tarnished our international reputation, but forced human rights in Alberta to take a huge step backward. The Premier’s so-called “free” vote was a farce, proving that his administration is completely out of touch with the majority of Albertans, who want their children to be educated in a climate of acceptance and reason. They certainly underestimated the passion of students, who stepped forward by the thousands to fight for their human rights. I’m so proud of these young people, as I am of the many parents, gay and lesbian Albertans, teachers and scientists who spoke out so forcefully against this bill.

As an MD, I’m dismayed by how this administration has sent our public health care system into a downward spiral. Record deficits, dwindling morale among health care professionals, delisting of vital services, cancelling of so-called elective surgeries, delays, Albertans in pain, ridiculous spectacles like the one we saw with the on-again, off-again laser prostate machine in Calgary, saved only by the generosity of a Calgarian business and an anonymous donor. I’m starting to wonder if the Health Minister’s secret mantra goes something like “It became necessary to destroy public health care in order to save it.”

A lot of people don’t believe that nine Alberta Liberal MLAs can succeed against 72 Tories. But we do succeed, both inside the Legislature and in our constituencies. Dave Taylor’s successful push to have the government cover the cancer drug Avastin will undoubtedly save lives.  We convinced the government to at least extend coverage for individuals who have started hormone treatment for gender reassignment surgery. We got the Premier to commit to a free vote on Bill 44, although I think we all know just how “free” that vote really was in the end.

A good deal of what opposition MLAs do occurs behind the scenes, in committee meetings and bill debates. Each MLA does everything they can to make the laws that this administration passes just a little bit better, and sometimes we succeed.

Outside the Legislature, Alberta Liberal MLAs resolve the issues of Albertans living in their constituencies. In fact, we also help Albertans from outside our constituencies, people who are unsatisfied with the performance of their local Tory MLA.

The job of an opposition is to hold government accountable. Not mindlessly or reflexively, but thoughtfully and intelligently, and I believe that we do that every day, both during session and throughout the rest of the year.

We have a unified caucus that works together with our staff every day to bring some semblance of sanity to the government’s endless mucking about with the fundamental building blocks of our society: from health care to the public school system to the energy industry, this government makes ideologically driven decisions without careful analysis of the science or public values. This Premier, this administration – they don’t think about tomorrow. They’re always living in the moment, avoiding (or creating) today’s crisis, without a thought for our children or the kind of Alberta they’re creating through neglect and shortsightedness.

We need a government that looks ahead, one that understands the law of unintended consequences and does the research before making decisions. We didn’t have that government this session, and the people of Alberta are worse off because of it.

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