Today, as Lieutenant Governor Normie Kwong read the speech from the throne, it became increasingly apparent that the Stelmach Conservatives are completely at a loss on what to do next.

“They change their communications staff, shuffle the cabinet, reset the legislative agenda…they do everything but address Alberta’s real challenges,” says David Swann, Leader of the Official Opposition. “It has become completely apparent that the cupboard is bare. There’s no policy, no ideas, no legislation, no vision, no leadership…dare I say, no plan.”

Swann is skeptical that the Conservative pledge to protect the vulnerable means anything, given the reality of recent funding cuts. 

“The Premier’s promises to protect the vulnerable weren’t true then, and they aren’t true now,” Swann says. “The cuts have already started. Just ask anyone who depends upon PDD funding.”

The so-called Alberta Competitiveness Act, touted as the Stelmach administration’s Bill 1, best exemplifies the Premier’s lack of imagination, Swann says.

“There’s nothing wrong with cutting through the red tape business has to deal with. I’ve been calling for this for years,” Swann says. “But this kind of common-sense housekeeping is the sort of thing that should have been dealt with as a matter of course. The Premier is treating this Bill like it’s revolutionary, and it’s not. It’s merely something they should have done years ago.”

Finally, Swann says that the government has gutted the health care system and has given only empty assurances that they’ll fix what they’ve broken.

“There’s no plan at all here for really fixing the system,” Swann says. “We need more family doctors, shorter wait times in emergency rooms, more public long term care spaces, investment in prevention and better management throughout the system. These problems can’t be solved with platitudes.”

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