With apologies to Jerry Seinfeld, this is a post about nothing. It was supposed to be a post highlighting the policy differences between the three PC candidates.
Instead we have a Letterman top-ten list of the ways they agree:
10. All three will end “entitlements” which have slightly different definitions, but pretty much mean “see how far I can run from Alison Redford”.
9. All care deeply for average Albertans.
8. All think we should be patient while flood victims decide whether to take a government buy out.
7. All are committed to public health care.
6. All would review the closure of the Michener Centre.
5. All want to help the mentally ill.
4. All would stop spending money on ridiculous things.
3. On that note, none would give taxpayer money to hockey arenas.
2. All would change the format of the provincial budget back to more-or-less the way it was.
And the number one way all of the candidates agree is …
1. They all support the oil sands.
Now to be fair, the process of getting into this race was weird.
Despite the vacancy occurring on March 23, candidates had to wait until May 15 to pick up papers. They weren’t allowed to raise money or spend a dime until they returned those papers by May 30.
That is twisted because to take out the papers they needed $20,000, and to return them they needed another $30,000 plus 500 signatures collected in person from around the province – all of which requires money but fundraising is prohibited by law until you return the papers. They couldn’t even use personal funds because the donation limit is $30,000. So each of them had to break one law or another just to be here. I digress.
What it means is before June 1, they couldn’t assemble advisors, travel around and consult with Albertans, or do the other things you do to develop policy.
So here, in mid-June, it is too much to expect hefty policy platforms from them.
But all have been involved in politics for a long time. They must have ideas. Maybe they are waiting until the dog days of summer to roll them out when no one is looking.
But there are only so many times the headlines can tell us what today’s topic of agreement is.
