Bow Valley residents are concerned about housing, tourism, the environment and Canada’s role abroad, according to a series of meetings held by the federal Liberal Party of Canada.
Opposition leader Michael Ignatieff and MPs Bob Rae, Ken Dryden, Carolyn Bennett and Martha Hall-Findlay attended the Alberta branch of the federal Liberal party’s annual general meeting at the Radisson in Canmore, Saturday and Sunday (Feb. 6-7).
Ignatieff rallied the troops on Saturday as the party prepares for a potential spring election, casting the party as a defender of families and supporters of education.
“As we look forward to an election, we must be the compassionate, environmentally responsible, fiscally responsible alternative,” Ignatieff said.
Gathering a collection of high-profile Liberals in the Wild Rose riding is a chance to show Canadians the party isn’t afraid to go into predominantly Conservative ridings. While Canmore and Banff proved friendly to Liberal candidates in the last election, when compared to the rest of the riding, Ignatieff said Alberta is seeing a change across the entire political landscape.
“We’re here to send a message that Albertans have an alternative to predominately single party rule,” Ignatieff said. “It’s the biggest change in 30 years and reinforces my idea that in the context of change – you can’t have a democracy without an alternative.”
The opposition leader said this was his tenth visit to Alberta, and he’s seen the province get richer, but the level of worry about education, environment and health care has increased.
MPs Dryden and Rae spoke with residents at Beamers and La Belle Patate over the weekend, listening to their questions and ideas.
Housing concerns and seniors housing were issues brought to the party in the riding. Ignatieff expressed concern over overheating in the housing market, and said Canadians are at risk of an interest rate shock.
“For every dollar Canadians earn, they owe $1.50. One shock in interest rates and the game changes. We have to get our fiscal house in order.”
Dryden said housing has become such a large issue, it’s been passed around to other levels of government instead of being dealt with effectively. Cutbacks in the ‘90s to housing have created a large problem, he says, threatening other areas of Canadians’ lives. A proper national housing strategy would begin to tackle housing issues, he said, which he hears are problems in most communities.
“It’s what you hear everywhere. I knew I would hear about it in Toronto and Montreal. I wasn’t expecting to hear about it in Dartmouth, Victoria and Regina and here. The shortage of affordable housing and the implications it has on those who seek it out. You pretty much cannot put together a life of any stability without a stable roof over your head,” Dryden said.
That discussion has not occurred in the current minority government. He states it’s likely the next election will also produce a minority government thanks to the four party divide.
Fiscally, Ignatieff spoke out against corporate tax cuts proposed by Stephen Harper. While it was the Liberals who dropped corporate tax cuts from 28 per cent to 21 per cent under prime minister Jean Chrétien and had the chance to oppose a further corporate tax cut two years ago, Ignatieff opposes the same plan now, due to the size of the deficit.
“It made sense then because we didn’t have a $56 billion dollar deficit,” Ignatieff explained, noting the Conservative’s proposed corporate tax cut will hurt education and health care.
“Corporate tax cuts are bad economics and it has another consequence. It makes it impossible to do things to create jobs,” Ignatieff said.
On the environment, Ignatieff repeatedly linked green policy with support of the oil sands, noting the Liberals have been long-time supporters of the industry.
However, he wants to see better monitoring and believes the federal government can play a role in water and air quality control.
There has been persistent support by Liberal governments (for the oil sands) over many years to make it a world-class business. Now we have to make it sustainable,” he said. “We don’t have commonly accepted monitoring for the oil sands. We have to get Environment Canada back in to help determine what the standards for the oil sands should be.”
Strategically, supporting the oil sands makes sense, he said.
“I’ve had the temptation to campaign in Quebec and beat up on Alberta and the oil sands. It’s the dumbest politics, I’ll never do it,” Ignatieff said.
The opposition leader spent three summers teaching in Banff, hiking the various peaks, and he said expanding Canada’s national parks, boreal forest and protected areas should be a priority, while addressing water concerns is key to the province’s future.
“Water is a huge issue in Alberta – drought in the south, excessive use in the Mackenzie River with the oil sands. Let’s get the balance right,” Ignatieff said.
In order to increase prosperity in the Bow Valley, MP Hall-Findlay said the government must pay more attention to the American border beyond security concerns.
“An awful lot of our tourism comes from the United States. The fact we have a much thicker border is a problem. There are lots of things that have thickened the border that have nothing to do with security,” Hall-Findlay said. “Not long ago, we could drive across the boarder and it was good for tourism in Alberta.”
Misinformation about Canada as a source of the 9/11 attackers still exists in the U.S., and that, accompanied by programs encouraging Americans to travel at home have hurt the Canadian tourism industry, she said.
Former Wild Rose Liberal candidate Jenn Turcott was one of the organizers of the meeting. She said one of the reasons Canmore was chosen for the meeting was to boost the local economy.
“Canmore and Banff were predominantly hit with a drop in tourism, so we wanted to support this area of the riding. This is a great opportunity to bring 200 delegates to a small town in rural Alberta,” Turcott said.
She’s also scouting the riding for potential Liberal candidates for the next federal election, she said, while growing the party.
Bob Rae ended the weekend with a motivational talk about his experiences on the campaign trail, and running as a third party candidate.
“In Ontario, I campaigned long and hard for the third party. But I can tell you – if you campaign like a loser, you will lose.”
“I’m living proof of the fact that people change their minds,” Rae said.
He said the Liberals had lost their way, but have learned many lessons during five years of opposition.
“We’ve made mistakes. We’ve fought internally. We thought we were entitled,” Rae said. “We forgot who was in charge... it’s the hardest lesson to learn.”
Rae noted the next campaign should be fought on the principles of one of the nation’s greatest prime ministers.
