Would a party system cure all these ills in the municipal system？
Episode Stats
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Summary
In this episode, I discuss the proposed change to allow parties in municipal politics in Alberta, and why it would be a good thing for Alberta. I talk about the benefits and drawbacks of a party system, and how it could improve our municipal politics.
Transcript
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political parties in municipal elections. And boy, I tell you, municipal leaders are pretty
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worked up over the whole concept, because it sounds like Premier Smith is going to
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bring in legislation to allow it. Now, the question these incumbent municipal politicians
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should be asking as they rally in opposition to allowing parties in municipal politics is,
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or what we should be asking them is, what are you afraid of? I mean, the case being made by
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Albertan mayors, Reeves, and councillors in opposition to these proposed changes is that
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nobody wants to see these parties. They're saying Albertans don't want it. It's okay, if that's the
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case, then you guys should have nothing to worry about. You'll be re-elected as independent candidates
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and the parties will just fade away into the sidelines, right? The reality is, countless
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municipal politicians have been taking advantage of the lack of party politics at the municipal level,
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coupled with the apathy of voters to get elected under false pretenses. I mean, we've got no means
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of vetting through a party nomination process, so candidates can disguise themselves as conservative
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minded people when they're running for office. Of course, once they get elected, they tack hard left,
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and unfortunately, the frustrated electorate tends to stay home rather than vote these pretenders out
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of office. Former Calgary Mayor Nahed Nenshi is a prime example of that. Municipal politics in Alberta
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right now are a mess. Councils everywhere are fractured at each other's throats, not getting anything done,
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while frustrated voters are trying things such as recall initiatives to get rid of these terrible
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politicians. I mean, look at Chestermere, the province had to actually step in and fire the mayor and
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council, because they were too nutty to try and bring to a reasonable state of functional order. Would a
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party system cure all these ills in the municipal system? No, of course not, it wouldn't. But it sure would
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help. If candidates have a party allegiance tied to them, voters, people and general citizens can get a better
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idea of where that candidate stands ideologically. Parties typically have a nomination process before
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endorsing candidates. If there's a contested nomination, we can rest assured that closet
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socialists are going to be exposed before they hit the ballot in the general election. Some of the
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less than mentally stable contenders for the job could probably be weeded out as well. I mean, we get a lot
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of good candidates running for office, but they don't lose, they lose the elections because they don't
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know how to run in them. And they don't have an organization behind them to help them along with it.
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With parties, candidates have a structure and a potential team to help them effectively contest the election.
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And then costs and campaigning, they can be reduced as candidates can share costs from constituency to
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constituency on things like branding, communications, printing, and even sharing campaign office space.
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With a party apparatus, candidates with limited campaign experience can still compete effectively
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for the role. Parties can also hold candidates accountable between elections. That's something we
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all dearly want. I mean, much like in other levels of government, a party can't remove a person from
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their elected position, nor should they be able to. But a party can refuse to endorse that candidate in
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the next election if the candidate deviates too far from the shared principles they said they held
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with the party. That ability, though, does reflect one of the potential downsides of a party system. I
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mean, to be fair, candidates could find themselves more inclined to answer to the party than their
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constituents, and that's not a good thing. It's a risk that should be mitigated through party
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policies, though. When municipal parties are formed, representatives will need to have the leeway to be able to
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represent their needs of the individual constituencies rather than always towing a party line.
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I mean, a suburban councillor, they're going to have different policies and priorities and needs than
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an inner city urban council would, and they should have the flexibility to represent those differences.
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With city and town councils having a small number of people within them, these councils,
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a traditional party politics such as whip votes won't work anyways. Those problems, though, can and would be
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ironed out with an effective party. We can't pretend that parties don't exist in municipal politics already.
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A board of unions put together a war chest of an estimated $1.7 million and gave it to a political action
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group called Calgary's Future in the last election. That group's purpose was to elect a certain slate of
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candidates in the municipal election, and lo and behold, most of the candidates endorsed by the unions won their
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seats. You know what that's called? A party system. We already have it, guys. We'd be better served to make the
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system official and then make the parties transparent. Many of the municipal politicians currently howling and
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pissing and moaning over the advent of a party system in Alberta's municipal elections got elected with
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union support. They know full well they likely couldn't win re-election if they had to wear their
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union allegiance on their sleeves while competing for the job against other candidates running under a
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party banner. Their interest isn't that of Albertans. Their interest is in themselves.
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People often ask, why does Alberta vote conservatively, federally, and provincially? It elects far-left
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politicians at the municipal level. Well, the main reason is the lack of parties at the municipal level.
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Leftists know they can't win through openly campaigning on their ideology, so they've
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gravitated to the level of politics where they can hide their leanings, and it's been an effective
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tactic on their part. And again, if it's true that Albertans truly don't want party politics in
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municipal elections, then these municipal politicians currently in power have nothing to worry about.
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Few would vote for those ghastly party-endorsed politicians anyways, right? So why are you guys so
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worried? It's the fact that these clowns are that worried that tells me exactly why we need those
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parties in municipal politics so much. I'm looking forward to seeing them coming along.