Kenney is stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the left of him, they are calling for more government control to micromanage every aspect of our lives, and they are using covid as the expedient cudgel to further that agenda. Then on the right of Kenney, you have the Alberta Patriots that want less governmental interference, and which is culminating into a separatist movement at its periphery, a periphery that is rapidly moving mainstream.
Kenney is a pragmatic federalist, and as such, he is attempting to walk that narrow line between these two warring factions. Kenney has gambled that his best chances of re-election will essentially come from pissing off the least amount of people, but his approach will not accomplish that aim. Kenney is trying to nullify the more extreme vocal elements on either side, by walking the middle pathway and as such, he will alienate everyone and destroy his party.
So what could Kenney do to maximize his chances of re-election? Kenney … are you listening? You need to ralph on the government’s unions. And by ralph, I mean to take a page from the beloved former Premier Ralph Klein.
The Governmental Unions are the structural foundation of the NDP party and the ideological adversaries of the UCP. They continually push for an ever-expanding big government with an ever progressing range of powers to further regulate and control the lives of its citizenry; all while simultaneously bankrupting them. The push for a PST, for example, is simply to pay for inflated union salaries and benefits packages and nothing else.
I am not anti-union, in that I believe in liberty, and people can organize and associate with whomever they please. But the current state of Alberta’s regulatory structure grossly favours top-down unionism, where members are relegated to serfdom funding their union masters; and these masters are occasionally brazen enough to publically disclose of their memberships in Alberta’s communist party. When a government becomes too intertwined with a mega-corporation it corrupts free enterprise and births a crony socialistic/capitalistic chimera. What people seldom think about though, is what happens when a government becomes too intertwined with a mega-union? In essence, the same thing happens, and it has the same unpleasant afterglow: namely, it screws the taxpayers of their hard-earned money.
So Kenney, pay attention now: for there are a couple of things that you can do that’ll strengthen your chances of re-election. But be forewarned, you’ll need the brass balls of King Ralph. This is not a job for a gelding. Even if you lack this attribute, self-interest demands you heed my advice.
The government of Alberta needs to stop SUPPORTING government unions. Why are you funding your political enemies?
1. Do not force people to join the union. If the union is truly a benefit to its members, it doesn’t need forced membership. People will join it out of self-interest. Why must an individual that’s graduating with a teaching degree be forced to join the teacher’s union to teach? This is a violation of their freedom of association, because you are essentially forcing their association. Give union members the right to fiscally and morally object to their union Czars. Make the union Czars accountable to their members by giving government employees the right to reject membership.
And what would be the consequence of this? The union would have to listen to its members. I wonder how many Postal Workers (a federal union, but a good example to illustrate a point) thought it odd that their union dues were being used to push Israeli anti-Semitism? Wouldn’t it be reasonable to allow members to object to this union’s odd overreach by dropping their membership without losing their job? Why should a Jewish postal worker be forced to support the BDS movement? What the hell does the Middle East have to do with Canadian postal services? Another example might be when the Edmonton Teacher’s union suggested a transvestite fashion show for EPS’ students to help normalize fringe sexual expression on impressionable minds. What if a teacher disagrees with the early sexualization of children? Why should he/she be forced to fund social engineering campaigns? Why should he/she be forced to be a member of an organization that advocates for policies they disagree with? Allow teachers the freedom to choose whether they wish to join the teacher’s union or not!
Are you following this Kenney? Remove the legislation that forces people to join a union to secure employment! The government is overinvolved in this process and needs to exit it. And this will help you in the long run, for it will inevitably shrink the union’s war chest that’s being built to fund political attack ads against you in the next election cycle. And it will moderate the union's more extreme progressive positions. A plumber’s union should be concerned with plumbing issues, not global progressivism. And this can only happen if this draconian legislation is scrapped.
You still with me Kenney? If you feel your testicles descending, I have another suggestion, and it parallels the objectives of the first.
2. Make unions collect their own dues! Why the hell are you collecting the dues for the union? Every union friend I have complains about the size of the deductions from their checks, and the union dues contribute to that. Let the unions take their own heat for the size of their union dues, why are you shielding them from that awkward tension with its members? And it’s worse than that, you are saving the union hundreds of thousands of dollars by using your own governmental employees (funded by Alberta’s taxpayers) to collect their dues … for them!! Tracking members and collecting dues is expensive and requires many man-hours of labour. When you do this for them, you are allowing them to reallocate those funds to further their political objectives. Kenney … you are funding the NDP’s political objectives!! STOP IT! And you must know that it would be literal hell for the union to persuade its members to pay of their own free will! Why pay if they have the job and they can save the money? Many wouldn't and it would be a devastating blow to the union’s finances.
3. It is not the employers’ responsibility to provide a place for union meetings. Make them meet in their own building! This isn’t anti-union, this is common sense. We all know that unless the union meeting occurs right after work, quickly accessible to the workers, no one will go, because no one really cares (half only show up for the donuts). Why are you accommodating their meetings? This undoubtfully contributes to increased costs on janitorial, utilities, closing later, etcetera, all of which is being passed on to the taxpayers. So why fund that? You represent taxpayers, not union membership (pst .. Kenney, the Union represents union membership, not you). It’s not your responsibility to strengthen opposing arbitration against yourself. If the union cannot meet at the workplace, it will have to find some other place to congregate: it will have to meet at the union’s head office or rent a conference room. Either way, their dues should support their activities!! Our taxes don’t have to support their activities!! And because you seem a little dim, I’ll have to keep repeating this: they use those saved dollars for their political war chest! You, Kenney, are buying the political attack ads for the NDP. STOP IT!!
4. Lastly, let’s end with an obvious one, one that you already know: Massively downgrade the size of the governmental workforce. Or at the very least, remove all of the new hires the Notley NDP added to the payroll when they were in power.
I know, it’s easy to simply say “STOP IT”; there will be media hell if you approach these progressive sacred cows. There will be fake protests, false prophets, and fake outrage everywhere. And here’s where you’re missing the opportunity of your political lifetime.
In case you haven’t noticed Kenney, we are in lockdown. People are not allowed to gather in large numbers, meaning they are not allowed to have union protests or union meetings. Or at least, they must practice safe distancing, and wear masks. Either way, you can enforce your Alberta health statutes by giving the protestors violation tickets. This entire situation makes it hard to protest and allows the existing health legislation to dissuade union advocacy. In truth, many would skip the protests out of fear of infection. And it's winter, which always decreases protest numbers. Wake up Kenney! Mainstream media is obsessed with Covid and will have to earmark a large percentage of airtime to that particular topic, giving less air time to voice union doomsayers. Furthermore, Albertans are being forced out of work. Yet governmental unions are not, or are getting paid to sit at home. So this makes it hard for them to garner a lot of sympathy from the bankrupt and starving Albertans that are funding their still prosperous union asses. Would you feel empathy for union tax-funded employees that refuse to make concessions to save their funders a couple of bucks during a crisis? They’re kicking the taxpayer while he’s down, and laughing about it.
What I’m saying Kenney, is that because of covid, the union is partially impudent, and you are wasting a Machiavellian moment to engage in union reform, and to liberate their forced membership, and to strengthen your political future as well as the Albertan taxpayer. Now that’s practical and prudent.
It’s time to quickly grow a pair and Ralph on the unions!
honest Abe
good one
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