It is obvious from the falling turn-out at the polling stations at the previous provincial elections,

It is obvious from the falling turn-out at the polling stations at the previous provincial elections, and the turn off by young Albertan’s towards their elected officials and the institutions that they are supposed to be over seeing on behalf of Albertan’s that there is a problem with democracy in Alberta.

When you consider that Alberta is the garden that Preston Manning sewed the seeds for the Reform Party of Canada, and that the majority of the current MLA’s and many of their constituency associations are card carrying members democratic reform would be a given here.

It is not.

In fact under the Ralph Klein government, secrecy and shrinking democratic practices are the norm, not the rarity.

We have short legislative sittings, that seem to be more of a pest than a place where the Premier and his government bring issues, ideas, and policies to be discussed, debated, and passed into law.

We have no all party committee system here in Alberta, but a system of one party Standing Policy Committees, where only the sound of the voices of the governing party are heard, and where the majority of the legislative business is conducted. Out of the reach of the Legislature, it’s record of proceedings known as the Hansard, and most of all, out of ear shot of Albertans.

Do you know that you can go onto the web site of the House of Commons, the place where you send your M.P.’s to deal with the business of the nation, and search for any and every word that your MP has said, either in the House of Commons or during a committee hearing?

You can watch and read all of the proceedings of the House of Commons, Senate, Committees hearings, and what is being told to them from outside agencies, special interest groups, bureaucrats, and research conducted for specific purposes such as to help develop good public policy?

In fact you can read every word of the presentations yourself and comment on them to the committee. If the committee feels your input is important enough, they can invite you to present your ideas in person, and question you on it? All of this is open to the public, from anywhere in Canada or the world in fact.

We cannot do that here in Alberta.

We can search the Hansard, but your results get kicked back to you in PDF format, to which you must read every word, and search for the information that you had asked for.

This method is archaic and disrespectful to those people that have come before the current governing party and set up our parliamentary and democratic system.

The question that needs to be asked, is why? When a government starts to close its doors along with their lips, you must wonder what they have to hide.

Did you know you could also go to the web site of the House of Commons and watch much of the proceedings in either real time, or from their archives?

This can help you put faces to words and names, and also watch exactly what your MP’s and Senators are doing.

We don’t seem to be able to do that here in Alberta. Is that because we might not like watching our M.L.A.’s reading golfing magazines instead of thinking and deliberating on the more pressing needs and concerns of real Albertans?

You might be want to throw scorn on the Senate of Canada, more commonly known as the Upper Chamber or sometimes knick named as the Body of Sober Second thought, but this group of people have been producing some rather interesting, intriguing and useful research and deliberation into some of the long-term plans and policies this country needs to look at and adopt in some for or another.

Ever seen that sort of work come from your MLA’s? Ever been able to read what your MLA is doing, other than what is sent to the media from the Provincial Public Information Bureau?

Do you know that, someone in the Public Information department reads even your letters and e-mails sent to your MLA? A reply you think is coming from your MLA is really coming from a person in the Public Information department with the only bit of content provided by the MLA is their signature?

Why do Albertan’s not participate in the elections nor really care about how their provincial government operates behind closed doors?

Is it because we have become so self-serving, that unless it is something that affects us directly we really don’t care?

Is it because we have forgotten that we are the government and those people you send to either Ottawa as your MP or to the Legislature in Edmonton, are representing you and should be open to your scrutiny, as you see fit, not how they see fit?