A new committee aims to strengthen a conservative agenda in the Alberta Legislature. The Blue Committee launched this fall with the hopes of repeating the success of the former federal group, which laid the groundwork for the Conservative Party majority government.
The committee seeks to forge a single right of centre party and push conservative politics in Alberta by reaching out to both the Progressive Conservatives (PCs) and the Wildrose.
Alberta spends 40 per cent more per capita than Ontario and 30 per cent more than B.C. to provide the same services, said committee chair Ken Boessenkool.
“I don't think that's a very conservative government. I'd like to see us chop spending in a serious way so that we're one of the smallest governments in the country instead of the biggest," said Boessenkool.
Boessenkool has worked in Ottawa as a senior policy advisor and strategist to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and has served as an advisor to two Alberta finance ministers.
Boessenkool thinks neither Wildrose leader Danielle Smith nor Premier Alison Redford have accepted the “depth of the fiscal hole" the province is in. He called Ontario's Liberal Premier, Dalton McGuinty, “40 per cent more conservative" than former Premier Ed Stelmach. A conservative party needs to promise to cut a minimum of $5 billion in spending, something neither the PCs or Wildrose has done, he said, adding the province should not spend more than $3 billion in resource revenue, while it currently spends $10 billion.
“They're selling our assets to pay for current spending. I can't use strong enough language to describe how bad that is … We're out of control."
Wildrose wants to limit spending to growth plus inflation and get rid of some one-time spending, he said. “That to me doesn't acknowledge that we've got a massive spending problem."
While Wildrose has called Redford's government left of centre, Boessenkool disagrees, pointing to a “solid representation" of conservatives in cabinet including Doug Griffiths, Fred Horne and Ted Morton. If Redford drifts to the left, then the conversation becomes different, he clarified.
Boessenkool sees a minority government in Alberta as the biggest threat coming out of the next election. He said he'd hate to see the PCs in a coalition with the Alberta Party or Liberal Party instead of going with “their natural friends" in the Wildrose. If the PCs won a majority on a right of centre platform, or the Wildrose on a right platform, or if the parties merged in a minority situation on a conservative platform, he would be happy.
“It's about making sure Alberta has a right of centre government."
Lac La Biche – St. Paul MLA and Minister of Transportation Ray Danyluk said he welcomed the Blue Committee bringing its viewpoint but added that the PCs' focus is not on mergers or partisan debates, but rather on “moving forward on Albertans' priorities."
“The important discussion is not about reuniting the right. It's about addressing the issues that matter to Albertans, and that's what Premier Redford and our government are doing." According to Danyluk, many PC members who had left the party are now returning, something he said he hears everyday.
Danyluk asked where the Blue Committee would find $5 billion to cut from spending. “The first place that I see being cut is rural, or else providing services, so I have a major concern about that. If you want to grow this province, you cannot cut capital. You have to invest in the future."
The Blue Committee has selected seven steering committee members with room for 16 and will form an advisory committee to provide strategic guidance. Boessenkool wants the steering committee to be forged by “next generation folks." Amanda Achtman, Logan Day, John von Heyking, Kristen Lawson, Morten Paulson and Alyson Robb have joined the steering committee.
“I really want it to be a group of younger, more politically ambitious type folks," he said, identifying under 45 as a target for recruitment. “It's not people who have been through politics, it's people that are interested in politics."
Local Wildrose candidate Shayne Saskiw said he turned down an offer to be part of the steering committee because of talks of an eventual merger.
“There is only one conservative party of small-c conservatism, and that's the Wildrose," he said. “There's no need to look at any other option."
While some Wildrose members support the committee with the view that it can promote conservatism, the party draws the line on any talk of a merger, he clarified.
Saskiw called Boessenkool a “credible chair" and said the best possible outcome would be for the committee to become another force to push the “left-of-centre government" and premier into taking conservative positions. The committee could be “another voice like the Wildrose for small-c conservative values," Saskiw said.
Saskiw pointed to Ted Morton not receiving significant support in the PC leadership election as proof of conservatives having left the party, but added Morton received some conservative support the Wildrose will target to bring on side.
“Ever since a left of centre premier came on, it's been a lot easier to court those people," he said, referring to Redford. “We don't think the Blue Committee is the vehicle we need to go and do that."
While Saskiw sees Morton's poor showing as a sign conservatives are uniting around Wildrose, Boessenkool points to the low turnout on the final ballot as a warning for the PCs.
Boessenkool said he does not have any pre-conceived notions of what the group will accomplish, but recalled going to Ottawa with Preston Manning and the Reform Party and having lived through “pushing Humpty Dumpty off a wall."
The Reform Party stormed Western Canada in the 1993 election, which resulted in the federal PC party getting reduced to two seats. Between 2002-2004, Boessenkool helped “put him back together" through the merger of the PC and Canadian Alliance parties into the Conservative Party.
“It took us a long time federally to get this all put back together when it fell apart," he said, noting that he would not want it to take as long provincially.
PC contest
There is a lot of common ground between the PCs and Wildrose, said Bonnyville Town Coun. Gene Sobolewski, who ran for the Wildrose nomination in the Bonnyville – Cold Lake constituency last year. Sobolewski lost to Chuck Farrer and returned to the PCs. He is now contesting MLA Genia Leskiw's position at the constituency association election.
“In the last two years, I haven't changed my stripes. I've changed parties to try to do everything I can possible to help affect that change."
Sobolewski migrated to the Wildrose because the PC party “wasn't delivering," he said, noting “floundering health care" and an unpopular seniors' policy. After losing the nomination, Sobolewski disagreed with the direction of the Wildrose.
“I have always believed more of the core policies of the Progressive Conservatives, particularly those introduced by the Lougheed era," he said. “Even as a governing party, your policies are also going to be swinging left and right depending on the moods of your constituents."
He does not think the Blue Committee's demand for a $5 billion reduction in spending is an achievable goal, but added he thinks there needs to be changes to the cost of governing rather than the cost of programming.
Now back in the fold with the PCs, Sobolewski said the party has revitalized with Redford's focus on change. “That brought a number of us back into the fold … That was one of the core reasons the Wildrose was founded so strongly, because change needed to occur."
Danyluk has endorsed Leskiw in the contest, calling her “absolutely so committed to education, to the people of her constituency. She's a hard worker … She's an incredible ambassador for her area."
