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The Fair Deal proposals are what Kenney WANTS Albertans to be discussing. Its *designed* to get your attention, and to drive public debate, discussion, and news cycles - on terms that Kenney has set. It's all about the permanent campaign. 2/ #ableg
What's one issue that the average Albertan will fix into? Equalization.
How many Albertans - right or wrong - will pronounce themselves pro-equalization? Very, very few.
Buying into the Fair Deal allows Kenney to link other issues - pensions, policing, health... 3/ #ableg
How many Albertans - right or wrong - will pronounce themselves pro-equalization? Very, very few.
Buying into the Fair Deal allows Kenney to link other issues - pensions, policing, health... 3/ #ableg
...intimately to 'equalization', and the 'mythology' of Alberta not getting a 'fair deal'.
It lets him set the framework of public discourse, by provoking a parade, and then getting in front of it. He's wrapping the UCP in the flag. 4/ #ableg
It lets him set the framework of public discourse, by provoking a parade, and then getting in front of it. He's wrapping the UCP in the flag. 4/ #ableg
Kenney is shrewd. He knows that parties that DRIVE discussion and make news - good or bad - can set the terms of political debate in their favour.
As long as we're playing in his field, he's winning. 5/ #ableg
As long as we're playing in his field, he's winning. 5/ #ableg
This is one of the reasons I believe the NDP lost last year. Instead of driving debate with radical proposals, and grasping Big Populism Energy, they ran on their record.
Kenney leaned into that by seizing the field. 6/ #ableg
Kenney leaned into that by seizing the field. 6/ #ableg
A referendum on equalization is thunderingly stupid. And Alberta Police Force is a waste of money. They are bad ideas, but they get people - and the press - talking. Just like a border wall. They worked in the election. 7/ #ABLeg
And now, Kenney is reeling. Doctors quitting. Pension battles. Firing the Election Commissioner. Bungling COVID.
So, time to reset the field - ergo, the Fair Deal report, at this particular moment.
So what do we do? 8/ #ableg
So, time to reset the field - ergo, the Fair Deal report, at this particular moment.
So what do we do? 8/ #ableg
Stay laser focused on issues the UCP can't win. Ignore the apple pie or warm pablum of 'equalization bad'.
Talk about pensions. Talk about teachers & doctors losing their jobs as a result of his decisions. Talk about back-breaking cuts kids with disabled families. 9/ #ableg
Talk about pensions. Talk about teachers & doctors losing their jobs as a result of his decisions. Talk about back-breaking cuts kids with disabled families. 9/ #ableg
Talk about the things the UCP does not want to talk about.
And most importantly, talk about BETTER ideas. Propose better ideas - whether you're a doctor, teacher, a nurse, or an MLA.
Don't be afraid to be radical, as long as your radicalism helps others. 10/ #ableg
And most importantly, talk about BETTER ideas. Propose better ideas - whether you're a doctor, teacher, a nurse, or an MLA.
Don't be afraid to be radical, as long as your radicalism helps others. 10/ #ableg
The NDP wins when it IS radical - when it proposes new ideas. A $15/hr wage is radical. Universal childcare is radical.
And when the NDP pushes, it gets results - like during COVID. Job-protected leave. The eviction ban. Wage increases. 11/ #ableg
And when the NDP pushes, it gets results - like during COVID. Job-protected leave. The eviction ban. Wage increases. 11/ #ableg
As progressives, we need to fight on fields that we can win. Which means building our own fields - just like Kenney is doing with his Fair Deal.
We need to meet their populism of grievance and anger with our own populisms of optimism and hope. 12/12 #ableg
We need to meet their populism of grievance and anger with our own populisms of optimism and hope. 12/12 #ableg
