Cabinet Shuffle: The Real News

The big news of the week in Alberta has been the cabinet shuffle. I haven't had too much to say about it because, well, really not too much has changed. Only 3 new faces in Cabinet (Jonathan Denis, Thomas Lukaszuk and Frank Oberle), and most of the moves seeemed to be the ripples caused by moving Liepert out of Health and Morton into Finance.

To my mind, the bigger news is that Morton has apparently been instructed to secure better terms for Alberta's participation in equalization:

"And, Ted has another mission. He is to show a little muscle around the Ottawa types and other provinces over how much coin Alberta gives up to the federal financial sinkhole.

“The premier has asked me to undertake negotiations and discussion with the federal government and the other provincial governments on this subject,” says Ted, who nine years ago, along with Stephen Harper and others, signed a letter calling on Alberta to take back power the province allows the feds to wield."

This is important because it signals that, for their political salvation, the Tories are looking to an old enemy: Ottawa. Today's editorial in the Edmonton Journal claims that this is foolish:

The best advice anyone could give Morton, however, could be: "Whatever you do, don't pick a fight over equalization with Ottawa."

Apart from the eye-rolling predictability of such a ploy, it would involve going head-to-head with fellow Conservative Stephen Harper, who is a) whole lot more secure in Albertans' affections than the provincial Tories, and b) not a man who responds well to being pushed around.

This is, simply put, wrong. I believe that it misunderstands something fundamental about Alberta's politics. The political culture of this province is strongly rooted in two things: a home-team mentality, and an alienation from the political centre of the country.

Perhaps the smartest thing Stelmach could do right now is to pick a fight with Ottawa. As long as he doesn't back down, it is an opportunity to establish himself as the defender of Alberta, fighting against the eastern creeps and bums who want our money. We can debate the merits of equalization until the proverbial cows come home, but this could be the beginning of a set piece of political theatre, and what better central figure is there than Ted Morton?

The Journal's editorialists aren't wrong: Stephen Harper almost certainly is more loved that Ed Stelmach throughout Alberta. But that's not the point. The enemy in this brewing fight isn't Stephen Harper, it is the Ottawa and Quebec that exists in the imagination of the Alberta electorate, sucking our money out of Alberta and spending it on gun registries and daycare.