I see a lot of people making a concession that the "NDP weren't great, but..." in the interest of building common ground for a fruitful discussion - I used to do it all the time - but I really don't believe that anymore. I actually think the NDP were pretty amazing. Full stop.
Perfect? Of course not. A few big and small mistakes, but no different than every previous gov't in Alberta, or anywhere for that matter.
And I don't think they were amazing just because of their unique circumstances: a whole bunch of rookie MLAs that never expected to actually win the job, following 4 decades of entitled governance that had to scramble to shred so much evidence when their gravy train came to an abrupt end.
I think they were amazing because they actually did a lot of great things for Albertans that were long overdue:
- minimum wage
- modest increase to corporate tax
- introduced a modestly progressive personal income tax system
- reined in patronage appointments (which have come back with a vengeance under UCP)
- reined in corporate and union donations
- improved worker safety
- sensible and productive advocacy for O+G
- royalty review that actually improved the system in many regards, even if it cause a little short term uncertainty
- Calgary cancer centre
- Castle wilderness area protection
- general investment in health and education
- introduced an effective nutrition program for schools (feeding poorer kids)
- etc
Has any legislature since Lougheed done half this much?
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