The NDP candidate is leading the Alberta party away from the federal NDP

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Nothing beats free money, right? Finding $20 on the street or in the pocket of an old jacket is something like that.

For a politician, free money has a different definition. It's a political victory that comes from saying something about a topic of great interest, most people think, but other politicians are still unwilling to say.

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This opportunity to get free money appeared in Alberta last week. He sat there on the sidewalk, waiting for NDP leadership candidates Kathleen Ganley, Rakhi Pancholi and Sarah Hoffman to grab him.

But, as far as I can tell from public and social media posts, only Ganley had intelligence and courage.

The opportunity arose out of a bozo outburst by NDP federal MP Charlie Angus, the sponsor of his ridiculous, private member's Bill C-372, which seeks to criminalize oil and gas promotion. This, as National Post's Tristin Hopper wrote, “sets up jail time for Canadians who tell scientific truths, like how much cleaner natural gas is than burning coal.”

The bill provides for reduced sentences and fines of up to $500,000 for ordinary citizens found guilty.

“That's not the way to go,” Ganley said in a social media post, referring to the headline of Hopper's National Post article and then referring to the need to build the economy and address climate issues.

Angus's suggestion is really rude. It stifles freedom of speech and leads to terrible public policy. How can we sort out what is best for the world if we cannot consider and discuss all options?

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If it passes, Alberta will no longer have a say in the enormous benefits the province's oil and gas industry brings to all Canadians in terms of tax dollars, a thriving economy and affordable products.

Disrupting such a scheme should be at the top of the list for any future political leader in Alberta, right?

I recommend this especially if you lead a party like the Alberta NDP.

Ganley, Pancholi and Hoffman are not running against each other. They're not just facing Daniel Smith and UCP. They are also opposed to their own federal New Democratic Party's energy policy, which includes disastrous proposals from MPs like Angus.

Energy policy is a key political issue in Alberta, one of the world's largest oil and gas exporters, and a place at odds with the general climate alarmist mood in Canada's NDP and Liberal electoral strongholds in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.

If the NDP is going to win a united conservative movement in Alberta, it must break away from the anti-oil and gas leftist consensus on energy policy and advocate for policies that make sense for other Canadians, as well as our provincial economy and treasury. .

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Pancholi hit back at this by announcing his opposition to a consumer carbon tax on Ryan Jespersen's show. “The reality is that Albertans have never paid a consumer carbon tax,” he said.

I appreciate Pancholi's candor, but why should he be praised for accepting the obvious?

It doesn't matter that Pancholi and Hoffman are suddenly on the side of the vast majority of us. Supporting a permanent, inflationary and ever-increasing carbon tax would be political suicide. If the polls are anything to go by, the “tax axed” Conservatives will win the next federal election. The whole issue will soon become a hamburger.

Even more impressive than acknowledging the demise of the carbon tax is Ganley's new proposal to cut the provincial income tax, something Smith promised to do on the campaign trail but has yet to deliver.

Ganley has also shown openness to nuclear power, an issue where the federal NDP has been disastrously misaligned with its opposition to nuclear power.

Ganley's shared energy platform focuses on the clear promise of climate action as a job creator, which has worked in China's solar panel factories but failed to produce many high-paying and sustainable jobs in Canada, with one exception in Ontario. nuclear industry.

It's fair to give one of the NDP energy debates to Ganley, but if the NDP candidate doesn't fully support nuclear power, Canadian LNG exports to replace burning coal in Asia, we may not have a clear winner. to the aggressive expansion of Canada's pipeline system.

Is that too much to ask?

It shouldn't be for Alberta's future premier.

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