Excerpts: (highlighting mine)
“We know some of the choices people make with respect to tobacco and with respect to alcohol certainly are consumption choices. They also have an impact on quality of life.”
Redford talks about how increasing taxes on alcohol and tobacco can be “a public policy tool.”
She says if the province is thinking about health and wellness as more than just putting more beds in hospitals “one of the other things we can say is what are some of the choices we can make in this society that will actually ask people to consider again some of the choices they’re making in their life.”
“Albertans are really sensible. They want to be healthy, they want to be safe and they want government to take some leadership and say: ‘You know what, we’re going to make some choices and these choices are going to be conducive to building a safer and a healthier community...
“I’ve heard Albertans say: ‘We want to have more opportunity to take responsibility for our health. We want you to emphasize wellness. We want to know if we’re a healthy person we’re not going to get penalized in the health care system.’ (BTW: How the hell does bigger gov't give someone the opportunity to take responsibility for their own health, or their 'own' anything for that matter? Total nonsense.)
Pure big government knows what is best for yo, nanny state nonsense that we have heard many times before whenever the government makes a grab for your wallet under the false pretense of helping you. It is the exact same argument that the federal Liberals used when they were trying to impose a carbon tax; it was for our own good and we should smile and thank them for the privilege of paying. Thankfully Canadians saw through the Liberals BS on their carbon tax and my hope is that Albertans will also see through Redford's very liberal like plans for another tax grab even if it is supposedly being done "for our own good".
Today it is smokes and booze but reading Redford's comments it is clear that she will not stop there. It is pretty much a given that all fees/licences/vehicle registration etc WILL be going up under the PC's but given Redford's concern for
When a so called conservative premier is talking like this, it really is time for a change because there is nothing at all conservative about Redford or her nanny state ideas.
16 comments:
Sounds like she's been channeling Dalton McGuinty, aka Premier Dad.
I'd say you may well have an imposter at the helm, she sure doesn't present as Conservative.
To understand Redford's "thinking" on politics and governing, it helps to know that her campaign manager (and now chief of staff) Stephen Carter, was also Naheed Nenshi's campaign manager. Here is some of what he's said:
Out: ideology. In: ideas.
Out: cautious “waffling.” In: taking a position.
Out: party lists. In: social networks.
“Out is targeting the male part of the population, and in it’s talking to issues that matter to women,...”
Carter can't be taken lightly, given his successes. His obvious goal is to get Alberta's "progressives" who buy into this fluff, to coalesce around Redford. He got a lot of Liberals to sign up as PCs during the leadership race, so he's made progress there. He will also surely try to mobilize Nenshi's "purple wave" of mostly young people, to fall in behind Redford too. And then there were the teachers who were "bought" by Redford in the final two weeks of the campaign.
Anyway, it's going to be a challenge for Danielle Smith. The lefties are tough to beat when they rally around one person, as happened in 2000 when Joe Clark got elected in Calgary Centre, and of course Nenshi.
Further to what Liz said, I'm sure the Alberta PCs took notes from how McGuinty campaigned. The tag-team effort of the "Working Families" bashing Hudak, while premier dad took the high road, peddling pablum, turned out to be very effective, and hard to counter (even though obviously under-handed).
What I will be looking for, is whether the PCs try to replicate that dynamic, and we have our own devious "working families" crop up out of nowhere. The fear-mongering against Danielle is inevitable.
I'll still take your Nanny Premier over ours any day.
Now things are getting sad when people start whining about the tax of booze and smokes then other important issues. AA your starting to sound like a little kid that had his lollipop taken away from him. Go after the Liberal Mom on other issues, because you'll lose every time complaining about taxes on smokes and booze.
It was the Bureaucrat class who had her installed as leader so it’s no big surprise that Premier Nag believes in “Government for the Government, by the Government”. The truth of the matter is that the Progressive Conservative Party has become the political arm of the Bureaucratic class.
This underhanded anti-democratic “bureaucratic coup” is happening worldwide. The situation in Europe and the US are glaring examples. The Bureaucratic imbeciles do everything they can to screw things up with their rules and regulations; they then take absolute control because of the mayhem that they themselves caused. This has already begun in Europe and will happen in the US if the Democrats win next years election.
It’s Class Warfare pure and simple.
Wow, the comments on that article sure are telling her what the "majority" think and it shows she is way out of touch. She's obviously only listening to her Liberal buddies.
What Archie!?!
You can’t see the stark Orwellian tone in Premier Nag’s quotes?
This might cause me some flak but...
If you can read Redford's words and not have the hair on your neck stand up or have concerns with Redford's ideas that government knows better than you and can solve our problems by getting bigger, than I think it might be time to re-read the definition of the word and perhaps take a look in the mirror because you probably are not a real conservative.
Think about it.
I agree with Ardvark. Archie, you cannot separate this issue from the rest, as it is all part of the bigger picture/danger. That is exactly how the fascist nanny state procedes: by creep, little by little.
It's this inept groups' way of taxing the silent items to make up for their lousy accounting skills.
This isn't about booze and ciggies (which btw is punishing more low income than high), it's about finding a revenue stream that will go unnoticed and indeed, is only the test.
It's a,start here and little by little increase the rest to support the bloated bureaucracy of this party.
They need to go, pronto!
Lots of good comments on here. Especially on tax creep. The original argument to bring in sin taxes was to curb smoking and drinking for health reasons. That didn't work. So years later, they did it again for the same reasons, but it did nothing to change behaviour. And so on. And now Premier Mum is talking about the same thing for the same reasons.
Even if the government does know better, how does that give them the authority to run your life? You are not owned by the State. Redford is just another Progressive Totalitarian who thinks might makes right.
O.K. I take that back about Redford. She really is worse than McGuinty and that is quite an accomplishment.
Just saw her on Sun downplaying the Chiquita ban. She is quite the piece of work.
By your logic we should legalize heroin, cocaine, designer drugs... the list goes on. After all banning these drugs is just being a "nanny state" right? Never mind the lives they destroy and the ill effects on our communities - we can't have anything close to the dreaded "nanny state"!
Anon: You give examples of already ILLEGAL drugs to try and tie them into a conversation about limiting YOUR use of legal products, and you have issues with my 'logic'?
The 2 are not comparable. Take your Redford herrings elsewhere.
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