By-election Shows Political Change Lies in Supporting the New Democrats

The just completed by-election in Edmonton McClung demonstrates that Albertans who want to see political change in this province need to roll up their sleeves and work to elect more New Democrats.

It was clear to anyone watching the campaign that the only candidate offering a different vision and new ideas for Alberta was New Democrat candidate Carol Anne Dean, former AUPE president and long time labour activist. Her high profile, gutsy campaign successfully demonstrated that New Democrats are the only voice of working people in this province.

Carol Anne was the only candidate willing to talk about the issues. Only Carol Anne raised the issue of jobs and of why are most of us not feeling the benefits of the so-called boom in Alberta. Only the New Democrats talked about defending Medicare against private, for-profit hospitals.

Tory-gone-Liberal Nancy MacBeth artfully dodged anything remotely resembling a policy statement. And, of course, the Tory candidate and his extremist sidekick, the Social Credit candidate, said and did what would be expected of ultra-conservatives.

In a vote where more voters stayed home than actually voted, MacBeth did what was expected and got her seat in the Legislature. Considering she didn't make a single policy statement, Albertans are still waiting for what she stands for. Although, given her background, we shouldn't expect much different than what we are getting from Klein.

The campaign demonstrated that the labour movement is solidly behind the New Democrats. Activists came out and worked for Carol Anne and unions across the province supported her candidacy in every way they could.

If Carol Anne and the New Democrats were not in the race, it would have been boring and low key. The New Democrat campaign successfully raised important issues and communicated why New Democrats are different – they don't just talk about things, they take action.

The vote totals also say that we have some work in front of us. Average working people in McClung stayed home on election day – something we need to change if we want to defeat the government in Alberta – and many others voted for a candidate they didn't want out of fear and misinformation.

The choice has never been clearer. The work we have to do is just beginning. Having New Democrats in the Legislature best represents the labour movement. We have two or three years before the next election. Between now and then, we need to build up the New Democrats from the grassroots, with activists in every community making sure the interests of working people are heard in political debate.

Thank you Carol Anne for carrying the banner of both the labour movement and the NDP. Now it is our collective job to carry forward.