Alberta has a tricky little conflict-of-interest emerging.
You don’t want to be alienated, which would imply, I would think, you must want to be assimilated. You wish for your provincial government to promote and achieve regional interests. Nationally, you wish your views on political, economic and social concerns could be incorporated into a governing federal coalition. Ah, a wise plan indeed.
You know what? You can wish in one hand and shit in the other, then tell me which one gets filled up first.
As the topic of same-sex marriage, homosexual civil unions, traditional families, human rights and traditional homosexual civil sex union families to save the Pandas flood the Canadian airwaves, Alberta is launched into a predicament that is no doubt lost on Premier Ralph Klein and Opposition Leader Stephen Harper. Who do you wish to appease: Ontario and Quebec, or Jesus?
In the red corner is the key to winning a federal election for the Conservative party. Right or wrong, you need to make significant inroads in both Quebec and Ontario to have a fighting chance. And the Conservatives have made progress, no doubt. But if there is too much chatter about polygamy, the notwithstanding clause, and a general tone of resistance to what appears to be a done deal in favor of changing the definition of marriage, then there is a risk of ending up right back at Western redneck: square one.
And in the blue corner, from what the best television and Internet polls A-Channel can come up with say, are the views of proud Albertans. I will not speculate about how many citizens of this province support same-sex unions, but I’m going to lean toward there being a majority who would not approve of such a change, if given the chance to say their peace. What’s certainly not muddying up the situation are prominent folks such as Bishop Fred Henry and Michael Coren, to name a few, who are working to rally support for the idea that this just isn’t how God wanted it (in decidedly more words than that.) They invoke terms like “destroying social fabric”, “cultural traditions”, and “it really creeps us out” to rally support on religious and moral grounds. It would be foolish to underestimate the ability of the wealthy “family friendly” organizations to rise to the challenge of fighting this issue. Powerful lobby groups from the United States such as Focus on the Family have not and will not hesitate to use their resources to push for upholding the traditional definition, you know, how Jesus wants it.
So then what are the two most recognizable Western Canadian political leaders to do? They can’t go against the East, and believe me, you don’t want to know what went down the last time they sided against God.
If I were Klein or Harper-the former of the two by the way has received an Honourary Bachelor of Applied Technology Degree from SAIT and Agriculture Technology and Entrepreneurship Applied Degree from Olds College and and and an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy in Political Science from Kangwon National University, but nothing from U of C or U of A-I would keep my fool mouth shut for as long as possible. Some people would say that leaders must take a stand on such difficult issues and are paid the big bucks to make the tough calls. But every time they say anything, they run the risk of annoying a group of Canadians they simply just do not have the luxury to annoy just yet.
It’s better to be thought a fool and remain silent than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.