Time Immortal

Saskatchewan MP Maurice Vellacott has proposed (re-introduced, really) legislation that would grant freedom of conscience protection to healthcare workers opposed to abortion — i.e. a person can’t be compelled to perform or assist with an abortion if s/he has a religious and/or moral objection to the practice.

One would have thought this protection of conscience already existed in Canada, but evidently one would be incorrect in thinking that. Of course, that doesn’t really come as a surprise given that this is also the country which operate the “rights for me, but not for thee” human rights commissions that are the subject of so much controversy these days.

Not only did they retain power, I think they even increased their majority. And the Liberals and the NDP seem to both have lost seats, defying most peoples’ expectations.

The nice guy who had the pleasant demeanour of the 98-pound softie getting sand kicked in his face turned out to be the Incredible Hulk. It is a remarkable turn of events given how public opinion polls indicated Albertans were an unhappy lot.

They might have been cranky during the campaign, angry about affordable housing, worried about access to healthcare, concerned about the environment and muttering about the need for a change — but when they stepped into the voting booth they couldn’t bring themselves to change their vote.

Instead, they embraced the guy who promised change from within government — the “change that works for Albertans,” according to the Tories’ election slogan.

Well, it certainly worked for [Ed Stelmach] and the Tories on Monday night.

They won 73 seats. That’s not just impressive, it is stunning. It is almost as many as Klein got in his prime (74 seats) and is the largest landslide won by a Conservative premier in his first election. Ever.

Stelmach, Grace and I decided last night, seemed to be a bit of a paradox; an honest man who, by and large, gets things done, but who was really uncomfortable when caught out in public. He was the leader and, by extension, public face of a powerful party, but was himself not particularly skilled at public appearences. By contrast, when faced with a task, he seemed to be the sort to just throw himself at it until it was done — a mentality one might expect from a Ukrainian farmer. His campaign was nothing to write home about, and he has seemed to make a lot of gaffes (what few public statements he has made about, for example, freedom of expression issues in the province have been little more than politically correct pablum)…and yet one nevertheless gets the sense that he’s, generally speaking, a man of his word and a “doer.”

And evidently, Albertans felt that was worth getting behind.

Pity so many of us were lazy-arses and didn’t turn out to vote, though. But even then, Grace had a bit of an optimistic assessment as she looked around the polling station yesterday: the people who were there genuinely seemed like they cared about the direction Alberta was taking; they weren’t disinterested, but instead were animated, talking amongst themselves and debating the issues right up to the moment the ballots landed in their hand. That’s a hopeful sign, methinks.