Taming the WILDROSE ALLIANCE

RED DEER -- After two years driving on the right hand shoulder of Alberta politics, the Wildrose Alliance is signalling its intention to merge into mainstream traffic.

Delegates to the party's annual general meeting last weekend rejected resolutions that would have moved the party further to the right -- and approved resolutions that seemed to edge the party a little toward the centre line.

But it's not clear whether the party is actually changing lanes or is simply driving down the road with its turn-indicator light switched on, confusing the public and annoying observers who are trying to figure out where it is headed.

Delegates, for example, adopted a new policy on teachers' right to strike. But it's not as friendly to teachers as it first appears.

Under the old policy, teachers were declared an "essential service" and denied the power to walk off the job. The new policy says a Wildrose government would review what services should be deemed essential and "implement reforms that will ensure those employed in 'essential services' are treated fairly."

It is a policy so warm and fuzzy you could wear it to bed. But it is also so vague it could yet be used as a jackboot against teachers and anyone else the party deems to be working in an essential service.

The party is trying to appear more moderate but that doesn't necessarily mean the party is in fact more moderate.

In a debate over a resolution on the right to bear firearms, a delegate -- who acknowledged he actually supported the intent behind the motion -- cautioned, "I'm just worried about how this may be received in the public and portrayed in the media, so I'm voting no."

The motion declaring ownership of firearms a property right failed.

And so it went, with delegates keeping one eye on the policy handbook and another on the television cameras and reporters allowed free access to the convention.

Resolutions passed or failed with no overheated debate, some with no debate at all. Any right-wing nuts in the crowd were screwed securely to their seats.

"That shows a level of sophistication I didn't actually expect to see this early on," said party leader Danielle Smith in a candid interview with reporters.

"I know that young parties go through growing phases and I think that there are a lot of people who maybe expected that some of those more strident arguments would win the day and I've been surprised at how balanced the room is, that they really want to focus on the things that they believe matter most to Albertans."

Some of their resolutions, such as one encouraging "environmentally responsible" development of non-renewable resources, were so mainstream they would have been at home in a New Democrat convention.

But this is a party that continues to be friendly to big business and an enemy to what it perceives as big government. It supports more private education and more privately-delivered health care.

A Wildrose government would allow individual workers to opt out of union membership and would "hold educators accountable for performance."

Public servants would also be in the party's crosshairs as envisioned by a party task force on MLA salaries, co-chaired by Mark Dyrholm: "We will be the only party proposing an actual MLA pay cut in the next election and then as government, it actually gives us the moral right to expect concessions from the civil service at all levels that receive provincial funding."

Delegates passed innocuous resolutions that came with hidden meanings. On the environment, the Wildrose said governments "should base their decisions on the best available scientific data," which sounds eminently reasonable but plays to Smith's contention that the science over human-induced climate change is "unsettled." It's a spurious argument that fails to acknowledge the scientific evidence accepted by governments around the world, including Alberta's. Besides, you could argue the science isn't ever "settled" over anything including the Big Bang theory and the theory of evolution.

But Smith is a shrewd and charismatic saleswoman for the Wildrose. She doesn't use the overblown rhetoric of those who call global warming a hoax and instead offers soothing words about reducing pollution and protecting the environment.

Critics from other parties will be dissecting the Wildrose policies, looking for any entrails that foretell of a draconian government under a premier Danielle Smith. They will no doubt accuse the party of having a hidden agenda, especially after delegates acknowledged voting for the cameras not their conscience.

"You can't get any of your agenda implemented if you can't get elected," said Smith in another candid moment. "Having some consideration about what is going to resonate with the media is really I think a proxy for what do we think is going to resonate with the public."

Smith bills herself as fiscally conservative, socially moderate and politically pragmatic. She says the party is getting ready for an election that she suspects will come earlier than March 2012.

She was joined on-stage by 83 association presidents -- a visual indication of the party's impressive organization and also proof the party has no shortage of older, white males.

But it also has no shortage of enthusiasm. Under Smith's leadership, the Wildrose has moved into second place in public opinion polls, right behind the Conservatives.

For the Wildrose to overtake the Tories, it will have to actually move itself toward the centre instead of driving along like an old codger with its blinker on.

Graham Thomson is a political columnist for the Edmonton Journal.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 3, 2010 h11