Apparently the mere thought of public auto insurance provokes such a violent reaction in Alberta premier Ralph Klein that he engages his mouth before putting his brain in gear. When the Liberal leader in the Alberta legislature raised the possibility of a public insurance plan Klein had this to say:
It sounds like (former president Salvador) Allende in Chile, you know, when he took over all the coppermines and said the Americans are out, the government now owns all the coppermines, all the minerals, all the resources, all the mining ...Pinochet came in, Mr. Speaker, and I'm not saying that Pinochet was any better, but because of the only elected communist in Chile, Allende, and the socialist reforms he put in, Pinochet was forced, I would say, to mount a coup.
Right, Ralph. Pinochet violently overthrew the elected leader of Chile because he just couldn't help himself. And everyone knows that seventeen years of a vicious, cruel dictatorship is better than the policies of a guy who actually, you know, won an election.
But Ralph couldn't leave it at that. After quite a bit of public outcry he decided to clarify his remarks.
My comments last week were not meant in any way to express personal support or admiration for the Pinochet regime - quite the contrary. . . . My only purpose for making those remarks was to point out that socialism can often lead to unintended repercussions to society. Unfortunately, that's what happened in Chile.
So Pinochet's crimes were the "unintended repercussions" of socialism and that's why public auto insurance is a bad thing. Attaboy, Ralph. Jam the other foot in there too.
Ralph Klein is the man. Alberta's economy is roaring and Alberta has the highest per capita GDP in the country. Compare the conservatives there versus the socialists who have run Saskatchewan for the last decade or more. Saskatchewan is losing population and its young and talented to Alberta. Alberta gets the bigger tax base and Saskatchewan's tax base is shrinking. Oh well. The socialists economic solution is to give the unions more and more money, while taxing business to death. Alberta also has a flat provincial tax of 10%. They don't discriminate against the successful.
I'm sure the people of Alberta are industrious and hard-working and all, but I think all that oil has at least something to do with their success.