Dear Editor:
After a decade living in rural Alberta I am still perplexed by the socio-political landscape. I was drawn here by the stereotypical Alberta image of rugged independence, innovation and a belief in free enterprise.
The reality appears to be rather different, however, when we have a provincial Progressive Conservative government enacting communist-style land grab measures in Bills 19, 36 and 50.
In agriculture we have an ongoing corporate welfare program that subsidizes some of the biggest processing conglomerates in the world, enabling them to monopolize the marketplace at the expense of the family farm.
In Rimbey we have a group of businessmen who believe their right to pay little or no property taxes should be subsidized by the single mothers, the retirees and every other town dweller.
I find it ironic that there is such contempt in Alberta for Liberals, New Democrats and others labeled “socialist” because of their support of welfare programs. It appears to me the biggest welfare beneficiaries here are the businessmen and large corporations who portray themselves as the free enterprise models that drive this province.
The culture of entitlement these groups have assumed would make any self-respecting socialist blush.
Iain Aitken