Politics should never be fun

Does your favourite politician have a rookie card? Of course not. So why are we treating politics like a sports game then? Because people just want to be entertained.

The United States (U.S.) has always made an impact on Canadian politics. This has been especially true in the last decade. Donald Trump has come in, out, and back into power. Alberta, though, has been influenced more than any other province in Canada. This isn’t surprising considering Alberta’s lengthy history of right-wing politics. It is, however, incredibly alarming that Alberta’s politics have a desire to have the same kind of “entertaining” quality that the U.S. has pioneered. 

Try to guess what I am describing: flashing lights, bright colours, loud music, and celebrity appearances. If you guessed a concert, you would be wrong. This is actually a Trump rally I’m describing to you. This kind of thing brings into question of how a person like Trump can make it into office to begin with. But it really isn’t all that confusing when you see pictures or videos of rallies. The gung-ho bigots and ridiculous policies just don’t make a difference. They’re distracting possible voters with pure entertainment.

For someone not very interested in politics, this “entertainment” model of politics unfortunately makes a lot of sense. Everything, even politics, has a likability scale. It’s even true that someone is more likely, at least subconsciously, to vote for the more attractive candidate in a political race. But, just because someone has a nice face, or has a charismatic personality doesn’t mean they will make a good politician. But, even so, this kind of behaviour is slowly making its way into Alberta’s political landscape.

In small but substantial ways, Alberta is becoming more and more like the U.S.. Earlier this year in October, the City of Red Deer held its mayoral election. It saw dozens of candidates gunning for the position. But something was different. The signs being set up on street corners were Snapchat-filtered, and edited to the extreme. One candidate, Haley Wile, is maybe the best example of this kind of thing. She ran off likeability rather than policy. This sort of “entertaining” politics seen at the municipal level is also coming to the provincial level. 

Premier Danielle Smith’s use of the notwithstanding clause is evidence of garnering attention. The United Conservative Party (UCP) has introduced the notwithstanding clause against the teachers and transgender individuals. But on top of changing policies in Alberta, Danielle Smith is trying to gain attention. There has never been enough reason to invoke the notwithstanding clause. Deep down it is a ploy to bring Alberta politics to a wider stage. So now, what happens in the U.S. will heavily shape Alberta’s political landscape.

The next few years will be a kind of deciding factor for what Alberta will look like. When Trump gets out of office, Alberta will have to start making decisions for itself. Whether that is a good thing or bad thing is hard to know right now. Hopefully, though, Alberta starts to take itself more seriously and stops the copycat ritual in the coming years.