Say it ain't so, Ed.
Alberta has always been a bastion of free election speech in this country.
Unlike the federal government and other provincial governments, Alberta has never seen fit to enact laws which restrict the right of citizens to spend their own money to express their own views during elections.
Indeed, the culture of free speech is so strong in this province that when my old organization, the National Citizens Coalition, challenged the constitutionality of the federal government's election gag laws we always turned to the Alberta court system to make our case.
And the Alberta courts never disappointed us.
In 1984, an Alberta court shot down Pierre Trudeau's gag law; in 1993 an Alberta court dismissed Brian Mulroney's gag law and in 2001 an Alberta court declared Jean Chretien's gag law to be unconstitutional.
Time and time again, the Alberta courts ruled that gag laws infringe on every Canadian's Charter-guaranteed right to free expression.
These laws, declared the Alberta courts, could not be justified in a free and democratic society.
Unfortunately, the Supreme Court of Canada -- which evidently has less respect for our cherished freedoms -- reversed the 2001 Alberta court ruling.
Consequently, Canadians are not allowed to fully engage in political debate at the federal level.
Thanks to the Supreme court-approved federal gag law, political parties have essentially a monopoly on setting the election agenda.
Everybody else has to shut up.
Still, even though a gag law existed at the federal level, Albertans were still free to speak out during provincial elections.
But now that might change. Premier Stelmach wants to impose a gag law because during the last provincial election a union-backed group called Albertans for Change ran a costly ad campaign aimed at defeating the Progressive Conservatives.
But what justification does the premier have for seeking to silence groups like Albertans for Change?
Usually, advocates for election gag laws say we need such laws to stop the rich from "buying" elections.
But given the results of the last election -- the Tories actually did better than expected -- it seems the Albertans for Change ad campaign had little or no effect despite the millions of dollars spent.
In fact, as even the premier has admitted, the union campaign may have backfired and actually helped the Progressive Conservatives.
So much for the money buys elections theory!
If anything, the failure of the Albertans for Change campaign provides strong evidence as to why gag laws are not needed.
Albertans clearly ignored the high-priced union boss propaganda and made up their minds on who to vote for based on the issues and facts.
Simply put, Albertans don't need gag laws to protect them from viewpoints and opinions.
But that's not to say everything about the last provincial election was hunky dory.
For instance, it was wrong that unionized employees were forced to pay for the Albertans for Change ad campaign through their compulsory dues.
No one should be forced to subsidize a political cause or campaign against his or her will. It's undemocratic.
As Thomas Jefferson once put it, "To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."
So if Premier Stelmach really wants to stand up for democracy, what he should be doing is reforming the province's labour laws so that union bosses can no longer finance their pet political projects with forced dues.
What he shouldn't be doing is enacting an election gag law that would deprive all Albertans of their right to free expression.
