Not satisfied with the interminable waiting lists for driver testing due to having nationalized drivers tests, Rachel Notley wants the government to take over the auto insurance business.
While there certainly are some issues to be dealt with in the insurance industry, rest assured that government would make them much much worse. For those of us old enough to remember, when government ran registries you used to literally have to take an entire day off in order to renew your drivers license or get a new plate, much less get a test.
It’s not as if there isn’t a living breathing example of government run auto insurance nearby. British Columbia’s ICBC is the bane of citizen’s existence out there with some of the highest rates and poorest service in the country.
Thankfully as a former premier, Rachel Notley is pretty much just shouting at clouds on this one. There is no appetite for it in Alberta and she hasn’t the power to do it anyway.
So why is Notley taking this stance?
It all comes down to who her real boss is and that’s Gil McGowan. The NDP is unique in that they literally have it written into their party constitution that the Alberta Federation of Labor and its affiliates are to dominate the governance of their party. Gil McGowan is far more powerful and secure in the NDP than Notley is.
Gil McGowan and the AFL simply have one mandate and that is to create as many union jobs as possible and however possible. That leads to dues which feed executives like Gil very well and allows big labor such as the AUPE to built themselves $49 million palatial office buildings while the rest of the province is in a deep recession.
More nationalized industries means more union members thus Notley is obliged to pursue these crazy notions even if she likely knows better.
As the NDP reside in opposition where they belong, we can expect that veneer of pragmatism that they put on while in government to continue to fade as they go back to their formal role of being a legislative mouthpiece for the AFL.
A Monopoly is Second worst thing for a Consumer. A Government Monopoly is by far and away the worst.