Sustaining the Alberta we love

By Chantelle de Jonge Chestermere-Strathmore MLA

Below is an excerpt from my Nov. 8 Maiden Speech in the Alberta Legislature …

I got into politics to sustain the Alberta we love and to expand on the strength and freedom that nourish the Alberta spirit. We are strong when we are free, and we are free when we are strong. To sustain our strength and freedom and to ensure that these principles remain a beacon for generations to come, Alberta must face two sets of related challenges, simultaneously internal and external.

First is the woke culture of progressives, which includes radical environmentalism and an obsession with identity politics. Woke progressive culture is a creature that feeds on division sown by invented grievances. It is a creature that reduces and diminishes people to narrow identities. It is a creature that opposes freedom of expression in the public square and in our schools and universities. It is a creature that scorns science, faith, and hope. Woke progressive culture is a creature hostile to the core traditions of Albertans and who we are. It divides friends and families. It pits parents against children, citizens against neighbours, and workers against businesses. It is a creature that afflicts many, chief among them our friends across the aisle, Mr. Speaker. And in this execution of that progressive plan, we are seeing an attack on Albertans, on our provincial identity, our energy sector, our farms and ranches, our institutions, and our families. We are seeing an assault on parental rights and authority, tacitly endorsed by Ottawa with New Democrat complicity, and this is wrong.

As the main founder of our province, the famously pragmatic Frederick Haultain often repeated: there is no compromise with wrong. The family is the fundamental building block of society and how citizens naturally pass on the torch of culture. Healthy and strong families beget strong communities and healthy societies. Without strong families, individuals quickly become vassals of the state. There’s no culture without families, and our coalition was built on this principle and on the promise that families are protected from state intrusions. We must never let ideologues interfere with the fundamental natural rights of parents to raise their children with the same love, care, and principles they hold dear. It is our job to sustain Albertans, and we maintain and develop a stronger culture by maintaining strong families.

(Chantelle de Jonge is the MLA Elect for Chestermere-Strathmore and the Parliamentary Secretary for Affordability and Utilities)