Remember Hillary’s ‘Deplorables’? Alberta’s Deputy Premier Calls Albertans ‘Sewer Rats’
by: Aedan O’Connor
On May 24, 2015, everything changed for Alberta, the Canadian province, which is comparable to Texas in terms of industry and personality. Alberta had been governed since 1991 by the Progressive Conservatives, a party that is ideologically similar to John Kasich/Mitt Romney-type Republicans; Alberta was considered to be the “right wing” province of Canada.
But on that day in April, 2015, Rachel Notley of the New Democratic Party (NDP), a party ideologically similar to Bernie Sanders, was elected and the political climate shifted radically.
With her election, Notley implemented a painfully high carbon tax, a snooty disdain for the average Albertan worker and a condescending deputy premier (vice-governor), Sarah Hoffman.
This Monday, March 13, speaking during parliament, Hoffman was asked by Jason Nixon, a member of Canada’s Wild Rose party (a party ideologically similar to typical American Republicans), “Premier, your policies are devastating Alberta families. For a government that has shown such gross incompetence, when is the premier going to ask herself to make better choices?”
Hoffman responded, “We’re creating jobs. We’re cutting school fees. We’re freezing tuition. The members opposite just want to keep jacking things up. We’re focused on hard hats. They’re spending a lot of time with sewer rats.”
Before addressing Hoffman’s “sewer rats” comment, it is important to point out that her claim that she and her party are supporters of “hard hats” falls flat; the NDP’s high carbon tax stifles and harms the oil, gas and coal industries, which employ huge numbers of Albertans. Her mission to scrap fossil fuels in favor of “renewable green energy” drives up taxes so significantly that a lot of ordinary Albertans cannot afford to heat their homes – and this is Canada, and a cold province to boot.
The “sewer rats” insult was deeply disturbing and indicative of the NDP’s true feelings about Albertans. In an interview with Ezra Levant of Rebel Media, a crucial source in the breaking of this story, Levant said, “They (the NDP) don’t represent Alberta, they rule over it.” The insult was quite similar to Hillary Clinton calling half of Donald Trump’s supporters “a basket of deplorables.” That moment exposed her views of middle America and probably shifted a lot of working class voters in states such as Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania; states that had been considered a lock for Clinton.
It is quite possible that this gaffe may similarly cost the NDP the next election in 2019. Hoffman apologized after the story broke; the mainstream media widely reported on the apology, but the media’s coverage of the apology greatly outweighed their coverage of the initial comment.
It appears that Hoffman only apologized to mollify her critics, not because she is upset that she dehumanized Albertans. Nixon stated:
It appeared it was a prepared line. She was trying to talk off the script. It was not impromptu. She was working to get the line into the answer. There is not one thing in my question that refers to anything but Albertans. There is not one thing in her answer that refers to anything but Albertans. She was talking about Albertans. The people who support me and support my party are Albertans. It’s ridiculous to just assume she may have been talking about some other thing that had nothing to do with the question.
Levant echoed Nixon. “She is sorry it blew up in her face. That is different than being sorry she said it,” adding, “This will confirm in the minds of Albertans that Notley has to go. If you’re not against the NDP by now, you’re probably a government bureaucrat.”
http://www.dailywire.com/news/14482/remember-hillarys-deplorables-albertas-deputy-aedan-oconnor