In politics, perception is reality. This is especially true here in Alberta, where Premier Klein has again campaigned as a folksy conservative, accountable to taxpayers, in touch with the grassroots, and standing up to Ottawa.

But in reality, the way Klein's Tories govern Alberta is little different from the way Martin's or Chretien's Liberals govern Canada.

The absence of citizens' initiative legislation is just one example. At the United Alternative conference in Ottawa in 1999, Premier Klein declared that "We need practical approaches to issues such as recall, referenda, plebiscites, and other ways to increase accountability." More accountability through direct democracy is exactly what Albertans want. A 2001 Environics poll revealed that 79% of Albertans favour legislation giving them the right to initiate and vote in referendums on issues which they consider important, with only 15% opposed and 6% undecided. But accountability rhetoric aside, Premier Klein has not introduced any meaningful democratic reforms since taking power twelve years ago.

We Albertans don't practice provincially what we preach federally. We send MPs to Ottawa who support citizens' initiative legislation, recall, referendums on major issues, fixed dates for elections, and free votes on every bill except the budget. But provincially we run our affairs much like the Liberals run Canada.

Recall legislation, in spite of being publicly praised by Klein, does not exist in Alberta. Provincial elections are called at the premier's whim for personal and partisan advantage, just like federal elections are called at the whim of the prime minister. Provincial power is concentrated in the premier's office much like federal power is concentrated in the prime minister's office. Free votes in the Alberta Legislature are as rare as they are in Canada's Parliament. Much like our federal Parliament, the Alberta Legislature is a rubber stamp, providing legal legitimacy to what has already been decided behind closed doors, without public debate.

Contrary to Alberta's reputation for fiscal restraint, per capita spending on government programs is the highest in Canada. From 1996 to 2004, while Alberta's population grew by 17%, program spending grew by 86%. These unsustainable increases are enough to make a federal Liberal blush, yet Klein is still seen as "right-wing" by friends and foes.

Before the last provincial election in 2001, Premier Klein promised us that "the only way taxes are going in this province is down." He then raised taxes by $541 million in 2002, including increasing the health care premium tax to $1,056 per family. A family with children, getting by on $35,000 per year, must pay the full $1,056 tax bill.

A 2002 JMCK poll revealed that 83% of Albertans want taxpayer protection legislation, whereby any new taxes or tax increases would not go into effect without voter approval in a referendum. And yet Alberta's MLAs - just like federal MPs - retain the unfettered right to raise any tax at any time for any reason, without the consent of those who pay the bills.

In regards to judicial accountability, the gap between perception and reality is equally large. At the same United Alternative conference, Klein received a spontaneous standing ovation when he denounced "the maddening trend towards judge-made law." Yet several months earlier his own government humbly accepted the Supreme Court of Canada's Vriend decision to bypass Parliament and give constitutional status to homosexuality and to read it into Alberta's human rights legislation. By refusing to use the notwithstanding clause to opt out of this decision, Klein joined the maddening trend. Contrary to his rhetoric, judge-made law suits Klein just fine.

On health care, too, Klein makes provocative statements about the need to restructure the health care system, but does nothing other than throwing billions of tax dollars at an unaccountable government monopoly. B.C. and Quebec are far ahead of us in allowing the private sector to provide health care.

What accounts for this wide chasm between words and deeds? Sheer inertia. Klein acquired his conservative reputation during his first term, when he reduced the size of government by 30% in real terms. No other Canadian politician -federally or provincially - has ever come close to matching this exercise in cost control. Klein's reputation as a fiscal conservative, combined with clever rhetoric and a folksy charm, has created an illusion of democratic accountability which simply doesn't exist.

Albertans will have to decide how much longer we will continue with the hypocrisy of preaching one thing federally while practicing the opposite in our own province. In this provincial election, numerous candidates have publicly declared their support for citizens' initiative legislation and taxpayer protection legislation, and we can cast our ballots accordingly. But if we Albertans are not willing to adopt at home the reforms that we want in Ottawa, we cannot expect other Canadians to go where we will not.