Fast Eddie is leaving the scene before the door hits him . . . you know the rest.
Here’s his official resignation (oddly, in point form). In his comments notice that he couldn’t help himself from taking a [very unfair] shot at Danielle Smith and the Wildrose Alliance
• There is a profound danger that the next election campaign will focus on personality and US style negative, attack politics that is directed at me personally.
• The danger is that it could allow for an extreme right party to disguise itself as a moderate party by focussing on personality – on me personally.
• This type of US style wedge politics is coming into Canada, and it comes at our peril.
• Albertans deserve to have better level of public debate on our policy options.
If he had stayed, do you think the Conservatives would have been defeated by the Wildrose Alliance? Now that he’s going, can the Conservatives regroup and salvage a win?
Live Twitter comments about his departure can be seen here.
Update: Interesting follow-up discussion between Charles Adler, Ezra Levant, and Kevin Libin.
Also, one of SDA’s most eloquent writers (and speakers), Gord Tulk, shares some very insightful analysis, far superior to any of the usual dreck one gets from the MSM!
This is going to be interesting. With him gone, I’m thinking a minority government is likely. The Alberta Party will fracture some of the Liberal vote. The Wild Rose Alliance will probably lose some of the people who were against Stelmach (depending on who succceeds him), but they’ll probably still retain the people who think the Cons have lost their way; without the Stelmach boogeyman, they’ll have a harder slog of it. Depending on what happens, there’ll either be a smaller Conservative majority, or a minority.
Alternatively, this will prove the WRA point, and they’ll emerge stronger. But I still think minority gov’t.
Personally, I think he either saw the writing on the wall, or he was asked to fall on his sword. But now, we’ll get another unelected Premier.
Eddie’s statement: “US style wedge politics” coming from the “extreme right”. Shows where he is on the political spectrum, centre is only extreme right when you’re on the extreme left.
Out of the mouth of babes…
Now that he’s going, can the Conservatives regroup and salvage a win?
Depends on whether, after buying a $5 Alberta PC membership, all those Wild Rose supporters out there can get the most heinous “progressive” who’s running elected to replace Red Ed or not.
Getting behind a well known Calgary socialist should do the trick to deep six the PCs for good.
Seeing the field of Stelmach’s replacement candidates will be interesting.
Mr. Stelmach’s announcement reads like something from a failed Liberal.
When things don’t go his way, he deflects from his failed policies, and states the real threat is from people that don’t see the world from his Liberal point of view, bringing up the often bantered about threat of an “american style” election, (in the Calgary Herald it was stated as this, rather than “US style”. That we need a “better debate”.
What he fails to see, is that “better government” or “worse government” or “different government” or “responsible government” or a “leading the way style government” all cost more money, all take from our freedom.
I hope the next election will address, who do we vote for, if we want LESS government.
To respond directly to Robert, I think it would have been a coalition government with either party having more elected candidates than the (officially) Liberal / NDP / or the new this week, Alberta Party.
I hope for a Wildrose Alliance win, that doesn’t try to compete for the center against the Progressive Conservatives. We have a selection of parties in the center to the left, and the right is there for the reaping.
If the Progressive Conservatives elect a real right candidate, all bets are off. Who will pick up Ralph’s nod?
FTA: Ed Stelmach said; “This type of US style wedge politics is coming into Canada, and it comes at our peril.”
Hahahahahahaaa, American Conservatives are being blamed for everything, and now those damn Canadian Lefties are blaming American Conservatives for their FUTURE election defeats ?
Fine. Great. Bring it on.
,
“US style wedge politics” coming from the “extreme right”
To me that says he does not like the strait up conservative style of the Wild Rose. I guess that is why they are “Progressive Conservatives”. The progressive part is what got the party in trouble not only Stelmack. Conservative is GOOD. Progressive social engineering style government that controls all is NOT GOOD and should stay where it belongs, with the NDP. I think the Wild Rose will come out of this stronger than ever if they do not water down their platform to appeal to the “progressives”.
If Stelmach had an ounce of integrity, he would be gone by the end of day, end of the week at the latest. Since he doesn’t have any, the next budget will have his stamp of approval and he won’t have to take any of the responsibility.
The man has a bright future in the LPC.
Good riddance, Alberta needs him like a fish needs a bicycle.
+1 internets to who can name the song I stole that line from.
(internet points are a tradition from the underground, just for fun
[d]
I have said from the start of Ed, he is a very nice man to talk to,,,but he is no leader. From his comments this morning, to firing George Greneveld without calling him into his office to tell him why, to not defending Steven Duckett against the media circle jerk, to shutting down Lindsay Blaketts recomendation to dump the extortionists called Human Rights. Ed has demonstrated he likes to hide behind his door when things get tough. Step down now Ed, be tough.
I’m not from Alberta but I think the next election belongs to whoever promises to strengthen the province to assume its de facto role as captain of the Canadian team. Build firewalls, start leading the country, say no to unreasonable demands by other provinces, etc.
I think I just heard SDA’s own regular, Gord Tulk, talking with Rutherford. Hopefully he can share his thoughts on here later too.
dwright – U2 – Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World. Although I seem to remember another song as well……
I honestly think that he was not supposed to win, he placed 3rd on the first leadership ballot and he won on an upset second ballot victory over the provincial treasurer Jim Dinning. I think that there should never have been a 3 person race for final votes and should have stuck to the top two only
About time he left! Just remember folks–it’s those Conservative leaders that took you to #1 spot in the country. I will always remember Premier Lougheed telling the rest of the country that he’d turn the taps off before he let anyone else grab the oil!!
That’s a strange note from Stelmach. He derided ‘US style politics’, defining it as operating around personal attacks and negativity – and then, in this same note, he actually moved into personal attacks and negativity!
I totally agree, Russel.
Special Ed came in as a wedge between the 2 favoured candidates, neither of whom were Edmonton/northern Alberta supported.
Few people really wanted the guy.
Did you ever notice that when the Alberta PC party had strong leaders with a conservative bent they were from the Calgary area and when the party was adrift with progressive policies and weak leadership that the leaders were from Edmonton/northern Alberta?
It’s a shame really, but having the leadership election rules mandate a 3 way runoff virtually guarantees a progressive at the helm if there are a number of candidates running and the most conservative candidate doesn’t win on the first ballot.
Ya and then it was Lougheed who turned traitor and agreed to the NEP. we all know how well that worked out.
You clearly don’t know the history of the energy sector in Alberta, MONSTER.
Prior to Peter Lougheed’s major confrontation with Ottawa over oil revenues that led to the 1981 Energy Pricing Agreement and subsequent accords, the federal government acted unilaterally in regard to oil and gas prices and revenues.
The 1981 Energy Pricing Agreement and subsequent accords won Alberta the power to negotiate with Ottawa where there was no power to hold any negotiations whatsoever before.
As bad a deal as the NEP was things were a lot worse before, and Lougheed had no leverage to refuse Ottawa just as Alberta is basically still at Ottawa’s mercy today through legislation that could issue from the Ministry of the Environment.
Alberta needs to build that firewall.
In Alberta, the liberals and conservatives battle inside the the Conservative party for control of the province. Stelmach is a liberal and would be in a Liberal party in any other province. It will be interesting to see whether the Alberta Conservatives will elect a free market leader next time. More specifically whether they can attract back the Wild Rose supporters.
Politics has become very strange in western Canada as we have left Conservatives running Alberta and right Liberals running BC.
Ed Stelmach’s comment about US style wedge politics is coming into Canada indicates in technicolor that he is a Red Tory. He is wrong. We need more Wild Rose parties to wake up the people about the continual slide to the left that occurs even under Progressive Conservative governments.
He also said “Albertans deserve to have better level of public debate on our policy options”. So, does that mean that only those who are acceptable to the statists are supposed to have a voice?
So an Albertan red tory got a wedgie, now, did he?
That makes three centrist cons down the road (Prentice, Campbell, Stelmach) — I wonder if the wind farm shares are about to go bust and they need real work.
Ralph was NOT a conservative. Before and during his tenure as Calgary’s mayor he was a self-professed liberal. And even if you want to dispute that by pointing out the first great 4 years he was premier nobody can deny Ralph got us into a huge pot of trouble by significantly increasing spending the last couple years in office.
The Stelmach gov’t instead of doing the best (and difficult) thing by cutting the budget just gave us the greatest deficit in AB history. Increasing oil and gas revenues (which in the end killed us through the recession) was his first great error. Many, many followed.
I for one will have to see ALOT of change in every member of the PC party. I dislike the fact they all went along with the disastrous policies of ‘Steady Eddie’. Won’t get the chance to hold my current MLA accountable as he is retiring. Danielle Smith (WRA) is running in my riding. The strongest PC riding in Alberta since Lougheed was Premier.
Let the games begin!
One thing to consider about Alberta’s deficit is how they got there.
In the 90’s there was a palatable fear that ABs surpluses were so large (and would continue to be) that political envy would be the result. This would inevitably lead to a political push from other provinces to have a piece of the action. The solution to this problem was ‘one time spending’ so as not to put the increased money into the structural part of the budget. Well, the best plans and intentions are often skewed if you extrapolate over a long period, which in Alberta was a 15+ year boom.
Then…like a sucker-punch, revenues dropped drastically putting the AB government into a deficit position with no way out except for that dirty word ‘cuts’. Now everyone knows that King Ralph ‘cut’ his way to success, but that was a long, long time ago.
Now putting Steady Eddies faults aside (ie royalties) there is a little more to the equation than you see at face value. Yes, the PCs have been big spenders lately; but, they’ve also been frugal not too long ago.
It is interesting times in Alberta indeed; but regardless of how we got here, IMO it is in Alberta’s best interest to have two VIABLE parties, and the only other viable option in Alberta is from the Right.
All of that said, I support the WRA from here in S’toon. Although it isn’t likely that they can win an up comming election; it will be very benificial to them to increase their role by doing well at the ballot box. Electoral sucess will put the WRA in a realistic position to take govenement next time around; and, it will force the PCs to get their iSht together else face the same plight as the Sask NDP. It’s a win win for Alberta.
Also, a strong WRA oppostion will best postion Alberta for whatever shinanigans come from the Federal govenment once the Conservaitve minority inevitably falls. Who knows, in Alberta, the election after next might very well be fought over the ‘sovereignty’ issue if the Conservative government falls in the next few years.
“Politics has become very strange in western Canada as we have left Conservatives running Alberta and right Liberals running BC.”
This is why it should be mandatory to remove all references to ideology from the names of political parties. Then we wouldn’t have Conservative parties playing Left field, and we wouldn’t have socialist parties calling themselves Liberals.
I’ve thought for sometime now that too many people vote for candidates based on the party name, because they assume that a Liberal party for example would be ‘liberal’ in the classic sense.JMO
Now I understand that this isn’t possible for some reasons like ‘free speech’ but oh well, I can dream can’t I?
Andy; your current MLA was accountable, he is an honorable man, it was Ed. that did not even give George the courtesy of an explanation as to his firing from Ag minister. Most people would find it hard to work for a boss that did not have the decency to explain why he was firing them. As far as Lougheed being a saviour, he was educated in the exact same snooty schools as Turdough himself, Harvard, London School of Economics, under the same Shapiro who taught them both about the greatness of socialism. Didn’t work then in Alberta for Lougheed, and it is not working now for Ed. ALberta is where business and free enterprize are the backbone of our economy not top down, we know best here in Edmonton type governments.
The smell was getting pretty bad so we should be thankful he’s going.
When will political parties stop selecting the third choice? Didn’t work for Dion, the solution to Dion isn’t doing too well either.
You have to govern in the middle somewhere so why pick #3 to do it?
Send them in a room to sort it out.
OZ, the province had the right to ownership over resourses to begin with. What the libs tried to do was tax exports and enact a made in Canada price that would have Alberta sending even more welth to the east. Oh wait isn`t that the way it worked out after the sell out?
As per Wikpedia…The NEP was introduced in the wake of the energy crises of the 1970s. Because of high oil prices, several economic problems that were beginning to manifest themselves through the 1970s were accelerated and magnified. Inflation was most commonly between 9 and 10 percent annually [1] and prime interest rates over 10 percent.[2] Unemployment was epidemic in the eastern provinces where the Trudeau government had much of its political support.[3] The NEP was designed to promote oil self-sufficiency for Canada, maintain the oil supply, particularly for the industrial base in eastern Canada, promote Canadian ownership of the energy industry, promote lower prices, promote exploration for oil in Canada, promote alternative energy sources, and increase government revenues from oil sales through a variety of taxes and agreements.[4] The NEP’s Petroleum Gas Revenue Tax (PGRT) instituted a double-taxation mechanism that did not apply to other commodities, such as gold and copper (see “Program details” item (c), below). The program would “… redistribute revenue from the [oil] industry and lessen the cost of oil for Eastern Canada…” in an attempt to insulate the Canadian economy from the shock of rising global oil prices[5] (see “Program details” item (a), below). By keeping domestic oil prices below world market prices, the NEP was essentially mandating provincial generosity and subsidizing all Canadian consumers of fuel, primarily at Alberta’s expense.[6]
Yes, Ralph was a liberal, but I didn’t say otherwise, I said that the Calgary backed leaders had “the most conservative bent”.
Ralph was more fiscally conservative than Don Getty(Getty got Alberta deeply in debt) or Ed Stelmach who broke the Klein regime’s own law against deficit spending.
Bottom line, in the history of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party the party has been far more Progressive than Conservative.
Albertans have voted for them because the MSM and the Alberta PCs themselves call them Tories/Conservatives but they have never been anything of the sort(only the party with the most conservative bent, which seems to describe the fortunes of Canadian conservatism) and it’s time that the people of Alberta finally got some true blue Conservatives to vote for just once both provincially and federally.
MONSTER | January 25, 2011 4:43 PM
What you need to understand was what existed before the NEP.
It was much worse as far as wealth transfers from Alberta to Ottawa.
You should research that and then you’ll know that the deal that Lougheed struck was better than what went before and regardless of what the Confederation Act of 1867 section 109 states that Alberta couldn’t get control of it’s own resources except through small incremental challenges over a long period of time following getting provincial status.
I lived through the NEP, I spent a lot of the 1980s unemployed in Alberta, and it was the worst period of my life.
The worst thing about the NEP, PETROCAN, wasn’t anything that Peter Lougheed could do anything about.
Lougheed couldn’t stop PETROCAN from buying up oil companies with federal tax money or prevent layoffs.
The inevitable has finally happened. I wish I was the one that called it. Stelmach was simply not fit to lead. He reminded me of Bob Rae when he won Ontario in 1991. No one was more surprised or less prepared.
The Alberta PC’s have been around for so long that years ago they ceased to be ‘conservative’. They embraced the big tent idea of conservative views and thus attracted every leftist that ever aspired to become a politician. Voters have their number and are tired of them. They may pull off a minority in the next election followed by a WRA victory.
Stelmach might stick around to inflict some real damage to his most vigorous critics (read Ted Morton)much like Chretien did to Paul Martian jr.
Monster,
You’re thinking of an oil pricing agreement that Lougheed agreed to that is separate from the NEP. The NEP was a pure taxation scheme from the Feds, and was followed by a recession that really sent things off the rails.
The Alberta Conservative Party is about as Conservative as the NDP, face it the progressive liberals infiltrated that party along time ago and what you seen is a progressive leftwing party clinging to it’s fake Conservative Agenda. It doesn’t deserve political survival, vote Wild Rose.
In Alberta, we tend to hang on to a single political party to govern for decades – and then we boot them out, never to be government again. We were about to boot the Don Getty PCs in the early 90s until Ralph Klein came along (and then they ran as “Ralph’s Team” rather than “PC”) promising to cut and restore fiscal sanity. And when they did what they promised, we rewarded them with enormous majorities and nearly unheard-of approval ratings (80%+) for Ralph himself.
If the Wild Rose party basically adopts the Tea Party platform, they’ll win the next election.
OZ, ya I`ll do some more reading on the subject. I have been involved in the patch most of my life and like you and many others I have bad memories of the 80s. Maybe my recollations of that time are clouded. Thanks for giving me a new reasearch project.
Liberals branded/graded = F.
Next Liberal to walk? Charest.
…-
“Bastarache unlikely to sway public opinion
When he created the Bastarache Commission, Jean Charest was probably hoping its final report would help him clean up his government’s image as a scandal-ridden and tired regime.
But this week the court of public opinion appeared unswayed when, predictably enough, Michel Bastarache dismissed former justice minister Marc Bellemare’s allegations of influence-peddling by Liberal fundraisers in the naming of three judges under Charest’s seal of approval.
After Charest expeditiously set up the inquiry last April, every poll on the subject showed that a majority of Quebecers believed Bellemare’s allegations, including when he publicly called the premier a liar.
So chances are that many Quebecers will also agree with Bellemare’s reaction yesterday when he called the report “biased,” “complacent,” an “abuse of power” and a “public-relations exercise.”
Speaking on TVA, Bellemare wrapped it up this way: “The population is the jury. If Mr. Charest had been judged by a jury, he would have been condemned beyond any reasonable doubt.”
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Bastarache+unlikely+sway+public+opinion/4142587/story.html
Still never liked Lougheed or Getty though. Thank the lord for King Ralph.
Sh*t! As a business person from SK you were the best friend Saskatchewan business people could have ever hoped for.
Saskatchewan will miss you Ed!
MONSTER at January 25, 2011 5:20 PM
Good luck with your reseach, I mean that.
It isn’t an easy topic to find good information on.
What surprised me when I researched it, a few years back, was how slowly Ottawa relinquished control over the resources in Alberta and the rest of Western Canada even though the Confederation Act clearly stated that the resources were the property of the provinces.
I wish I could give you some links to help out but I lost them when my old hard drive died 2 computers ago.
It took me many hours of hunting to find those links too.
My best line of search was to build the history of the oil industry in Alberta from scratch.
It started with Alberta farmers and went to the 7 Sisters American Oil Group that really got the ball rolling.
I even think I might have printed a lot of it off(it took so much work to find it in the first place) and maybe have the papers with the urls and hyperlinks around my office here somewhere.
I’ll get back to you on it if I find anything, even if it takes a few days.
Thanks OZ. Its nice commenting on a site where the discourse is kept at a civil level.
ET, y’hasta unnerstand, personal attacks and negativity is only bad when them D@MN AMERICANS does it. And Wild Rose is AMERICANS!!! I h@te those b@$td@rds.
I haven’t had time to read all the comments but has anyone mentioned Ted Morton for the next premier?
Just read the Phantom. Maybe I spoke too soon.
If you’d like a textbook example of how much disdain, and sometimes hatred, there is from Left of centre Canadians towards Albertans, just look at the comments here. It’s truly appalling.
I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of buzz in the Alberta media about who is going to throw their hats into the ring for the Alberta PC leadership race.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Gary Mar wanted to be a contender.
Typical liberal, pulled out the “hidden agenda” play. What a loser.
There has been a split among the conservative volunteers who man the ship in a political campaign. The Federal Tories have these workers united behind them. Special Ed and company were facing a mutiny of rural campaign workers and in the cities, there too the crew were grumbling in the bowels of the great old political ship.
To set the ship right and to plot a new course there had to be a change of leadership. The question is who will lead that change?
Ted Morton is the current provincial finance minister and he finished as a strong contender for the leader of the party the last go-round. He is also the author of the planned massive budget cuts.
If Ted Morton becomes the next PC leader the party would shift right and put a squeeze on the Alliance. Many of Teds closest “former” allies are now members of the Alliance party. Ted is arguably further right on some issues than Daniel Smith (leader of the Alliance.) So where the Tory party goes may well influence the future of the Alliance party.
If enough of the power brokers and general PC membership can back Ted he may be a real game changer and might create the conditions for a merger of the Alliance/ PC’s -maybe a provincial “Conservative” party a la the Federal Conservative/ Alliance merger. (At least that awful “Progressive” name would disappear to the dustbin of Alberta politics.)
Ed resigning is a desperate act, but it is the only act left for a failed flailing leader. Ed against Daniel would have been a PC nightmare. Ted vs. Daniel might be a right-wing civil war. A Pyrrhic victory may be all the PC’s can hope for.
Morton is just another lefty in blue clothing.
First rat off the sinking ship.
A couple of interesting co-incidences: Upon assuming the reins of premier Special Ed jacked the royalty rates to pay of the Teachers Union. The economy went into the tank so badly even Special Ed realized his boo boo and has been “fine tuning” the rates ever since. However the damage done to the economy has been so bad that the ‘rainy day’ fund is almost dry and unless some drastic cuts are made the province will be back in Don Getty territory. In order to cut expenditures the province has asked the teachers union to take a roll back. A few days later Special Ed steps down. Well he stepped down in Special Ed fashion. Special Ed is a bureaucrat’s bureaucrat. Every announcement he made has been reviewed and reworded and reworked ad infinitum. That he is planning on sitting out his term even though he has quit is vintage Special Ed.
During the last leadership race I supported Morton. I won’t do that again. When the province most needed leadership, aka Special Ed’s teachers union recession, Morton decided to be a team player and went for a sail on that merry ship of fools called the PC party of Alberta. The kind of leader Alberta needs is one who is willing to break ranks when the economic health of the province is in peril. Not someone who decides that name is more important than substance.