The Iron Lady of Alberta Politics, Under Siege

For months Premier Redford has been relentlessly attacked by Alberta’s opposition parties for the $45.000 travel tab she and an aide racked up in their trip to South Africa to attend Nelson Mandela’s funeral.  After six weeks of pressure coming from all corners of the province, including from within her own party, she finally caved in to the pressure, repaid the $45,000 tab and offered a rather cryptic apology,  In her statement last week,, Premier Redford claimed that the issue was a distraction from her government’s agenda.  Premier Redford’s apology and statement last week seemed to have satisfied the opposition parties but didn’t go down well within the PC Party’s executive committee and the government’s caucus members.  At the time of writing this column two MLAs have resigned from the PC caucus and are sitting as Independents with some smaller groups of government members assessing their future role in Premier Redford’s government.  One can summarize the present state of the Alberta PCs, utter chaos!  Following are my thoughts on the more recent developments::

Regarding the $45,000 Travel Cost – Two weeks ago I wrote about Premier Redford’s trip costs for herself and her aide:  “The circumstances were unusual and extenuating . . . . it was the circumstances and not poor judgement that created the atrocious bill.”  I hold to that assessment today and feel she should not be paying out of pocket for unfortunate circumstances.  I would also like to offer a defence for the premier using an Alberta government plane for her trip to Ottawa (cost, $15,000).  Why do we have this type of plane in Alberta?  I understand Alberta has a couple of these planes to accommodate the specific needs of the Premier, Cabinet Ministers and senior officials – these planes are used to allow the Premier to do a more effective job.  Yes there has to be prudence and good judgement, would the opposition (critics) sell off the planes?  Also, I understand that the plane used by the prime minister to go to Nelson Mandela’s funeral costs $10,000 per hour of flying time.   

Regarding Len Webber’s Decision to Leave the PC Caucus – Len Webber left the Alberta PC caucus making some quite pointed remarks.  Mr. Webber openly called Premier Redford a “bully” and “just not a nice lady.”  Obviously Mr. Webber is disappointed with how he’s been treated by Redford.  His remarks should be discounted in that he has expressed his intentions to run as a Conservative in the 2015 federal election.  He should immediately resign from government so that a by-election can be called.  Similarly Donna Kennedy-Glans should resign her seat in Edmonton so that a by-election can be called. 

Regarding Redford’s Management Style – I have never met Premier Redford nor do I have any idea as to how she relates to her Cabinet or her caucus.  From what I have read she seems to be a strong willed, confident manager – two important criteria for a good leader.  I was particularly impressed with how Premier Redford handled herself opposite British Columbia’s premier in the Northern Gateway Pipeline dispute and not sharing Alberta’s royalties with BC.  From my perspective Alberta needs a strong willed leader so what the premier and the party needs to do is clean house, repair a very tarnished image and maintain an operation with good, fair policies and programs.  Premier Redford and the PC Party have two years before the next election, hope they can rebuild based on the existing footings.