Alberta Politics in Turmoil

Whispering in the Wind (WITW 23) April 2, 2014

Politics has always been about ideals, ideas and governance.  However, when governance takes on an aura of entitlement through its most vibrant star performers, things can get ugly and even fatal.

Alison Redford – A Final Adieu?

For those that have read this political opinion column (over the last few weeks) they are fully aware that I have defended Alison Redford’s trip to South Africa and defended the extraordinary expenses to be a result of unusual circumstances and not a result of arrogance or poor judgement – I continue to hold that view to this day.  I am also convinced that the media did not do their due diligence and put the premier’s circumstances into the proper context.  The most recent smear campaign against Ms. Redford relates to her ideas on the Federal building renovations project which again has not been put into perspective.  My concluding perspective is quite obvious, Ms. Redford’s policies and her strategic approach on economic issues was stellar and never really challenged in the media nor were her efforts seriously trashed by the opposition parties.  So it was her feisty management style that caused her political demise.  The whole situation is a mess for the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta – the situation is truly unfortunate for Alison Redford and yes, unfortunate for the Province of Alberta. 

Biggest Political Mistake of the 21^st Century

In my opinion the biggest political mistake ever made in Canada started with the “unite the right” movement and ended with the fusion of the Alliance, Reform movement and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in December, 2003.  As a “progressive” conservative advocate in Alberta what I fear most is history might repeat itself, with the far right coming in from the side door.

Alberta PC Leadership Race – Preferences   

In the week following Alison Redford’s resignation, readers of the Edmonton and Calgary Sun newspapers were asked to name their preferred candidate in the PC leadership race – there were 4,400 respondents to the question:  Which PC leadership candidate would you vote for?  The results:

Jonathan Denis – 29 %

Jim Dinning – 14%

Manmeet Bhullar – 12%

Naheed Nenshi – 10 %

Ric McIver – 8%

Jim Prentice – 8 %

Stephen Mandel – 6%

Doug Horner – 4%

Gary Mar – 2 %

Donna Kennedy-Glans – 2%

Thomas Lukaszuk – 1% 

Bill Smith – 1%

Ken Hughes – 1%

Jeff Johnson 1%

Diana McQueen at 1 %

Rumors:

Rumor has it that Jeff Johnson will be announcing his candidacy in Smoky Lake on April 9, 2014 at the Ukrainian National Hall.