A month or so ago, I was chatting—or at least, tried to chat—with a sniffling, sanctimonious Alberta Progressive Conservative MLA.
That abortive conversation was, I now realize, the moment of my final conversion to the realization Premier Ralph Klein’s government has become more a private club, rather than an open representative of the Alberta people.
That incident, like my break in 1993 with the federal Progressive Conservatives to Reform after some 28 years of loyalty, made my support for the provincial PCs tenuous at best.
I stress ‘government’ in the second paragraph above, since many party members, their concerns and ideas tossed in the garbage can by the ingrained PC hierarchy, would still like to have a vibrant government in which their voices are heard.
Don’t hold your breath, my friends.
I outlined to Mr. Sniffling Sanctimonious my fears the government had lost contact with the Alberta people and that unless we started working hard on re-establishing that contact, the government stood to be defeated come the 2008 provincial election. We would then face the nightmarish hell of a reckless tax-and-spend Liberal government, coupled with the undermining of our traditions that has been the hallmark of Jean Chretien’s and Paul Martin’s federal Liberals.
The response from Mr. Sniffling Sanctimonious, “Jackson, you are on the outside looking in. If you were only on the inside, you would understand what we are doing.”
Gee, so I have generally supported the provincial PCs since Peter Lougheed was elected premier in 1971, but I am still considered an insignificant “outsider.”
What utter pomposity.
What utter arrogance.
I then told him that the Calgary Sun was urging the Tories to cut the flat tax from 10% to 5%, what with billions of dollars of oil wealth flowing into provincial coffers.
To that, Mr. Sniffling Sanctimonious replied, “the Calgary Sun does not make the policy of this government.”
Maybe not, I thought, but the 200,000-plus readers of the Calgary Sun, and the 200,000-plus readers of our sister paper, the Edmonton Sun, surely have a huge say on whether this government gets re-elected or not.
Hmmm, 200,000—come to think of it, that’s exactly the number of voters who deserted the provincial PCs in the 2004 election compared to the PC vote count in the 2001 ballot.
Yes, the PC vote is collapsing, but we “outsiders” haven’t the moxie to understand what the hierarchy ‘understands.’
In “Premier Klein makes heir-raising play” (April 17), veteran political journalist Ted Byfield talked about the establishment “insiders” who plan to bid for Klein’s job come a leadership race, and Ted obviously had the same distaste, or worries, about the performance and direction of the PCs as do I.
A very perceptive chap, Ted.
In the column, “Strom brewing” (April 12), I noted the establishment “insider” contenders for Klein’s job are cash-rich Mark Norris; way, way out of his depth Ed Stelmach; lacklustre Lyle Oberg; the hapless Gary Mar; and Lib-Lefter Dave Hancock.
My prediction—a PC party under their leadership would lead to the kind of electoral debacle Harry Strom brought to the Social Credit party in 1971, or the embarrassing leadership of Don Getty’s reign between 1985-1992.
Both Ted and I zeroed in on the man who can really set the PCs back on the straight-and-narrow again, Foothills-Rockyview MLA Ted Morton, the University of Calgary political science professor, who has both an immense grasp of history, and also of the future.
Morton, who won overwhelming endorsement to represent our province in the Senate in 1998, but was unceremoniously slapped in the face by Jean Chretien and Paul Martin, would fight for the return of all the provincial rights Ottawa has swiped from us in recent years, and use the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause—opting-out provision—as often as need be to protect our rights and traditions.
Klein, and the party establishment—and again the aloof, self-serving insiders—will do anything to prevent Morton launching a credible leadership campaign and winning the leadership, because they know he is a true, no-holds-barred Alberta-first Conservative.
Perhaps, with the possible exception of former provincial treasurer Jim Dinning, the only man who can save the party and government from extinction.
Watch for him.
Copyright ? 2005 Paul Conrad Jackson.
Click here to read Paul Jackson’s full and fascinating biography. Paul Conrad Jackson is one of Canada’s most distinguished and thought-provoking journalists. He is currently senior political commentator for the Calgary Sun and other related newspapers, after being both Editor and Associate Editor for a number of years. Mr. Jackson has interviewed such world famous political figures as Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, John Diefenbaker, Brian Mulroney, Pierre Trudeau, Yitshak Rabin and Benjamin Netanyahu.
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