In what I expect to be a steady stream over the next few months, long-time Tory backbencher Richard Magnus joined the current as he announced that he won't be seeking a fifth term in office.
That brings the official MLA retirement list to eight:
Progressive Conservative MLAs
Victor Doerksen (Red Deer-South)
Clint Dunford (Lethbridge-West)
Carol Haley (Airdrie-Chestermere)
Denis Herard (Calgary-Egmont)
Rob Lougheed (Strathcona)
Richard Magnus (Calgary-North Hill)
Alberta Liberal MLA
Maurice Tougas (Edmonton-Meadowlark)
New Democrat MLA
Raj Pannu (Edmonton-Strathcona)
On the Tory retirements, comments are abound:
"A lot of MLAs see the writing on the wall that people are not happy with the party and the way it's run," says Jim Stevenson, who chaired Alberta Renewal, founded during last fall's leadership race in an effort to reconnect the party with its grassroots.
"There's so many things that need to be changed to bring some democracy back into the party and I don't see that happening."
...
David Taras, a political analyst at the University of Calgary, agrees a number of factors affect the decision whether to run again, but says Stelmach has to wear some of the responsibility.
"There are a lot of factors at work here and some are not the kind of factors the premier likes to talk about," he said. "Klein had enormous coat tails. With those coat tails gone, and the argument that Stelmach has very short coat tails, or none at all, could be a drag on some of these candidates.
"If you do the basic math, some of them could be in tough re-election battles and some could lose."
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6 comments:
"Retiring MLAs proof of renewal - premier"
It sounds like the guy who throws a party and judges its success by the amount of people who leave.
GO EDDIE!
Golden Tory paracute. MLA severance pay:
Tory MLAs
Vic Doerksen +$477,000
Clint Dunford +$477,000
Carole Haley +$445,000
Denis Herard +$400,000
Richard Magus +$334,000
Rob Lougheed +$180,000
Expect other pc retreats as Mike Cardinal, Ty Lund, Pearl Calahasen, Barry McFarland, Gary Mar, David Coutts, Iris Evans, and George Rogers call it quits.
Is Lyle Oberg running in Sherwood Park?
I'm not sure why George Rogers, who was only elected in 2004, would retire after only one term.
And i'm not really sure about the comment about the retiring MLAs "doing the math" and calculating they may lose the next election.
Based on the retirement list from all 3 parties, the only person I can see retiring based on fear of losing is Maurice Tougas.
I disagree, br. There's a general fear out there with people wondering how short Stelmach's coattails really are - especially in Calgary. They would never admit it, but Richard Magnus was very vulnerable in North Hill. And of course Dunford's seat was always a close race and could go to the Liberals in the next election. Red Deer S was fairly close in the last election as well.
With the Ralph factor gone, things have changed. People knew Ralph, they didn't know their Tory MLA.
Re: Lyle Oberg seeking the nomination in Sherwood Park - I think he may still have a "residence of sorts" (cottage at Lake Newell) to call "home" in his Constituency, unless it was sold when he settled his Divorce with his first spouse. I note that his Constituency Assn. at one point put forward a motion to change the PC Constitution to allow more latitude for Candidates running in Constituencies which they do not reside in, a search of the now pretty light-weight PC web-site doesn't reveal what happened to this. This comment did make me chuckle (as I lived in Brooks a few years back). Lyle has lost much of his "sparkle" with many townsfolk, even after his unsuccessful Leadership bid. One of the complaints seems to be that he doesn't spend much time in the Constituency.
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