And here I was thinking that the PCs had implemented a strategic communications plan to begin recovering their support after the Calgary-Glenmore by-election defeat.
Tory MLA apologizes to StelmachI guess I gave them too much credit.Calgary North Hill MLA Kyle Fawcett has apologized to Premier Ed Stelmach for being critical of his leadership abilities.
Fawcett suggested Stelmach had done little to give confidence to Calgarians that he has the ability to lead the province.
The rookie Conservative MLA made the comment after the party finished third in a byelection in Calgary on Monday.
Stelmach and Fawcett met for a conversation on Thursday and Fawcett offered an apology for his comment, the premier said.
"He was remorseful, and he said, look, you know, I just got caught in the heat of the loss and certainly dejected, and I know what it feels like," said Stelmach.
(h/t Andrew McIntyre)
Posts
15 comments:
Ed doesn't get it.
Why did Fawcett apologise? Did he hurt Stelmach's feelings?
Grow a spine, dude.
Weaksauce. Fawcett was right the first time.
"Stelmach has done very little, I believe, to instill confidence in at least people in Calgary that he has the leadership capabilities to lead this province."
It's true. Nothing to apologize for. Grow a backbone, Fawcett.
And Boutilier himself? Yeah, Fawcett's a weenie like the rest of the PC backbenches, but the bigger problem, and the cause of such weenie-like behavior, is our parliamentary tradition of hard-line party discipline.
As effed up as American politics can be, you have to appreciate the ability of politicians to actually speak their mind from time to time.
Okay, for the record -- I swear I made the above comment before I saw Dave's coining of the term "Boutilierd" in the previous Fawcett post.
Stelmach is just clueless.
Next he will:
- issue duct-tape to his MLAs
- claim the hot air reduction from MLAs to be a Kyoto carbon capture program.
- kick MLAs refusing to use said duct-tape out of the PC party (actually he will probably say -"Go join the WRA losers!")
- cut $100 billion from the budget to make up for the byelection loss
You called it dave.
All eyes now avert to Morton. Morton has not stopped fundraising outright since he lost the leadership race and some suggest he may instruct his supporters to vote against Stelmach in the leadership review in November. He has continued courting Calgary Tory MLAs, and has increased his influence within caucus and cabinet (ie: Bill44 + Land-use Framework). On top of that, he has been one of the government's most competent Ministers. Now, two questions: does Stelmach promote him to a more senior portfolio to keep his ambition in cheque, or does Stelmach tighten his grip on power within the party? And, what does Morton do? I would argue if Stelmach squeezes tighter onto power, it will lead to the beginning of the end for him. However, if he promotes Morton, that may buy him enough time to see the next election. From Morton's perspective, he wants to be Premier. Does he try and oust Stelmach and take over the PCs, or does he continue building the Morton base, and eventually take them with him to the WRA? I would prefer the first option, as Morton at the helm of the PCs is probably the best possible outcome for the province. He has the policy room to seek for sustainable revenue policy changes (ie: sales tax as he suggested before Stelmach got all emotional about tax hikes) whereas Stelmach has no room to move but right. Unless Dinning comes back, (never thought I'd say this), Morton is the best thing for this province. It would also enable Red Tories inside and out of the the PC party if they want to take their balls out of their purse and be a formal political entity, or if they just want to continue squeezing themselves in the big-tent. This current trend could end up being very positive for our province.
Cashiering Stelmach in favour of Morton would certainly be the best strategy for holding rural seats, since it would limit the appeal of the Wildrose Alliance, the only plausible threat to rural seats, but it might create more space for the WRA in urban Calgary, depending on who the WRA leader is, and would certainly create more space for the Liberals in urban Edmonton.
Morton could have helmed the WRA long before this point and decided against it, so I don't really see why he would want to now, since although it is a more plausible alternative govt than ever before, many of the challenges remain and, perhaps more importantly, many Wildrosers would not be keen to have him when a lot of time and effort had just been expended to choose a "home grown" leader who wasn't been at the cabinet table when the province was being driven into the ditch. I wouldn't want him, at any rate, if we had Danielle Smith since she's got just as many policy smarts, is at least as solid on fiscal conservatism, and is not as polarizing a figure.
Danielle Smith might even pick up Liberal votes should an anybody but Morton movement get going in that camp.
Jonathan Denis and Rob Anderson both supported Morton in the last leadership race. I wonder if their recent appointments signal that something more is in store for Morton.
If PC"s, Libs and the ND's were smart, they would all buy a WAP membership and vote for the person who is not perceived to be the frontrunner.
Danielle's 'kitchen cabinet" alone could put the entire Government caucus to shame. If Danielle wins the leadership race, $2 million starts pouring into the WAP party coffers and the next $2 million will be shortly after that.
If Danielle wins the leadership race the PC's are finished!!!
Chief of Staff Ron Glen, and consequently Ed, have been completely out of their element and in over their heads since the day Ron was made CofS.
Right from Ron was named Chief of Staff I told everyone it was a mistake. Ed should've had somebody very seasoned in that position at the helm and mentored Ron as he served in the capacity of Deputy Chief of Staff for a year and a half or two before becoming Chief of Staff.
Ron has made mistake after mistake. If Ed doesn't open his eyes to reality and make changes with his Chief, closest advisors and kitchen cabinet in short order, the PC party will be driven over the cliff and never to recover.
The fact that Randy Dawson didn't even have any clue that the HUGE by-election loss was coming points to the fact that both the Government and the party are clueless as to what is really going on out there.
When is everyone going to stop drinking the PC kool aid and start dealing with reality???????????
And don't say I didn't warn you!!!!
Let's throw the shoe on the other foot. What would happen if one of the Liberal MLAs expressed discontent that Swann didn't deliver this seat? Voters on the right split and no NDP support, they could have used the "Send Ed a Message" campaign themselves except they didn't think of it first. WRAP parachutes a candidate in and the PC's stumble. Why aren't the Liberal's asking questions?
I thought you only apologize if WHEN you are wrong. To say that Fawcett's originial cooments were not true in itself is false.Anyone who has spent time in Calgary knows that Stelmach has no credibility in that city. This is exactly why Mr. Steelmach did not do any door knocking for his candidate. DCU has a tremendous amount of respect in Calgary as indicative of her being reelected by her ward. Even SHE couldn't cloud over the distaste Calgarians have for Stelmach. Imagine how she feels walking down her street knowing even her neighbours couldn't get past their distaste for Stelmach and cast a ballot in her favour.
But hey at least Stelmach is learning from his mistakes and at least sat face to face to a less than intimidating Fawcett to ring him in.He didn't have the guts nor the leadership qualities to meet Boutilier face to face.But hey...he doesn't have HE HAS THE POWER(for now)
Ron Glen may be a problem, but how about that communications team? Olsen and Stanway? Good choices Ed.
So what we've learned from this is... Fawcett apparently speaks the truth after drinking too much at "victory" parties gone bad?
He should have stood by his comments and martyred himself. If Ed kicked him out of caucus he could have just joined WAP as a hero.
Post a Comment