I bet there are some people who were wishing this letter would have just been a cruel April Fools joke:
In a blistering, unprecedented letter to Premier Ed Stelmach, a key Progressive Conservative riding association says the party is "nearing the precipice of moral insolvency to govern."Highwood PC MLA George Groeneveld was dropped from cabinet in January 2010 after serving as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development since December 2006. After his departure from cabinet, Mr. Groeneveld told the High River Times:
The Highwood riding board charged that the Tory party "is bereft of policy, planning, execution, follow-through and communication to the members of the party, and, most importantly, to the citizens of Alberta."
Without a rebirth of grassroots participation, the letter says, "this party can expect no mercy from the electorate on the election day, which is just two short years away."
"I was a little surprised to be removed," he told the Times. "I was hoping for another year. But at the same time I was there three years, which is about par for a minister."
He said he is getting a "little long in the tooth" (a term his wife hates), he said with a laugh, and he thought that may have been a factor as well. The premier might have been trying to bring in new blood.
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So their own party now recognizes that they are insolvent. It is basically a letter declaring political bankruptcy.
Time for every moral PC MLA to resign.
Like a bankrupt business who's owners are relieved of their assets and the proceeds auctioned off, so should all moral MLA's resign and Stelmach call an election.
Ed Stelmach is just not that bright. And you can get away with being dumb in politics, but only if you are extremely likable (see Klein, Ralph or Bush, George W). Since Stelmach is a fairly bland guy, there is nothing to hide his glaring mental limitations.
A guy like Klein could have pulled off the whole "these cuts are actually your fault, you evil NDP" bit, and he often did just that. Ed learned at his knee and is trying to employ the same bully tactics Klein did, but no one liked Ed and people are tired of the blame game. Alberta has done nothing significant since the 80s in terms of building real solid legacy projects, like Kananaskis or the Banff Centre, yet we run ever higher deficits.
Where is all of that money going, when we have so little to show for it? Those are the questions Ed Stelmach has no answer for. He doesn't even have the mental capacity to understand the mindset behind such questions.
The PCs desperately need to pick a new leader. Somebody from outside the Legislature probably, someone who is beholden to the members themselves and not the collection of near-retirees currently occupying most ministerial portfolios.
Sadly I don't think they are smart enough to make it happen. So they will follow Stelmach over the cliff of the next election and the Wild Rose will pick up where the once mighty PCs left off.
Sounds like a disgruntled former cabinet minister that's getting his riding association to do his dirty work.
Please keep airing that dirty laundry.
I can't wait for the Wildrose Alliance to form a government so all the ex-Tory complainers can discover that you can't have a 38-member cabinet and that you can't build a new hospital in every riding at the same time you cut royalty rates.
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