Ralph - It's Time To _LEAVE_

It's been quite a week. Early in the week, we were treated to Ralph's latest attempt at a budget. The result was predictable - lots of money being thrown around at high visibility projects (roads, bridges, hospital buildings etc.), but no real vision for the province 20, 30 years down the road. Other than a relatively small endowment fund for Cancer prevention research, no real commitments were made to invest in the people of the province.

Granted, under the Klein government's blinding zeal to wipe out the debt in this province, we've paid an enormous price in terms of our public infrastructure. With a population ballooning at a rate not seen since the mid-1970s, the big cities of Calgary and Edmonton have struggled with infrastructure being outstripped by population demands. However, throwing money at "big building projects" is quite different from planning the future of the province - because the future of the province isn't buildings and roads - it's the people that live in and utilize these facilities. This budget, like most things that have come out of the ruling party in Alberta these past few years is an amazingly myopic attempt at a good news budget from a government that is far too used to claiming poverty, and no longer can.

Then, we were treated to the first signs of what is likely to come during Ralph's Long Goodbye - Lyle Oberg's firing from cabinet and suspension from caucus. Now, whether or not I like Oberg is irrelevant. When Ralph said that cabinet ministers had to resign by June if they wanted to run for party leadership, I think we learned a couple of things. First, that there are significant factions evolving within the Alberta PC's. Second, Ralph being the thin-skinned twit that he is won't brook any kind of dissent from his caucus in his twilight days.

In one sense, you can argue that Ralph is merely trying to avoid the "lame-duck" effect. In reality he's trying to retain control over the reins of power as long as possible. More or less it boils down to Ralph doesn't want someone in caucus muddying the waters by actually putting forth ideas that Ralph hasn't thought of.

Long leadership races are damaging to political parties. The decade long war within the Federal Liberal Party between Martin and Chretien's factions left the party a mass of squabbling factions that couldn't produce a coherent message in two elections. Martin's long-run strategy to gain the leadership seriously damaged the party's cohesiveness, and Chretien's nearly 2 year long departure appears to have been little more than a spiteful maneuver intended to annoy Martin's backers as much as possible.

Ralph's 18 month departure leaves the new leader with a very short period of time in which to "make a name" for themselves with the electorate. Heavy handed tactics like firing Oberg are merely going to inflame the divisions that have already started as the various "undeclared, but popularly known" candidates have spent the last couple of years building their campaign organizations up. At this point, we have 18 months pending where we get to watch the Alberta PC's squabble over leadership.

The only real beneficiary from this will be Alberta's opposition parties. Ralph would do far better to table his resignation immediately, and move on. Sadly his ego - or his wife's - won't let that happen. {Which no doubt has to be making Kevin Taft and Brian Mason very happy these days}

Personally, I think that after 35 years, the PC's could do with a few years in the opposition benches, or even better the political wilderness. Last election, Stephen Harper talked of the "Culture of Entitlement that had evolved in the Federal Liberals after only a decade, can you imagine what the internal workings of the Alberta PC party must resemble after 35 years of unchallenged power?