Ralph Is Toast

I've felt for a long time that it's time for Ralph to leave politics in Alberta. (Granted, I can't count myself among those who find him "appealing" as a political leader either)

It appears that a good portion of his party think so too. Since Ralph announced his departure in 18 months, he has acted with increasing desperation and a much heavier hand towards "dissenters" such as Lyle Oberg.

Today, we have loud hints from Preston Manning that he might step into the arena. Interesting, indeed.

I'm not at all sure that I want Manning to succeed Klein - I have mixed feelings about the man. He had grown considerably from his years in Ottawa, become much more flexible and pragmatic than his party (the old Reform/Alliance party, now called the CPC) base. That's promising. So is the likelihood that his entry into the race would gut the support currently backing Ted Morton. {a man who makes both Oberg and Dinning look positively promising}

On the other hand, I'm not at all comfortable with Manning's vision for the future. His policy positions in the past have been much more "hard right" leaning than I think is constructive for any democratic society. We'll see in the coming weeks whether Manning does throw his hat into the ring, and just what he starts to put forth as a plan for the future of both the PC party in Alberta and Alberta itself. {Also, I'm not at all sure that he wouldn't fall back into the trap of playing the utterly ridiculous card of "Western Alienation" on the federal scene - a play that puts Alberta into the same league of silliness as we often see from Quebec, and is routinely derided as farcicle}