[Dion]

Bullying accusation against premier may spark internal Tory probe

The president of the Progressive Conservative party said he’s troubled by allegations of bullying levelled against Premier Alison Redford and the party is likely to delve further into the issue, even as Redford’s cabinet colleagues heatedly denied the charge.

PC party president Jim McCormick told the Herald he has seen no evidence of abusive behaviour on Redford’s part, but said he also has “a great deal of respect and admiration” for Webber.

“It’s troubling to hear, most definitely. And because I’m not in that workplace, it’s hard for me to really comment with much depth,” he said. “Hearing these comments are very troubling.”

McCormick said the accusation of bullying — along with Webber’s defection — is likely to come up at Saturday’s PC board of directors meeting, and the executives may decide to take followup action.

“We don’t have shrinking violets on the provincial executive. I wouldn’t characterize it as a showdown. I think we’ve always had some very open and honest straightforward conversations at our board meetings — and I don’t expect this one to be any different,” he added.

University of Calgary political scientist Melanee Thomas said there is a questionable undertone to Webber’s comments.

Politics is full of hard-edged and demanding leaders, mostly male, who are not demanded to be “nice,” she noted.

“It’s a typical sexist trope to refer to someone as throwing a temper tantrum, especially when you are referring to women who are playing hardball as one has to do when one is a political leader,” Thomas said.

“Basically, people who are in leadership positions have to make difficult decisions that might not be especially popular and you have to sometimes come down like a bit of a hammer.”

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/po...914/story.html