Ed Stelmach resigning as Premier

[Sr. Mints]

Since Prentice's name has been thrown around: if he ran, I would vote for him.

[NBC]

The PC party of Alberta have alternated Edmonton and Calgary based-party leaders since they have been in power. It is a safe bet that the next one will be from YYC.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by krynski

I hope whatever happens, something will be able to control the 170 squared kilometers of destruction caused by bitumen extraction.

Only 170 sq.km out of 642,317 sq.km (land) in the province? What a deal! I'll start worrying when they get to 5000 sq.km.

Back on topic, I brought up Prentice as a wild card yesterday and heard his name dropped on 660 this morning as someone to not necessarily count out.

[moon]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

Tough talk coming from someone who lives in Lethbridge.

I have said many times on here and in "real" life that I am no fan of Lethbridge, but at least it isn't Edmonton.

[Vansmack]

Stelmach bankrupted many small businessmen in Alberta with his royalties. He should be mentioned in the same breath as Trudeau for what he did to the oil patch. Good riddance

[edn88]

While I personally happy to hear that Stelmach is stepping down, I don't believe that the vitriol is deserved. He was an honest man that was serving in politics and doing what he believed to be the best for the province. That he made bad decisions is not something to be hated over... we voted the PC party in to power, the PC party selected Stelmach to be the premier.

Although it is not always the case, people who put their personal and professional reputation on the line to be in politics are braver than many of the pundits who can easily cast stones with no repercussions.

[chemgear]

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Br...792/story.html

This scenario bothered me a bit while it was developing:

MLAs were already dubious about Stelmach's earlier handling of Sherman, the Tory MLA-physician whose late-night e-mail saying he could no longer trust Stelmach was reported in the Herald.

Instead, some Tories thought it was a good idea to paint Sherman as mentally unstable.

That backfired disastrously with the public, and turned Sherman into a bitter enemy who now calls the government corrupt.

[theonlywhiteout]

I think Ed's biggest problem was being a rather moderate for a conservative. Could be wrong but people around me who follow Alberta politics say that's an issue.

What really bothers me about Alberta is the conservatism that doesn't align with the rest of Canada. The anti union enviroment, pro conservative thinking in this province actually makes me a little uncomfortable at times (especially coming from a left leaning province)

[peter12]

Originally Posted by theonlywhiteout

I think Ed's biggest problem was being a rather moderate for a conservative. Could be wrong but people around me who follow Alberta politics say that's an issue.

What really bothers me about Alberta is the conservatism that doesn't align with the rest of Canada. The anti union enviroment, pro conservative thinking in this province actually makes me a little uncomfortable at times (especially coming from a left leaning province)

The anti-union thing is a trend among any region with a thriving private sector. Globally, unionization is at all-time lows among private employees. I'm guessing you come from a province with a large public sector (see anywhere else in Canada).

Albertans aren't anti-environmental at all, we just have a resource that makes up a large part of our economy that conflicts with environmental stewardship. If you look at any poll anywhere, the vast majority of Canadians support economic growth over environmental protection.

What else is pro-conservative?

[burn_this_city]

I'm glad theres few unions here to shelter the lazy and useless.

[automaton 3]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

I'm glad theres few unions here to shelter the lazy and useless.

Well said. Hard working, diligent people have nothing to fear from non-union workplaces, and in fact have much to gain.

[IliketoPuck]

Originally Posted by WilsonFourTwo

I've always seen that as a bogus argument used to support lower royalty rates. The pie is, was and will always be the same size.

The REAL differences that comes from an increased royalty rate......the rate in which the resources get exploited, and the dollars brought in for the resource.

And no, I don't advocate killing the oil patch......but I also don't see the need to give up all the resources as quickly as possible.

The industry expert used to consult Stelmach on the royalty review was one Mr. Krapkow. (sp.?). The fact that the expert used is not an expert on the oil and gas industry at all should make it pretty clear that Stelmach wasn't playing with a full deck of cards when making the decisions.

From personal experience I know that many juniors had the carpet yanked out from under them by the royalty program, and even though it was partiallly reverted, it still made life difficult on their margins. The royalty review process was a complete farce, and it is about time Stelmach stepped down, he was not the right man for the job.

My mother and I were talking about it the other day, and she made an interesting comment about Stelmach. She said that although Klien was never the smartest man when it came to running the province or making big decisions, he surrounded himself with extremely competent people that made his decision making process much more informed. She said it didn't seem like Stelmach had been able to do the same. I had never looked at it from the perspective, but it makes sense.

[theonlywhiteout]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

I'm glad theres few unions here to shelter the lazy and useless.

Yeah,who needs job security and the protection of basic worekrs rights?

Originally Posted by automaton 3

Well said. Hard working, diligent people have nothing to fear from non-union workplaces, and in fact have much to gain.

Green text?

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by theonlywhiteout

Yeah,who needs job security and the protection of basic worekrs rights?



Green text?

This isnt the industrial revolution. Unions provide nothing that decent labour laws don't already cover. How about being promoted based on merit? Unions are garbage, the sense of entitlement from the unionized worker is comical.

[getbak]

Now we know why he had to resign. He knew he was going to be meeting Ken King last night and it was going to take a few years to recover from the handshake.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by edn88

While I personally happy to hear that Stelmach is stepping down, I don't believe that the vitriol is deserved. He was an honest man that was serving in politics and doing what he believed to be the best for the province. That he made bad decisions is not something to be hated over... we voted the PC party in to power, the PC party selected Stelmach to be the premier.

Although it is not always the case, people who put their personal and professional reputation on the line to be in politics are braver than many of the pundits who can easily cast stones with no repercussions.

That's not enough! G. W. Bush probably thought he was doing what's best for the USA too. Stelmach was so bad he made Klein look good, and Klein blew up hospitals.

[Golden Jet]

Originally Posted by Sr. Mints

Since Prentice's name has been thrown around: if he ran, I would vote for him.

Rutherford had Rod Love on his radio program this morning & they both said he is done with politics. A Presidency with one of the major banks (the Royal Bank, I think) that they both said pays $4 million a year will keep him in Toronto from now on & out of politics.
I don't blame him... Who'd want to take over that listing ship from Stelmach?

[Golden Jet]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

I'm glad theres few unions here to shelter the lazy and useless.

Nice sweeping brush you have saying everybody in a union is lazy. How I say that everybody who owns a business are snakes who care nothing about their employees & only want to exploit them as cheaply as possible.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Golden Jet

Nice sweeping brush you have saying everybody in a union is lazy. How I say that everybody who owns a business are snakes who care nothing about their employees & only want to exploit them as cheaply as possible.

Feel free to point out where I said everyone in a union is lazy.

[Golden Jet]

Originally Posted by chemgear

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Br...792/story.html

This scenario bothered me a bit while it was developing:

MLAs were already dubious about Stelmach's earlier handling of Sherman, the Tory MLA-physician whose late-night e-mail saying he could no longer trust Stelmach was reported in the Herald.

Instead, some Tories thought it was a good idea to paint Sherman as mentally unstable.

That backfired disastrously with the public, and turned Sherman into a bitter enemy who now calls the government corrupt.

What Stelmach & his cronies did to Raj Sherman was shameful.