In a surprise, Ed Stelmach announced this afternoon he's resigning as the Premier of Alberta. He said that after 25 years he's just tired of politics, but he also warned the next provincial election could be a personality driven one rather than based on policy -- as is so typical of US campaigns.
Besides facing a recession Stelmach really didn't have anything to do with, he actually had the guts to stand up to Big Oil and propose a more reasonable royalty rate off non-renewable resources -- and got pilloried for doing the right thing. No surprise there. But he was not charismatic in any way like Ralph Klein was. And he certainly isn't a technocrat of the ilk of Don Getty or Peter Lougheed. Seems like people there were voting for Stelmach because they didn't see the other parties as alternatives ... then again, when you gerrymander districts to favour rural interests even though most people in the province now live in the cities, it's no surprise either.
Not too surprisingly, Danielle Smith who leads the Wild Rose Party was anything but gracious in response to the resignation. What to expect in "Jesusland" after all?
I can hardly wait to see how the Miracle Channel plays their cards on this one. They got away with trying to influence the last leadership vote (unsuccessfully), and this was before Dick Dewert was forced to resign in disgrace over an adultery scandal ... they can't get away with it again with their present leadership now.
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