And thus begins Ted Morton's leadership campaign
Suffice to say Ed's gambit of naming Morton Minister of Finance last year didn't work out so well, eh?
Tuesday, Stelmach sounded the starting gun on the PC leadership race. With today's announcement, Morton is the first out of the blocks.
Morton's resignation should come as no surprise. He plans to run in the leadership race as a fiscal hawk, and after he wins that, he'll run in the next election as a fiscal hawk. Bringing in another deficit budget won't do him any good.
Neither will running a large government portfolio - not when there are campaign teams to be assembled, membership forms to be sold, and theme songs to be written.
Alberta Finance Minister Ted Morton resigns from PC cabinet
Alberta Finance Minister Ted Morton has resigned from cabinet, two days after first planning to do so and after reluctantly agreeing to support a large deficit budget.
A source tells The Globe and Mail Mr. Morton resigned on Thursday, but remains in the PC caucus.
Tuesday, Stelmach sounded the starting gun on the PC leadership race. With today's announcement, Morton is the first out of the blocks.
Morton's resignation should come as no surprise. He plans to run in the leadership race as a fiscal hawk, and after he wins that, he'll run in the next election as a fiscal hawk. Bringing in another deficit budget won't do him any good.
Neither will running a large government portfolio - not when there are campaign teams to be assembled, membership forms to be sold, and theme songs to be written.
Labels: Ted Morton
posted by calgarygrit at
6:22 p.m.
11 Comments:
Who else do you see throwing their hat into the leadership ring (if anyone) ?
By
Maestro, at 1:02 a.m.
Here's an insightful view from tyee.ca
Alberta's New Political Volatility
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2011/01/27/AlbertaNewVolatility/
By
JimTan, at 1:07 a.m.
Alison Redford and Doug Horner seem to be the most talked about names. Probably one of the young MLAs would run to make a name for himself too.
Dinning has already said no.
I'd be shocked if Prentice or Bronconnier or some of the other wild card names actually jump in.
By
calgarygrit, at 11:38 a.m.
Preston Manning?
By
Robert Vollman, at 8:40 p.m.
CG,
Did some research, and it looks like Ted Morton is a HEAVY favourite. But there's a catch, bear with me.
Morton almost won the 2006 leadership, and clearly represents the right wing of the party. Was affiliated with the Reform party, favours Triple-E Senate, Fixed election dates, an Alberta pension, an Alberta police force (he co-authored the firewall letter), and opposed the prosperity bonus (aka Ralph bucks), same-sex marriage, Meech Lake, and Charlottetown.
The left wing of the party will probably gravitate towards justice minister Alison Redford, who was a policy advisor to Joe Clark, and has an amazing resume of international experience in law and justice, including helping administer Afghanistan's 2005 elections.
It doesn't appear that deputy premier Doug Horner has much chance, despite coming from a politically accomplished family, nor Jonathan Denis, the 2nd youngest Cabinet minister in Alberta history.
Brett Wilson, Jim Dinning and Danielle Smith have already said they're out, and Jim Prentice, Preston Manning, Ralph Klein and Raj Sherman are so unlikely they haven't even commented.
So unless someone parachutes in, it looks like its Morton vs Redford - and a huge lead for Morton at that.
That being said, Ric McIver was a massive favourite for Calgary mayor, and was beaten by someone who was a completely nobody mere weeks before the vote - and for no obvious reason (i.e. no major scandal, no major policy).
Long comment short: could we see another out-of-nowhere upset (and if so - who and how) or will Morton be a post-dud coronation much as Ignatieff was?
By
Robert Vollman, at 11:01 p.m.
Oh and there's Doug Griffiths among the "no chance of winning" candidates, too.
By
Robert Vollman, at 11:03 p.m.
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By
Miss Nana, at 8:11 a.m.
@RV: Party Leadership Contests are run in a much smaller circle than general elections: more specifically, those who vote are those who take an interest in partisan political matters.
As a result, polling is much more accurate, candidate campaigns are able to contact all of their target audience, and out-of-nowhere surprises are all but unheard of.
By
Anonymous, at 6:44 a.m.
Doug Griffiths wants a sales tax and belongs in the Liberal leadership race.
By
Anonymous, at 12:40 a.m.
Draft Ron Liepert! He'll definitely take the PCs where they've never gone before. More than that, he'll definitely unite Albertans in ways you've never seen before.
Either him or Stephen Duckett...maybe they can run as a team so we can be rid of both once and for all?
By
Anonymous, at 6:19 p.m.
Ted Mortona and Gary Mar are so unbelievably destructive, I find myslef praying someone human will get the nomination!!!
By
Anonymous, at 12:19 a.m.
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