This Week in Alberta - The March To Formal One-Party Statehood!

Updated at the bottom with a new poll...

As if 40 years of one-party rules wasn't bad enough, the opposition parties appear to be crumbling at a time when (in theory) the PCs should be vulnerable.

Exhibit A is the Alberta Liberal Party, which will lay off its final two staff members on April 30th.
Exhibit B is the Alberta Green Party, who now face deregistration from Elections Alberta. In a comment on Gauntlet's blog post on the topic, party leader Joe Anglin admits "The financial problems with the Green Party are significant and they go far deeper than just failing to file a year-end financial statement."

It's one thing for the PCs to keep winning - maybe they deserve it. But even Conservatives have to agree that a democracy can't function properly if there's not a functional opposition to keep the government's feet to the fire.


In Other News...
Ted Morton's fourth annual golf 'n gun fundraiser is coming up!


And Enlightened Savage gives his assessment of the Calgary West AGM fall-out.


UPDATE: Via TPB, comes news of a new Angus Reid poll:

Conservatives: 56%
Liberals: 19%
NDP: 11%
Alliance: 7%
Green: 7%

I'd say that pretty much confirms that there's no real opposition left in Alberta. Even if the NDP and Alliance are healthier financially than the other aforementioned parties, they're still not in a position to win more than half a dozen seats between them - and that's being wildly optimistic.

This Week in Alberta - You're Fired!

This got buried beneath the billion dollar boondoggle last week, so this week's "This Week in Alberta", is pleased to bring you the tale of Lorne Gibson. Lorne was, up until last week, Alberta's Chief Electoral Officer. Now, given that the last election was a bit of a gong show, it’s understandable that Lorne would get a good grilling from the committee that decides his fate.

Lorne tried to explain away the problems by pointing out that many returning officers were only appointed two weeks prior to the writ being dropped – as supposed to the 13 months they had to prepare in 2004. But, you see, this suggestion implies that Ed Stelmach’s government dropped the ball, violating the first rule any impartial government appointee must live by – “Honour thy government and find no fault in what they do”.

Making matters worse, Lorne had the gall to call “for major reforms to “depoliticize” the province’s voting system”. De-politicize the voting system? Where does this guy think he is? He has also advocated for the bizarre position that election legislation should be “democratized”, and that “vestiges of former years” should be removed from it. Sure Lorne - keep smoking that wacky tabacky.

Faced with this insubordination, the Tories promptly exercised their majority to punt Gibson from his post - over the protests of the opposition parties.

AGRDT offers the complete media run-down of the saga, including some harsh words being directed Stelmach's way by former star candidate Arthur Kent.