They're Off!

The race to succeed Ralph Klein is now officially underway. An uninspiring group of nine Tories are vying for the position of party leader and Premier. What's made me think about these people are comments by the president of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party. Specifically, in response to the lack of rules for the leadership race, party president Doug Graham stated that there were few rules because the rules would be unenforceable. What does this statement say about the character of the candidates? It says that they can't be trusted to abide by simple rules set out by their own party. So now we not only have nine people who make Ralph Klein look like an inspired leader, but nine people who's ethics are so much in question their own party can't put rules in place to govern their behaviour since it can't be reasonably expected that they'd follow the rules in the first place. So now we have a party that isn't known for it love of the rule of law going to be lead by someone who would ignore his/her party's own rules. What a lovely group to make a choice for premier from.

I think the more likely scenario is that the party just doesn't want any restrictions on who can donate what to which candidate. The party can't come out and say that though since society expects politicians to be more open with their donations. So the party that runs the most secretive government in Canada shows that it's not going to change that. So unless the successful candidate voluntarily discloses who's given them money, we will never know who's bought the ear of the premier. So really it's business as usual for the Tories.

So there's two possible interpretations for the lack of rules, neither is flattering to the party or it's leadership candidates. It would appear that next election they'll be offering the same old tired vote for us 'cause we're conservative message. Nothing will really change when the new leader gets elected. So look forward to several more years of no plan and cuts to health, education and corporate taxes.