Just in case any of you missed the news from last week, it turns out that Alberta's glorious and beloved leader, Premier Ralph Klein, is planning on missing most of the upcoming session of the Alberta Legislature to continue his 2005 Lame-Duck Farwell Tour.
While Klein spent quite a bit of time traveling through the US, Europe, and Africa this summer, he'll be continuing his tour in
Though it's no secret that our dearest Premier holds not much more than arrogant contempt for the role of the elected assembly, he must think that by divvying up $400 rebate cheques to every Albertan, he somehow doesn't have to show up. Wow.
From drunkenly kicking homeless people to verbally attacking women MLA's, to now skipping out on session, this Premier continues to give Albertans no shortage of reasons to be embarrassed about him.
But, if anything, it should be entertaining to watch the candidates for the 2006 Tory Leadership Race kick the bejesus out of each other in their scramble for the spotlight when Klein's skip's town this fall.
Wednesday, October 5, 2005
sorry, mr. speaker. the premier's on vacation.
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Could you provide a link or something for your claim that Klein "kicked" a homeless person? This is the first I've heard of it.
ReplyDeleteAnd when you say "verbally attacking" women MLA's, you mean "yelling", right? Something that many if not most politicians do? Do you propose that women politicians are entitled to a higher, separate, and unequal level of respect in politics? How about the workplace in general? I'm just curious what your specific thoughts are on this matter, cheers.
Klein was unnecessarily belligerant to what were universally regarded as professional, legitimate questions from Laurie Blakeman. Now, I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that it was a verbal attack, I would say that it was crass and unbecoming of a premier. And you know it, anonalogue. Don't be an apologist for that crap.
ReplyDeleteI have no problem with the man leading the executive branch conducting business during the legislative session. Ie, if Paul Martin was to do a foreign tour during Parliament, I beleive that is as important or more important than making an appearance at Question Period.
ReplyDeleteUm, sure, no one's saying that Klein needs to have a 100% perfect attendence record, but let's be honest here: Klein is a habitual legislature-skipper. The damn house only sits for a tiny fraction of the year, but Klein still has no qualms scheduling major junkets and trips during that time. C-lo, Klein shouldn't be doing this sort of thing on the Legislative Assembly's time. There are many, many more weeks of the year when the house is vacant--it's during times like those that Klein can go on his world tours.
ReplyDeleteWe need to put the respect back into Alberta politics.
I cannot deny your reasoning, but just food for thought. Frankly, I don't think majority governments themselves justify legislative debate. Tyranny of the majority, the foundation of democracy.
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