Ed's Exit

Wow. A bombshell announcement from the soon-to-be-former Premier:

 

The Premier says he won't be running again in the next election. Stelmach dropped the bombshell during a 11:45am news conference at the Alberta Legislature.

"Upon much reflection and consultation with family and close friends, I have determined after 25 years of public service, I am not prepared to serve another full term as premier. Therefore I have decided to announce today that I will not be running as a candidate in the next general election."

"There is no doubt that my decision today will come as a shock to many, and as a disappointment to my friends, and Albertans." says Stelmach, "At a further date I will provide written notice to the president of the PC party, my intention to resign as leader, in due course, a full, fair, and transparent process. A leadership race will be held to select my successor. Until I provide the formal notice of intent to resign, I will continue to fulfill the commitments I made in the last general election."

He says his successor will not be bound to the Spring 2012 election date that he had been targeting.

 

You can read Stelmach' statement here. This passage stood out to me:

 

So I say to you this as directly as I can.
There is a profound danger that the next election campaign will focus on personality and US style negative, attack politics that is directed at me personally.
The danger is that it could allow for an extreme right party to disguise itself as a moderate party by focussing on personality – on me personally.
This type of US style wedge politics is coming into Canada, and it comes at our peril.

How bizarre. How unbecoming. Those comments are the thrust of my Wednesday editorial comment:

 

The surprise resignation of Ed Stelmach could have been an opportunity to put politics aside and thank the Premier for his 25 years of public service.
However, the moment was very quickly tainted by partisan politics. Not from the opposition parties necessarily, but rather from Stelmach himself.
After announcing he would not seek another term as premier – and not really explaining why – Stelmach turned his sights on the Wildrose Alliance.
He never mentioned the party by name, but warned about a “profound danger” that the next election would bring "US-style negative attack politics". He then warned that such “wedge politics” would allow for an “extreme right party” to disguise itself as moderate.
One has to wonder why Stelmach would go out of his way to make such statements in the first place? What was the point? Moreover, what evidence does he have to back any of this up?
If anything, it makes Stelmach come off as petty and bitter. Were it not for the rapid surge of the Wildrose Alliance, perhaps Stelmach would not be resigning.
Not only that, though, but Stelmach comes off as disingenuous and hypocritical. Does he not see the contradiction between denouncing negative political politics while at the same time engaging in it himself?
No doubt had Stelmach stayed on, the other parties would have focused on him quite intently during the next election campaign. That's to be expected - the Premier ought to be held accountable for his decisions and for his record.
It's been very typical of this Premier and this government to always want the credit but to never want the blame.
One would have hoped that in bowing out, Premier Stelmach could have risen above such partisanship.
It is a fitting end to a disappointing tenure as Premier that Ed Stelmach goes out on such a disappointing note.

Meanwhile, at the National Post, Kevin Libin has a very interesting piece on how and why this all came about.