Thursday, May 06, 2004
Marbles? I don't need no stinkin' marbles!
You know, Readership, you're alright, and I want you to know that I think so. Sure, I might poke a little fun at you sometimes - publicly portray you as drooling vegetables lacking the ability to do anything more complex than type this blog's url - or give you the occasional disturbing mental image involving me and man breasts, but it's all in good fun. Deep down, I respect you every bit as much as you respect me, and that had better not be taken as an insult.
Anyway, the cause of my present affection for you, Dear Readership, is that you have delivered unto me two straight 110 hit days, when I had never before even managed one. You deserve some kind of reward. Sadly, all I can offer is blood, sweat, toil, tears, and a pretty trite blog post entitled "Borderline Socialist Student Politician Says Nasty Things About Ralph Klein."
Well, just one nasty thing, really, that being that he's lost his marbles. He's gone mad. His performance before the provincial Public Accounts Committee (less famous than its federal cousin, and with good reason) - in which he interrupted everything Laurie Blakeman had to say in her request for documentation supporting Klein's claims with "You don't believe me?" - is good evidence of this, but my no means the only evidence. Consider, for example, his cheerful admission that a large part of the reason that he prefers to use government planes to airlines is that he can smoke on the former, his almost Bouchard-esque unacknowledged contradictions on car insurance, and his recently heightened (even more) sensitivity to criticism from the opposition or media. Anyway, I'm less interested in substantiating my theories than I am in considering their effects, so suffice it to say (to make a wink, wink, nudge, nudge sort of a reference to my May 1 post - really, you get more out of this blog if you read every single one of its posts) that it would not surprise me in the least to wake up one day and discover that it was King Ralph taking a leak on my chest.
So what does this mean? Well, it sure doesn't mean that the Tories are going to lose (today's helpful grammatical tip: "lose" rhymes with "booze," while "loose" rhymes with "noose") an election anytime soon. As pleased as Kevin Taft (who, by the way, apparently enraged Klein by obtaining front page coverage for getting elected Liberal leader) obviously is about his rival's meltdown, this is Alberta, and as long as the only alternatives are Liberals and socialists, the Tory reign isn't ending.
However, the Tory majority could well decrease. And while this doesn't have any real consequences for the government's ability to do whatever the fuck it wants, it good well have major consequences for Klein's ability to remain at the head of his government. He has traditionally enjoyed strong support from his caucus - even from those MLAs, like Gary Mar, who are eager to succeed him at the earliest possible date. He did not enjoy this support because he was consistently able to diplomatically resolve differences of opinion. He did not enjoy this support because he allowed P.C. backbenchers significant input into government policy (though he has converted the Tory caucus into the province's de facto legislative body, complete with committee system - his most agregiously undemocratic reform, in my view). He did not enjoy this support because he's likeable guy. He enjoyed this support because he was an electoral asset. Conservative MLAs knew that, come election time, their chances of retaining their seats and holding off on collecting their severance packages (in other news: severance for election officials? This be a load of shit, say I) for another four years were maximized if Ralph Klein remained the public face of the party. As a result, we saw some of the most leader-focussed campaigns seen in Canadian politics since the federal Liberals' 1968 Trudeaumania coronation. Ralph Klein: he listened, he cared, he avoided acting like a complete loony in public, and he got MLAs elected.
This may no longer be the case. Ralph Klein will win majority governments (even, to paraphrase C.D. Howe, if they have to run him stuffed). But if these majorities risk shrinking, there are going to be some unhappy MLAs - after all, what comfort is a majority government to the likes of Drew Hutton who will have to find honest work within the next couple of years? Combine eager leadership aspirants, Edmonton MLAs who fear a rejeuvinated Liberal party, and rural MLAs who fear a Socred (or somebody of the Socreds' approximate ilk) resurgence, and we could see an unruly caucus before the next election. If we don't, it will likely be largely due to noted hardass Steve West, brought in to succeed Peter Elzinga as the Premier's chief of staff. In fact, I maintain that West was brought in specifically to minimize the chances of a caucus revolt.
Mark my words (no, not with a highlighter, you drooling vegetables - this is a computer) - we have at last witnessed the beginning of the decline of Ralphocracy in Alberta. That the Liberals have a new, media-friendly leader is but a happy coincidence.
* * *
I admit that that wasn't political analysis of especially high calibre. If you want that (and have already read everything Paul Wells has to offer), I highly recommend chapters 10 and 11 of Stephen Leacock's classic "Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town." I also recommend the rest of the book, but for entirely different reasons.
As long as I'm recommending books, I should note that Paul Martin's recent trip to the States (during which he couldn't remember what gift he had brought for President Bush, but thankfully refrained from glorifying the invasion of NATO allies) inspired me to reread Lawrence Martin's very good "The Presidents and the Prime Ministers". This gives a very good account of many of the more inauspicious moments in Canada U.S. relations, from the time that Lyndon Johsnon physically assaulted Lester Pearson to the time that Warren Harding made the first official visit to Canada by a U.S. President (and died for his efforts) to the Richard Nixon White House's notorious reference to "that asshole Trudeau."
Finally: in this blog's brief existence, it has managed to become the target of a respectable number of links (though nothing yet from Mr. Wells, I fear). However, I have a new favourite: in her second of three May 5 posts, Jen links the word "competent" to me. Yes, there is context. No, it doesn't matter what it is.
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You know, Readership, you're alright, and I want you to know that I think so. Sure, I might poke a little fun at you sometimes - publicly portray you as drooling vegetables lacking the ability to do anything more complex than type this blog's url - or give you the occasional disturbing mental image involving me and man breasts, but it's all in good fun. Deep down, I respect you every bit as much as you respect me, and that had better not be taken as an insult.
Anyway, the cause of my present affection for you, Dear Readership, is that you have delivered unto me two straight 110 hit days, when I had never before even managed one. You deserve some kind of reward. Sadly, all I can offer is blood, sweat, toil, tears, and a pretty trite blog post entitled "Borderline Socialist Student Politician Says Nasty Things About Ralph Klein."
Well, just one nasty thing, really, that being that he's lost his marbles. He's gone mad. His performance before the provincial Public Accounts Committee (less famous than its federal cousin, and with good reason) - in which he interrupted everything Laurie Blakeman had to say in her request for documentation supporting Klein's claims with "You don't believe me?" - is good evidence of this, but my no means the only evidence. Consider, for example, his cheerful admission that a large part of the reason that he prefers to use government planes to airlines is that he can smoke on the former, his almost Bouchard-esque unacknowledged contradictions on car insurance, and his recently heightened (even more) sensitivity to criticism from the opposition or media. Anyway, I'm less interested in substantiating my theories than I am in considering their effects, so suffice it to say (to make a wink, wink, nudge, nudge sort of a reference to my May 1 post - really, you get more out of this blog if you read every single one of its posts) that it would not surprise me in the least to wake up one day and discover that it was King Ralph taking a leak on my chest.
So what does this mean? Well, it sure doesn't mean that the Tories are going to lose (today's helpful grammatical tip: "lose" rhymes with "booze," while "loose" rhymes with "noose") an election anytime soon. As pleased as Kevin Taft (who, by the way, apparently enraged Klein by obtaining front page coverage for getting elected Liberal leader) obviously is about his rival's meltdown, this is Alberta, and as long as the only alternatives are Liberals and socialists, the Tory reign isn't ending.
However, the Tory majority could well decrease. And while this doesn't have any real consequences for the government's ability to do whatever the fuck it wants, it good well have major consequences for Klein's ability to remain at the head of his government. He has traditionally enjoyed strong support from his caucus - even from those MLAs, like Gary Mar, who are eager to succeed him at the earliest possible date. He did not enjoy this support because he was consistently able to diplomatically resolve differences of opinion. He did not enjoy this support because he allowed P.C. backbenchers significant input into government policy (though he has converted the Tory caucus into the province's de facto legislative body, complete with committee system - his most agregiously undemocratic reform, in my view). He did not enjoy this support because he's likeable guy. He enjoyed this support because he was an electoral asset. Conservative MLAs knew that, come election time, their chances of retaining their seats and holding off on collecting their severance packages (in other news: severance for election officials? This be a load of shit, say I) for another four years were maximized if Ralph Klein remained the public face of the party. As a result, we saw some of the most leader-focussed campaigns seen in Canadian politics since the federal Liberals' 1968 Trudeaumania coronation. Ralph Klein: he listened, he cared, he avoided acting like a complete loony in public, and he got MLAs elected.
This may no longer be the case. Ralph Klein will win majority governments (even, to paraphrase C.D. Howe, if they have to run him stuffed). But if these majorities risk shrinking, there are going to be some unhappy MLAs - after all, what comfort is a majority government to the likes of Drew Hutton who will have to find honest work within the next couple of years? Combine eager leadership aspirants, Edmonton MLAs who fear a rejeuvinated Liberal party, and rural MLAs who fear a Socred (or somebody of the Socreds' approximate ilk) resurgence, and we could see an unruly caucus before the next election. If we don't, it will likely be largely due to noted hardass Steve West, brought in to succeed Peter Elzinga as the Premier's chief of staff. In fact, I maintain that West was brought in specifically to minimize the chances of a caucus revolt.
Mark my words (no, not with a highlighter, you drooling vegetables - this is a computer) - we have at last witnessed the beginning of the decline of Ralphocracy in Alberta. That the Liberals have a new, media-friendly leader is but a happy coincidence.
* * *
I admit that that wasn't political analysis of especially high calibre. If you want that (and have already read everything Paul Wells has to offer), I highly recommend chapters 10 and 11 of Stephen Leacock's classic "Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town." I also recommend the rest of the book, but for entirely different reasons.
As long as I'm recommending books, I should note that Paul Martin's recent trip to the States (during which he couldn't remember what gift he had brought for President Bush, but thankfully refrained from glorifying the invasion of NATO allies) inspired me to reread Lawrence Martin's very good "The Presidents and the Prime Ministers". This gives a very good account of many of the more inauspicious moments in Canada U.S. relations, from the time that Lyndon Johsnon physically assaulted Lester Pearson to the time that Warren Harding made the first official visit to Canada by a U.S. President (and died for his efforts) to the Richard Nixon White House's notorious reference to "that asshole Trudeau."
Finally: in this blog's brief existence, it has managed to become the target of a respectable number of links (though nothing yet from Mr. Wells, I fear). However, I have a new favourite: in her second of three May 5 posts, Jen links the word "competent" to me. Yes, there is context. No, it doesn't matter what it is.
