Alison Redford Resigns

[Romero]

Alison Redford announced she is resigning from office this weekend, the Alberta premier said at a press conference on Wednesday.



"I've given my heart and my soul to this province, every single minute of every day for the last two and a half years," said Redford to a crowd of media and supporters in the Alberta legislature rotunda.



"Quite simply, I am not prepared to allow party and caucus infighting to get in the way of building a better future for our province and for all Albertans," Redford continued.



"And that is why I am announcing today with profound optimism for Alberta's future, I am resigning as premier of Alberta effective this Sunday evening."



Let's be frank. I just can't imagine that there's going to be any leader that will be able to fix all the problems of this PC party or this PC government," Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith said at a press conference shortly after the announcement.



Smith took aim not just at Redford but the entire PC party. "The issues are too deep. The sense of entitlement go too deep," she said.



"I think it's quite clear that the PC party is no longer the answer for Albertans," she added.



Redford recently faced, but could not weather, weeks of revelations of lavish spending by herself the Alberta government.



It first surfaced last December that she had spent $45,000 on first-class air tickets and a government plane to go to Nelson Mandela's funeral in South Africa.



From there, other revelations began to surface; Redford using government planes for a vacation; to fly her daughter and her daughter's friends around; to go to a family funeral in Vancouver.



Redford repaid the $45,000, but things only went from bad to worse after Tory backbencher Len Webber resigned last week, saying he could no longer work for a leader prone to temper tantrums.



She wasn't a "nice lady," he said.



On Monday, Donna Kennedy-Glans, the associate minister for electricity, followed suit, citing an inability to create change from within the party and a culture of entitlement as reasons for her departure.



Kennedy-Glans' departure came just one day after 10 members of government met to debate whether to leave caucus.



Even Redford admitted the revelations were detracting from the work of government.



http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/03/19/alison-redford-resigns_n_4996450.html?utm_hp_ref=canada">//http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/03/19/alison-redford-resigns_n_4996450.html?utm_hp_ref=canada

[Anonymous]

Thanks for posting this link Romero.

 :)

[Obvious Li]

best news for quite some time.....now if they could just get rid of that complete muslim retard running calgary, alberta may have a chance of getting back on track...... :ugeek:

[Anonymous]

best news for quite some time.....now if they could just get rid of that complete muslim retard running calgary, alberta may have a chance of getting back on track...... :ugeek:

I don't know how this will affect the pension question that I went to Edmonton to protest?

[Romero]

Hmm. Here's a part of the article I had left out:

Redford was named party leader in the fall of 2011 after clinching the election on promises to eradicate poverty, boost social spending, and invest in education.



A coalition of unions and progressives helped her party to victory in the 2012 provincial election over the more right-of-centre Wildrose.



But once elected, Redford moved her party to the right.



She cut spending in the budgets to below the levels of inflation plus population, strong-armed teachers and doctors into taking wage freezes.



When the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees refused to accept a wage freeze, she passed a law forcing it on them.



Despite the move, she angered fiscal conservatives, taking Alberta back into long-term debt expected to reach $21 billion by 2017 to pay for new schools and health clinics.

I dunno. Will whoever want to play nicer with unions, or will they take a hard line?



I think that $21 billion number also includes lower oil royalties and spending on oil sands infrastructure.



With all that oil, there should be some money to spend on updating basic education and health care. Teachers, doctors and other provincial workers don't deserve a wage freeze or lower pensions.

[Anonymous]

There was a headline recently that that I skimmed that wrote how much money Western Canada's resource industry creates..



Why do Western provinces have budget problems?

 :?

[Romero]

Industry profits are larger than ever, but it doesn't seem to trickle down to the people who actually own the resources very much nowadays.



The new economy. There's plenty of money but the average citizen is asked to sacrifice.

[Anonymous]

Industry profits are larger than ever, but it doesn't seem to trickle down to the people who actually own the resources very much nowadays.



The new economy. There's plenty of money but the average citizen is asked to sacrifice.

I must live in a bubble, is it really that bad in other parts of Western Canada?

 :o

In Calgary it seems so easy to get a job.

[Obvious Li]

There was a headline recently that that I skimmed that wrote how much money Western Canada's resource industry creates..



Why do Western provinces have budget problems?

 :?

because of people like redford and government unions.......everything else is affordable

[Romero]

I must live in a bubble, is it really that bad in other parts of Western Canada?

 :o

In Calgary it seems so easy to get a job.

Calgary's unemployment is quite low and Alberta does generally pay well. It's not too bad, I think it's just that we should be getting more for our resources. Many companies and certain people are doing better than ever but the middle and lower classes aren't seeing any gains.



Alberta's budget deficits have been mainly caused by lower oil sands royalties, yet the entire industry has been making more than ever. Why is the average Albertan being asked to sacrifice?

[Obvious Li]

I must live in a bubble, is it really that bad in other parts of Western Canada?

 :o

In Calgary it seems so easy to get a job.

Calgary's unemployment is quite low and Alberta does generally pay well. It's not too bad, I think it's just that we should be getting more for our resources. Many companies and certain people are doing better than ever but the middle and lower classes aren't seeing any gains.



Alberta's budget deficits have been mainly caused by lower oil sands royalties, yet the entire industry has been making more than ever. Why is the average Albertan being asked to sacrifice?

it is  impossible to imagine that in 2014 someone could be so far detached from reality as you two....i can't even find the energy to respond to such foolishness

[Romero]

Alberta had a $6.3 billion deficit in 2013, due to a $6 billion loss in resource royalties.



BC had a deficit of $1.1 billion.



With all that oil wealth, how can Alberta be billions of dollars more in the red?

[Romero]

Oil industry profits are higher than ever. The executives are enjoying higher raises and bonuses.



Though teachers, doctors and all the other hard workers we depend on have to sacrifice. Suddenly schools, hospitals and a decent standard of living are "unaffordable".



What happened to the prosperity that was promised?

[Anonymous]

[size=200]YAHOOOOOOO!!!!![/size]

Good riddance to bad socialist rubbish. The only thing I dislike about this is if the party elects a fiscally responsible type like Ralph Klein the Wildrose will NOT win the next election.

[Anonymous]

Romero,



That HP editorial is a load of crap. She is one of the most leftist premiers in Canada. A lot of people talk about the Heritage fund that Lougheed created(and which he also took from), but people don`t talk about the Sustainability Fund that Klein created. All big infrastructure projects/capital spending were supposed to come from that account. The era of deficits for major projects was over. Redford totally reversed the fiscally responsible trajectory that Klein put us on. My son and I will be paying for her fiscal malfeasance for a long time.