Stars can rise quickly and fall quickly in politics, as Alberta Premier Alison Redford well knows. To stay in power, a premier needs to stay connected to the caucus, but even more important, that leader needs to be in tune with the people.
After struggling for weeks with unrest in her caucus over her leadership style and questionable expenses, Redford announced her resignation as premier this week. She really had no choice 鈥� she was caught in a perfect storm. Not all of the waves were of her own making, but it was clear she no longer had a mandate to govern.
In the past, sa国际传媒 Premier Christy Clark had some differences with Redford, but the two patched up their differences and worked together, including working with Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall to form the New West Partnership, an arrangement that enhances interprovincial commerce and encourages a more co-operative approach on such things as transportation, apprenticeships and education.
Arranging a meeting of the minds with the new Alberta premier should be high on Clark鈥檚 list. Tensions will inevitably occur between neighbouring provinces; a good relationship is needed to ensure those tensions are addressed constructively. There鈥檚 much to be gained through co-operation, little to be gained from confrontation.
Clark is undoubtedly aware of other implications in Redford鈥檚 demise. One is that the people don鈥檛 take kindly to seeing their money misused.
While Redford was in trouble from many different directions, attending the funeral of former South African president Nelson Mandela was a problem she couldn鈥檛 shake off. Not many people can grasp the complexities of a multibillion-dollar provincial budget, but everyone can quickly sense the wrongness of spending $45,000 when she could have travelled there for a fraction of the cost or, better, stayed home. Paying the money back didn鈥檛 dispel the impression that she was too free with the public purse.
Besides, it came too late. Mistakes not dealt with when fresh take on a bad odour, as Clark obviously knew when she quickly rescinded ex-MLA John Les鈥檚 dubious appointment as chairman of an earthquake-preparedness panel. No coverup, no excuses. It was a mistake and it鈥檚 been fixed. That鈥檚 leadership.
Another lesson for Clark 鈥� or any other premier 鈥� is that while party loyalty is a factor in politics, that loyalty quickly dissipates without the backing of the people. Redford lost the dwindling support of her caucus when a poll showed her with a 19 per cent approval rating and her party in fourth place in Edmonton. She jumped, but a party facing extinction with her at the helm wouldn鈥檛 have waited long to push her.
Not to say that Redford was not the author of much of her misfortune, but there was more than a little misogyny involved in her downfall. Former Alberta premier Ralph Klein and his cabinet wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars using government planes frivolously, or for private or party business. Klein shrugged it off and no one seemed to care. The Alberta public was a lot kinder to a boozing, sometimes blundering, good ol鈥� boy than it was to its tightly wound first female premier.
It鈥檚 not an Alberta-only attitude. How often do you hear comments about Clark in which she is referred to simply as 鈥淐hristy鈥�? It has a condescending flavour to it 鈥� male politicians are seldom referred to by only their first names.
Probably the main lesson coming out of Alberta for any premier is one that Redford should have followed the rules of Peter Lougheed, her most famous predecessor: Bad things happen if you don鈥檛 listen to your caucus or, more important, if you forget you work for the taxpayer, not the other way around.
