Foothills-Rocky View MLA is a little coy about what the Alberta government would look like under his leadership.
One thing is certain, if he succeeds in becoming premier Foothills-Rocky View MLA Ted Morton would want the province to live within its means.
“Obviously, I’ve had some concerns with the deficits and that’s about as much as I’m going to say on that,” he said.
Morton was the first to person announce their intention to seek the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party when Premier Ed Stelmach steps down from the job later this year.
However, now Doug Horner, Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert MLA, has thrown his hat in the ring announcing his candidacy for the party leadership.
Morton said he expects between four and six candidates enter the race.
He wouldn’t go too far into discussing specific policies he would promote as premier.
With the economy on the mend, he said the party that gives Albertans the best plan to bolster the recovery will get the voter’s support.
“The challenge for our party, and pretty much any party that seeks political support, is to offer both a vision to a more secure prosperous future and also the roadmap to achieve that vision,” he said.
Ultimately, he said he has high hopes for Alberta’s future.
“I think with the right leadership and the right management we can sustain the prosperity the last two generations have enjoyed, but do a better job on the environmental stewardship,” he said.
It’s a law that has been the target of opposition for suggestions it will infringe on Albertans property rights that Morton points to as one of the best tools to protect the environment.
The Alberta Land Stewardship Act will help protect water resources, he said, particularly in the Red Deer and Bow River basins as well as the Eastern Slopes.
“Almost all landowners have a very high interest in both the quality and quantity of water supply and the land stewardship act, because it organizes land by water basins, will help us achieve much better results in terms of both water quality and water quantity,” he said.
According to Morton, the Land Stewardship Act is not as bad as it has been made to seem in the past month.
He said a campaign against the legislation has misinterpreted a number of elements in the act and used this confusion to frighten landowners.
A review of the act will be completed shortly, said Morton, and the government will provide more clarity about the legislation and its intent.
“We’re going to give some definitional clarity to about half a dozen key sections and we think that will reassure that the conservation and stewardship objectives of Bill 36 are valid and that the means used to achieve those will not threaten the landowners whatsoever,” he said.
He added the real threat to landowners from environmental legislation in the 21st century is loss of value through regulation, not expropriation, and the law provides compensation for loss of value due to regulation.
After Premier Stelmach announced he would resign from the party, rumours swirled it was over a split within the Tory caucus because of the forthcoming provincial budget and Morton was strongly opposed to running another deficit.
He would not comment on the rumours, except to say he and the premier had long discussions over the budget and agreed to disagree.
“We had some difficult decisions to make and he made his and I made mine and we agreed to respect each other’s decisions,” said Morton.
Morton has also been making public overtures to bring the Wildrose Alliance and Progressive Conservatives together under one party banner.
While Wildrose leader Danielle Smith has said no, Morton still believes it can happen.
However, he said it’s not going to be achieved over night.
“I would hope that if I’m successful in seeking the leadership of the PC party I’ll put a priority on efforts to make disillusioned former PC supporters want to come back to the PC party,” said Morton.
He said there isn’t much likelihood of an early election and Albertans probably won‘t go to the polls until after spring 2012.
Morton’s current Foothills-Rocky View riding will be eliminated, but he hasn’t yet decided where he will run in the next election.
He had been approached to run in the Highwood riding, something he’s still interested in doing, but he is also helping to organize the founding meeting for the party’s association in the new Chestermere-Rocky View riding.
Morton said he will choose one of the two, but that decision is on hold for now.
