Do you ever get the feeling something isn't quite right in Alberta? How is it our province has gotten a reputation as a dirty, corrupt place to live? A place of greed, a place that doesn't care about the environment, a place that throws its children's future under the bus?We see it every day.ï 1,200 people arrested in Washington protesting against a pipeline carrying Alberta bitumen to the Gulf refineries.ï A frustrated First Nations community sick of being lied to by the government and treated like cattle.ï Potato-gate II where the government is selling pristine wilderness grassland to a political crony in violation of the Species at Risk Act.ï Under-the-table deals for dirty power plants.ï Conspiring between government and industry to sell a controversial technology called "hydro-fracking" with no oversight or proper regulations.ï Several land-use bills that diminish property rights and make a mockery out of the rule of law.Something is clearly wrong. How did we get here Ö and how do we fix it? Some people would suggest the governing party, the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party, has become so corrupt that replacing them is the only solution ñ and that may very well be. However, the question needs to be asked: with what? If we elect a whole new group how can we be sure they won't fall under the influence of the industry bag men trying to lure them into the shadows? That question needs to be asked.I personally don't think everyone in the PC party is corrupt. I think there are good people there who are just as dismayed that a ruling elite within the party has taken this path. This path of corruption and the back alley deals! The decent people in the PC party must step forward now and demand a return to the days of accountability and a demand for an honourable, open government!In two weeks the membership of the PC party will get their chance to start cleaning up the party with the leadership vote. The new leader will choose the cabinet and decide whether the policies will be decided by the caucus or a ruling elite, in the cabinet. Nothing will change if the membership chooses the wrong person to lead!I would suggest that, whoever wins the party leadership, the first order of business should be putting the ìold boys clubî out to pasture? The second thing to do would be to start respecting all the MLAs, as the elected representatives of the people, and let them be involved in the decision making, instead of treating them like trained seals and warm bodies ready to vote however they are told!Let's be honest here. There are a lot of young, very competent people in the PC caucus. They have been held back and treated like flunkies by the premier and his buddies in the cabinet. The next premier needs to get rid of the dead wood taking up space in the cabinet and put the best people available for the job into those chairs!A clear example of what is wrong is very evident in the case of Doug Griffiths. Why has this very competent young man been sitting on the back benches for several years when the likes of Mel Knight, or Jack Hayden, or Luke Ouellette, or Rob Renner, or Ron Liepert Ö chow down like a bunch of hogs at the cabinet trough?A new PC leader must realize that things have to change, and that means changing the people at the top. Failing to do so will only mean one thing ñ Albertans will be forced to make a greater change and vote the Tories out!Doug MalsburyPenhold
