As expected, former energy minister Rick Orman declared his candidacy for the Progressive Conservative leadership Wednesday, saying he is open to a public health care inquiry and promising to scrap controversial land use legislation.
Orman said the PC party as moved away from its principles and needs to get back on track to stem the bleed-off of support to the Wildrose Alliance.
He said the land use legislation is one of the clearest examples of the party moving away from its core values and there is no way to fix it.
"Everybody is dissatisfied with it, so you know my view is that you have to put a bullet in its head," he said of his preferred approach to scrap it altogether.
Orman kicked off his previously well-rumoured campaign with press conferences in Edmonton and Calgary. He served in the Don Getty government as energy minister and ran unsuccessfully in the 1992 leadership race against former premier Ralph Klein. He finished third.
Orman said too many people have left the party because they don't feel comfortable with it and that needs to change.
"They try and find their reflection in the PC party and they are not seeing it and that creates drift, it creates drift to the left, it creates particular drift to the right, to the Wildrose."
The way to bring those voters back is to make it clear what the party stands for and keep to those principles. The current government has made decisions that don't reflect the party's longstanding principles, confusing Albertans, he said.
"People don't understand why the government is doing what it is doing and I hope to change that," he said. "They have got off track they have lost their way, they have lost their compass."
Health investigation
If the province doesn't get the answers it needs from the current Health Quality Council review, a full inquiry only makes sense.
"If I am the leader and I am the premier and I am not happy we will have an inquiry."
Orman said the government has spent a lot of time and effort studying the problems in health care, but solutions have remained shelved.
"I don't know how many different committees, and reports and models the government has floated out over the last 10 years and nothing has changed," he said. "We spend between 40 and 50 per cent of our provincial revenues on health care and everyone is mad."
Being an outsider, he said he will be able to clearly argue where the party has gone wrong and correct the course without baggage.
On his political fortunes, he said he got into the race to be leader of the PC party and believes he can bring back the support the party is losing to the Wildrose Alliance.
"We have to attract back with the people who have left the party," he said. "Those people didn't land here from Mars, they are frustrated disaffected Conservatives."
He also said he is not interested in a lifetime in politics and would move on after between five and seven years as premier. He also said it is an all or nothing race for him and he has no interested in becoming just another MLA.
"I am going to go out and frame a debate and if I am not successful I guarantee I am going to leave this leadership feeling at least I made a contribution and framed the discussion."
