Rick Orman is promising a shake-up to the party, the government and the province if he wins the Progressive Conservative leadership later this month.
In an editorial board meeting with the Gazette, Orman, who has not attracted any MLAs to his leadership bid, said he would expect a new standard from caucus members if he gets the nod.
“I guess my message is they better work hard. They better work hard because there is a new sheriff in town.”
Orman said MLAs have been able to ride on the party’s coattails for at least 15 years and it is time for that to change.
“For Ralph Klein, during his 12 years, it was a matter of putting his picture on your lawn sign and that was all that was needed to get the MLA elected.”
Orman said he suspects his victory would make many of those MLAs uncomfortable. He added there are MLAs who are supporting him, but they are doing it quietly because they are worried he will lose.
“There may be half a dozen cabinet ministers who are going to be deciding if they run again, but I can tell you there is a caucus of 65 MLAs who are equally upset about how this government has been run,” he said. “I know MLAs who are supporting me.”
He said it has been made clear that, in exchange for their support, some MLAs are looking for cabinet spots. He said that is not how he intends to fill a future cabinet.
“I have talked to cabinet ministers and you know what, they are looking for deals and I just said, you know what, no deals,” he said. “I have no obligations to anyone in this government.”
Orman said his goal for the rest of the campaign is to keep pushing his message that the current government is off-track and the party needs to return to its core values.
“We have a campaign slogan: ‘No regrets.’ No one is going to outwork us, and on Sept. 18, we will wake up and feel totally satisfied that we got our message out.”
He said some of the party’s constituencies have less than 100 members, a situation that can’t continue.
“We have got to get the people in every constituency in our province engaged in a way that the MLA is recognizable and that is how they get elected.”
He said engaging party members also means listening to them when the party builds policy for governing.
“When you go to policy conventions, you actually listen to the people who come,” he said. “The leadership of government actually takes some of those recommendations through caucus and cabinet into legislation.”
Orman, who last held elected office in the early 1990s, said he has come back now because he believes he is ready to take the job.
“It took me 18 years to be ready for this moment.”
He said he is “disgusted” at some of the candidates in the race who have been on the government payroll since he left it in 1993.
“Get a job. Go out and see what it is like to make a payroll. Forget the contracts and the government severance pay, the private schools for your kids. Get a job.”
