Are the provincial Tories that dumb, or are they that smart – ubersmart? On the surface, it would appear they really are that dumb. After all, how could seven Tory MLAs do exactly the opposite of what the boss wants? Premier Alison Redford campaigned on doing away with the outrageous transition allowance that made a millionaire out of former speaker Ken Kowalski (well, close enough to call it a millionaire) and former premier Ed Stelmach.
Indeed, Redford was going to do government different. No more old boys club. No more sense of entitlement. No more golden parachutes. Except, it would seem, the old boys didn’t get the memo. Speaker Gene Zwozdesky, who chairs the Standing Committee on Members’ Services, along with deputy chair Steve Young, who is also the party whip, and five other Tories voted to give departing politicians one month’s pay for every year of service, up to a maximum of 12 months pay.
Young, who brought the motion forward, changed the wording from “transition allowance” to “severance allowance.” The motion also calls for taxpayers to pick up the full amount of RRSP contributions for MLAs at $22,970 per year. Currently, taxpayers kick in half that amount. While the new proposal is certainly cheaper than the transition allowance, it is still an allowance – something Redford campaigned against.
How could this happen? Has Redford lost control of her caucus? Are the old boys really running the show? Redford said over the weekend that neither the allowance or RRSP changes were final, but House Leader Dave Hancock said the committee does have the power to implement the RRSP changes. There would certainly appear to be a disconnect and power struggle between the premier’s office and some members of the Tory caucus.
In the meantime, the committee has been sent back to the drawing board to revisit Young’s motion in the context of the premier’s comments. It’s easy to point out the buffoonery of the entire episode, but perhaps this is all by design. Maybe, just maybe, this was all planned in an attempt to fortify Redford’s place at the top of Alberta’s political heap. Get the minions to do something stupid at the committee level and have the premier smack ’em down. She looks like the hero and a leader who we, the taxpayers who are paying for this charade, can trust to be a good steward of the province.
It is a cynical view, but this is Alberta politics. It’s not that we’re paranoid; we just can’t get over the feeling that we’re being played.
