Dear Editor,
No one really knows what the status of ex -premier Alison Redford will before the next provincial election. No provincial ex-premier in Alberta has ever returned to the provincial legislature as a mere back bencher other than the first Alberta premier Alex Rutherford. He was forced to resign after the Alberta and Great Waterways scandal, in which his government was assumed to be implicated. Though he kept his seat in the legislature he lost it in the 1913 provincial election. After he left politics he returned to his law practice and eventually became chancellor of the University Alberta in Edmonton in 1927. His successors in the office of provincial premier, Arthur Sifton and Charles Stewart both became federal politicians.
Herbert Greenfield, a United Farmers of Alberta premier, from 1921 to 1925, was like Alison Redford unable to maintain caucus support. According to the Calgary Herald at the time, he was thrown to the wolves by his legislative colleagues. John Brownlee, a Ponoka MLA, succeeded Greenfield as premier for almost a decade till 1934, but resigned after a court case having being brought by a family friend for seduction. He lost the subsequent election in 1935 to Aberhart's Social Credit league who wept the swept the province.
Alberta politics has often been colorful and politics itself here and elsewhere is often unpredictable. Our hopes and aspirations for change sometimes go up in smoke. Our political leaders are seen to have feet of clay. It is easy to become disillusioned with politics as usual.
But there are surprises, sometimes pleasant ones. It takes discipline, energy and I believe, interested in the lives of others and the communities we live in to stay engaged. Who ever said things would always be easy?
George Jason