Watch above: Naheed Nenshi reacts to Alison Redford’s resignation
Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi says partisan politics played a big role in the chain of events that led to Wednesday’s resignation of Premier Alison Redford.
Redford’s announcement that she was resigning came just one hour before the presidents of Progressive Conservative constituency associations in both Calgary and Edmonton were scheduled to meet.
Sources tell Global News the premier’s future as leader was on the agenda.
“How did we end up here?” asks Nenshi.
“How did we end up in a place where party and caucus, a bunch of unelected people, a bunch of people who only meet behind closed doors, make decisions about the future of this province? It’s a system that’s not working.”
“I think all of us as Albertans really need to think about what has happened over the past few weeks,” Nenshi adds. “And what that means to how we get great people to be politicians.”
The mayor says Redford’s resignation isn’t only a political story, but a human one.
“It’s about a real person, a good person, a person who loves this province and has worked hard and made incredible sacrifices.”
“It’s the story of a system that takes a someone like that, and chews them up and spits them out.”
In Redford’s riding of Calgary Elbow, some voters were not surprised at the resignation announcement.
“I think there’s a sense of entitlement there ,” said Scott Allen. “She has done the right thing”.
Political analyst Duane Bratt says Redford’s resignation was just a matter of time.
“I don’t think she had a choice. It’s been a remarkable month and a downward slide for the premier in a very short and rapid period of time.”
Bratt says that slide can’t be attributed to any one thing.
“Len Webber’s comments about the bullying, the temper tantrums and the fits of rage, Donna Kennedy-Glans, the first cabinet minister in decades to walk across the floor, and in the midst of it all, continually bad poll results, which is probably what the major impact was on caucus and on the party.”
Bratt says the outcome could have been far different if Redford had taken quick action after news broke that the premier had spent $45,000 on first-class tickets and a government plane to travel to South Africa for Nelson Mandela’s funeral in December. It wasn’t until last week that she announced she was paying back the money.
“If she had handled it differently right from the beginning, if she had taken the action of apologizing and repaying it a month ago, this would have been all over,” says Bratt.
“That became the lightning rod, the issue that really resonated with voters.”
Alberta Conservatives must now hold a convention to elect a new leader.
“We’re only two years away from an election,” Bratt says. “The party has got to right itself; it has to unify around a brand new leader.”
Redford will stay on as the MLA for Calgary-Elbow.
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