Looking back at 13 years of 'Ralph's World'

If you give people what they want, chances are they'll forgive you if
you sometimes act like a boob, or a petulant teenager, or lose your
temper and yell at people or throw stuff.

by Shannon Phillips
September 29, 2006

Many of the recent Ralph Klein retrospectives will elicit a chuckle, a
shake of the head, or rueful acknowledgements that Canada's
longest-serving premier sure knew how to make a story.

For 13 years, Klein dominated the news media with a mastery rivaled by
few politicians. His legacy is a one-party state where no serious
person even pretends to question the Conservative juggernaut. Here's
how he did it.

Shock and awe

The early '90s were an angry, grubby time for many Albertans. Family
incomes stagnated through the '80s. Oil prices dipped, causing major
job losses in Alberta. The Getty Conservatives were mired in scandal
and government waste. People wanted change.

The article leaves out the fact that the oposition parties in Alberta with
one exception have been truly atrocious. The only exception was Decore,
when he ran the Liberals actually did very well. Since then they've had one
bad leader after another. They gravitate to extremist policy after
extremist policy. For example the privitization of the liquor stores was a
huge success but for years the Liberals railed against it even knowing how
popular it was with Albertans. They kept fighting things like the closing
of the old general hospital even though most Calgaians didn't care(hospital
was old and hard to get to, no parking...) or were glad to see it gone. ...

None40 a utilisé son clavier pour écrire :

I think you forgot to mention the failed corporations that Klein's
government blew about a billion dollars on. Companies like MagCan,
the Swan Hills waste disposal, the money lost in the Husky Oil
Lloydminster Upgrader, etc. The government loss during Ralph's rein
exceeded that of Getty and Lougheed in the first four years that Ralph
was premier.

The Alberta teachers pension fund was raided by the Conservative
government, and is still owed about two billion dollars. Like the
Ontario teachers pension fund, it could have been invested and be
making money for teachers retirement.

On 30 Sep 2006 12:11:02 -0700, "auldbobpeffers@aol.com"
aol.com> wrote:

#Looking back at 13 years of 'Ralph's World'
#
#If you give people what they want, chances are they'll forgive you if
#you sometimes act like a boob, or a petulant teenager, or lose your
#temper and yell...