Editorial

Taft did a good job

Kevin Taft’s announcement last week he was stepping down as the leader of the provincial Liberal Party was not a surprise. He lost two straight elections; anybody who sticks around with that kind record is going to start noticing knives in his back.
But it’s also kind of sad. Taft was – still is – a good guy. A straight shooter who saw deficiencies in the way government is run in this province and aimed to do something about fixing it.
Taft goes, but those issues remain. For a refresher on some of the ways the Tory dynasty does things wrong – particularly in the field of accountability – you could do a lot worse than read Taft’s 2007 book, ‘Democracy Derailed: The Breakdown of Accountability in Alberta, and How to Get it Back on Track.’
That’s a long title, but it’s a short book – easy reading and a very credible indictment of some of the gaps between the Conservative claims of open government and the reality. How much the Ed Stelmach government has improved things since Taft wrote the book is a good question. Let’s hope whoever succeeds Taft as Liberal leader is as tenacious as he was in holding the government to account.
Of course holding the government to account in question period is one thing. It can only do so much good. Effecting real change is harder, and requires the challenger to win an election once in a while. Taft not only failed to lead his party to victory, he didn’t even lead it to enough seats in the last election to put a scare into the Tories.
So he has to go. Four Liberal MLAs are currently in the running to replace him. Since a strong and effective opposition is a vital component of a democracy, we hope the best candidate wins.
A Liberal leadership race won’t be nearly as exciting as the Tory one was, but it’s still important for the province.

About that heat
Ok, we can safely say that summer is upon us. The past week has been positively sweltering and it’s safe to say that the cold is gone, at least for a couple of months.
Of course, summer is great and you will find few complaining about the heat, but the nice weather carries with it its own attendant problems.
Just last Wednesday, we chased some fire trucks down the road from our office.
It turned out that a neighbor of ours considered burning the poplar fuzz off his yard rather than raking it. Even with the heavy rains of a couple weeks ago, the small buds had dried into a perfect tinder in just a few days of serious sun. Well, the situation pretty quickly got out of control. The man ran about with buckets of water and then called the fire department. Within about ten minutes, the fire spread across his yard and under a shed.
A pile of old mattresses in the rear of the yard, and some major appliances too; they all took fire quickly.
Thankfully, the fire department were on the scene and worked fast to secure the blaze before any serious damage occurred. It could have been much worse for the neighbor and his neighbors too.
Folks, watch those fires!