Mason’s decision comes as no surprise

Time has done what a political nuclear device could not.

Brian Mason is leaving politics.

After a 29-year career that saw him progress from Edmonton city councillor to NDP opposition leader to government minister, Mason announced Wednesday he will not run in the 2019 provincial election.

“I’m turning 65 in October,” he told a news conference. “I’m at that point in my life where the right thing for me to do is hang up my spurs.”

After 11 years at city council, Mason won almost 60 per cent of the vote in his first provincial election in 2000, and won almost 80 per cent of the vote in what we now know was his last election in 2015.

On the eve of the 2001 provincial election, then-premier Ralph Klein said Mason was so popular, “you’re going to need an atomic bomb to get him out of there.”

The Progressive Conservatives used just about everything but a nuclear device to defeat Mason over the years but without success.

He outlasted five premiers: Ralph Klein, Ed Stelmach, Alison Redford, Dave Hancock and Jim Prentice.

That a New Democrat could survive in Alberta politics for so long shows a talent for longevity Methuselah would envy.

“I knew some political party would defeat the Conservatives,” he said Wednesday. “I wasn’t convinced it would be us.”

He almost didn’t run in the 2015 provincial election. “Thank goodness I did,” he said.

After the NDP’s victory, Mason was sworn in as both minister of transportation and minister of infrastructure (and also became government house leader). Mason was burdened with responsibility because Premier Rachel Notley simply didn’t have enough experienced people in her caucus to take on ministerial duties.

Mason said he’s proud of his work building up the province’s “capacity” after the infrastructure deficit left by Klein. And, taking up the mantra of the Notley government, he said he is glad he could help protect important government services during the economic downturn.

Even though Mason will stay on as an MLA and as transportation minister until the election campaign officially begins next year, he was talking very much as if he had already retired.

That’s why this column sounds so much like a political obituary.

Mason will likely be remembered more for his time as leader of the NDP opposition than as a government minister

There were many days he was arguably the ablest MLA in the assembly, punching far above his weight as he held PC governments to account. For many of those opposition years, he presented the NDP as the only voice fighting for the little guy. He wasn’t just a social conscience in the legislature, he often seemed to keep a pulse going in provincial politics all by himself.

When Mason complained about injustices or government policies, he also offered alternatives that included, over the years, raising taxes on the wealthy and toughening up environmental oversight of the oilsands.

As he admitted at Wednesday’s news conference, being a government minister is more difficult than being an opposition politician.

One can attack with impunity — the other has to find compromises to govern.

The closest Mason ever came to scandal was a littleknown event in 2007 involving an “internal memorandum” written by disgruntled NDP staff who expressed “concerns about workload, respect and bullying ” at the party’s headquarters.

The irony was obvious: workers employed by the workers’ party were complaining about working conditions.

Mason refused to discuss the memo at the time, calling it a “personnel issue,” and in the end the matter was apparently resolved with disgruntled staff calling the NDP headquarters “a great workplace.”

The biggest problem for Mason over the years was growing the party.

The NDP never had more than four caucus members under his leadership and at times it dipped to two.

He struggled with making the party more palatable to mainstream Albertans. He never achieved the breakthrough he wanted on his own.

In 2014, he stepped aside to kick-start a leadership race, one that he privately urged Rachel Notley to enter.

A few months ago, after telling Notley he would not be running in 2019, she tried to talk him into staying. But his mind was made up. Critics might point to Mason’s departure as more proof the NDP government is in trouble.

You could certainly say that about similar announcements from former cabinet ministers Stephanie McLean and Brandy Payne.

Mason’s decision, though, is no surprise.

That’s not to say it’s good news for the NDP.

Mason would have handily won the riding of Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood next election.

Now, the other parties won’t need to use an atomic bomb for a chance to win the riding.