NDP MLA accuses her premier of bullying

Robyn Luff left in a huff, shocking her caucus and dealing a rare blow to Premier Rachel Notley’s image as a benign and cheery leader.

You’ve probably never heard of Luff, the NDP member for Calgary-East, just as you’re likely unaware of most other NDP backbenchers everywhere.

Luff ’s stunning and bitter letter, released Monday, helps explain why.

She rails against what she calls “a culture of fear and intimidation that leads to MLAs being unable to properly represent their constituents in the legislature.

“I have felt bullied by the NDP for over three and a half years and it must stop.

“Under Rachel Notley’s leadership, every power that MLAs are supposed to have to be able to represent their constituents in the legislature has been taken away or denied from the start.”

Huff says she won’t attend the legislature, where she hasn’t shown up since Oct. 29, “until a resolution has been presented.”

Well, good luck to Robyn Luff. She’ll be lucky to last a few days as an NDP caucus member. There was some talk of turfing her as early as a meeting of all government MLAs Monday evening.

As NDP house leader Brian Mason suggested, her core job is to be in the legislature representing the constituents she insists she can’t represent.

Freedom Conservative Party Leader Derek Fildebrandt, famously ejected from the UCP by leader Jason Kenney, was quick to say the United Conservatives are just as tough on dissent as the NDP.

Fildebrandt was the only party leader with the nerve to claim freedom from discord. It’s fairly easy to do when you’re running a one-person caucus, consisting of yourself.

Luff, a complete newcomer to politics, apparently didn’t realize that being democratically elected doesn’t mean you’re elected to a democracy.

In a strong majority government, a premier’s power of command and control can be absolute, especially when the initial caucus was as inexperienced as Notley’s crew.

But Luff’s allegations are seriously damaging, partly because of her strong language, and also her decision to name and blame the premier herself.

“MLAs must vote at the direction of the leader at all times,” Luff wrote. “Questions from private members are written by ministries and given to them to ask.

“I cannot for my own health continue to be intimidated,” she says, alluding to “the toxic culture that exists.”

Luff isn’t the first NDP defector. Karen McPherson, MLA for Calgary-Mackay-Nose Hill, left the NDP last October to sit as an Independent.

She was soon scooped up by the Alberta Party, where’s she’s now a frequent and effective government critic.

McPherson’s departure was genteel by comparison. She said she was grateful for NDP friendships “and it is very difficult to leave. I wish nothing but the best for them.”

But she also said, like Luff, that politics are too polarized and questioned whether she could speak properly for her constituents as an NDP member.

On Monday, she agreed with many of Luff ’s criticisms, adding that she felt bullied too.

For nearly four years the NDP has done a remarkable job of presenting a unified front to the province.

This placid picture was built around Notley’s friendly persona and undeniable skills. The cult of Notley was again glorified at

the recent NDP convention in Edmonton.

The appearance of harmony made the government look pretty good, especially during the long period when conservatives were mostly lobbing grenades into each other’s foxholes.

But the NDP caucus always seemed eerily tranquil. Unnaturally so.

Whatever the surface appearance, there are always thwarted ambitions, policy defeats, personal animosities; and for the idealistic ones, searing disappointments.

The tensions are sure to erupt, especially toward the end of a term when backbenchers may be expecting defeat or planning to leave.

Two departures based on deep discontent reveal a serious problem for Notley. Any more could turn into a pre-election crisis.