Wildrose MLAs ‘regret’ roasting Ontario premier
CALGARY Wildrose MLAs expressed “regret” Friday as the official Opposition faced some sharp criticism over its roasting of Kathleen Wynne as the Ontario premier sat in the Alberta legislature gallery a day earlier.
Wynne, meanwhile, shrugged off the Wildrose attack, but suggested it wouldn’t have happened in her home province.
The controversy erupted after Wynne met with Premier Rachel Notley in Edmonton on Thursday to sign a memorandum of understanding on energy and climate change initiatives. She was then introduced in the legislature, where about half the Wildrose caucus sat while other MLAs stood and applauded.
In question period, Wildrose finance critic Derek Fildebrandt derided Wynne for her Liberal government’s climate change and financial plans and questioned why Notley had invited her to Alberta, when Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall didn’t.
Wildrose’s actions, which included Fildebrandt heckling Notley, drew the ire of the NDP government and were also condemned by members of the Progressive Conservative caucus and the leaders of the Liberals and Alberta Party.
Opposition house leader Nathan Cooper said Friday his party shouldn’t have raised the questions with Wynne present as a guest.
“We didn’t have a respectful tone yesterday.
“We express regret for how things unfolded,” he said.
“The intention was never to embarrass the (Alberta) premier or the premier of Ontario.”
Cooper said Wildrose members didn’t realize Wynne would be in the room and were unable to change their line of questioning.
Wildrose MLA Prasad Panda, who attended Wynne’s speech to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce on Friday, said he spoke to the premier and told her she’s welcome in Alberta.
“I regret what happened yesterday,” he told reporters. “Our job is to ask tough questions to the government and timing-wise, you know, it probably wasn’t appropriate.”
Friday’s expression of regret marked a switch for Wildrose. Fildebrandt had been unrepentant when he spoke to Postmedia on Thursday, saying: “It’s not our job to not do our job based on who is watching.”
In her chamber speech, Wynne joked about her legislature reception, saying she “felt quite at home,” given the criticism her Liberal government has faced over its sweeping climate change initiatives.
She later told reporters the Wildrose response came down to “people who don’t want action on climate change. So you know, the howls that were coming across the floor at the premier of Alberta are the same howls that come across the floor to me.”
The Notley government plans to follow in Ontario’s footsteps with a phase-out of coal-fired electricity.
The NDP will also introduce a broad-based carbon tax on Jan. 1, the subject of heated debate in Alberta.
While Wynne said she’s used to the criticism, she suggested Wildrose’s behaviour would be out of bounds in Queen’s Park.
“I will just say that, visiting dignitaries from anywhere across the country or otherwise, when they come to Ontario, they’re received by all parties with grace.”
While Wildrose attracted some social media support, their conduct drew criticism on Friday.
Chamber of commerce president Adam Legge opened the luncheon at the Hyatt Regency by promising Wynne a warmer reception than she received in the legislature.
“The reality is, we have to get through any challenge with discussion and dialogue ... not posturing,” he told reporters
“What I saw yesterday was not my Alberta.”
The situation prompted Mayor Naheed Nenshi to apologize to Wynne on behalf of Calgarians when they met Friday morning at City Hall.
He said Wildrose had put on a “childish, petulant display.”
“I think those of us who aspire to lead could do well with a little courtesy. It’s a lesson all of us need to be reminded of once in a while,” said Nenshi.
Alberta is trying to win support nationally for the Energy East pipeline, which is intended to ship the province’s oilsands crude across the country — including Ontario — for refining in New Brunswick.
Wynne expressed qualified support for Energy East at the chamber luncheon, reiterating the project must meet the highest environmental and safety standards and respect First Nations communities.
Team Angry is back. Or at least it popped up its head this week.
After promising to be a more constructive and helpful official Opposition — led by Brian Jean, who at one point actually called himself “Mr. Sunshine” — the Wildrose slipped back to its old cranky roots.
And no Wildrose MLA was crankier this week than Derek Fildebrandt.
When he rose in the legislature Thursday to question Premier Rachel Notley about Alberta’s climate change plan, he used the occasion to attack the Ontario government’s climate plans.
He referred specifically to Premier Kathleen Wynne, saying she was responsible for disastrous climate change initiatives leading to “skyrocketing power bills, massive subsidies to unprofitable initiatives, and auditor general reports into billions of wasted tax dollars.”
Fildebrandt’s evisceration of Wynne and her Liberal government wouldn’t have been noteworthy except for the cringeinducing fact that Wynne was sitting in the legislative gallery listening to his diatribe.
The Wildrose would later claim they didn’t know ahead of time Wynne would be in the assembly — but the fact is they knew she was there at the beginning of question period when she was introduced with great fanfare by Notley.
Notley had praised Ontario’s relationship, “worth hundreds of billions of dollars in the coming years,” and thanked Wynne for her help during the Fort McMurray wildfire crisis. Politically speaking, Notley was welcoming Wynne with a hug and an invitation inside for coffee and pie.
Fildebrandt was the cranky old geezer on the front porch with a shotgun.
He demanded to know why Notley hadn’t invited Saskatchewan’s Brad Wall to Alberta, a conservative-minded premier who is something of a hero to the Wildrose.
As Notley tried to answer Fildebrandt’s questions, he interrupted her, shouting, “Invite Premier Wall here! Invite Premier Wall!”
That presented Notley with an opportunity to lecture the Wildrose on the need for Alberta to be one of the “grown-ups” in Confederation to find common ground on things like pipelines: “Just today we have had demonstrated to all Albertans very clearly why these folks over there are simply not ready to govern.”
Wildrose officials realized immediately that Fildebrandt had gone too far. That’s why they refused to offer up either Fildebrandt or Brian Jean to reporters afterwards to explain why they had chosen to embarrass a dignitary in the assembly. They just wanted this to blow over.
But the megaphone of outrage that is Twitter kept the issue alive. And then Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi waded into the controversy after meeting with Wynne on Friday morning.
“This first thing I did today was apologize on behalf of all the people of Calgary for the childish, petulant behaviour in the legislature yesterday,” said Nenshi. “We treat guests with courtesy, and particularly when we are talking about issues of national importance like pipelines, we treat guests with courtesy.”
That’s when the Wildrose offered a lukewarm apology.
“It was not our intention to be disrespectful to a visiting dignitary and we certainly express our regret for how that happened,” said Wildrose house leader Nathan Cooper.
Cooper said the party stands by its critique of Ontario’s climate plans, but that Fildebrandt shouldn’t have been so aggressive in his presentation while Wynne was a guest in the assembly.
For her part, Wynne acknowledged the opposition’s job is to challenge the government, but she took a jab at the Wildrose for apparently having a footdragging philosophy on climate change that is “out of step with the national stance.” She has a point. Comments and re-tweets this year from Wildrose MLAs certainly give the impression the party, if not in outright denial of manmade climate change, doesn’t take the problem seriously.
Fildebrandt’s performance Thursday didn’t help. If anything, it makes you wonder if Team Angry has become Team Petulant.
No Wildrose MLA was crankier this week than Derek Fildebrandt.