Alberta Bounced

Infrastructure Minister Lyle Oberg has been suspended from Alberta's Conservative caucus.

Oberg offended his colleagues for advising Conservatives in his riding of Strathmore-Brooks (where Don from RevMod twice carried the NDP banner) to vote their conscience when Ralph Klein faces a leadership review at the end of this month. Klein has announced he will be stepping down, but his 2007 expiration date is now stretching into 2008, and it appears that Oberg, a leadership contender himself, is turning the hose on the Great Ralph Love-In.

It's not as if Oberg is any real champion of democracy. When he was Education minister he had no qualms with pulling the plug on the elected school board in Calgary, claiming they were "too dysfunctional", dysfunctional meaning they disagreed with the Conservative agenda of dismantling public education. By comparison, the most Christy Clark could ever get away with was sneering at the BC Teachers Federation.

Still, this turn of events could prove to be an enlightening crack in Alberta's Conservative fortress, and the usually oblivious voters in that province may find out what 'dysfunctional' really means.