Stelmach should resign if he doesn’t get 70 per cent of Tory vote: Ralph Klein
EDMONTON — Former Alberta premier Ralph Klein says Premier Ed Stelmach should resign if he doesn’t get 70 per cent support when provincial Tory delegates hold a mandatory leadership vote in about six weeks.
Klein said in an email to The Canadian Press that his advice would be for Stelmach to “step down if he does not reach 70 per cent” when about 1,500 Tory delegates vote Nov. 7 in Red Deer.
Klein himself resigned as premier in 2006 after party members gave him 55 per cent support in the leadership review required by the party after every general election.
Klein won huge majorities in four elections and got 90 per cent approval from party members at one point before his popularity began to wane.
Stelmach also holds a hefty majority in the legislature, but he has been facing growing resentment from within his own party, especially in Calgary, where the Tories lost a recent byelection.
Stelmach is at a three-day cabinet retreat in Pincher Creek and is not available for comment.
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