sometimes i wonder how many versions of myself i’ve outgrown without even noticing. i look back at old photos and remember the thoughts i used to carry, the dreams i thought would save me. it’s strange how you can live inside yourself every day and still not realize you’re evolving. it’s only when you look back that you realize how far you’ve come, how many lives you’ve already lived in the same skin.
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Peter Guthrie’s resignation has echoes of political resignations from a time in Alberta’s not too distant past. It was almost 11 years ago when two Progressive Conservative MLAs - Len Webber and Donna Kennedy-Glans- handed in their resignations after scandals enveloped Premier Alison Redford’s government.
But Webber and Kennedy-Glans went a step further than Guthrie and actually left the PC caucus to sit as Independent MLAs. Their full resignations from the caucus and the threats that other MLAs would follow were some of the final blows that led to Redford’s decision to resign as Premier two months later.
Resigning and breaking from your party can be a big political risk for an MLA or cabinet minister who wants to continue a life in politics. It could spell the end of a political career, but it also might not. In the case of Kennedy-Glans and Webber, both politicians walked away with their reputations in tact. Kennedy-Glans now writes regular political columns for Postmedia and Webber is now serving his third-term as the Conservative MP for Calgary Confederation.
I’ve shared this quote from Ernest Hemingway before, but its becoming more true by the day: “How did you go bankrupt?” Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”
As we can see before our very eyes, the same can be said of political scandals.