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raj sherman suspended from progressive conservative caucus.
Edmonton-Meadowlark MLA Raj Sherman has been suspended from the PC caucus.
According to the Edmonton Journal, government caucus whip Robin Campbell has confirmed that Edmonton-Meadowlark MLA Raj Sherman has been suspended from the PC caucus and will sit as an Independent MLA.
As the only medical doctor in the PC caucus, Dr. Sherman shook the political establishment last week with a bluntly worded email to the Premier, cabinet ministers, and his medical colleagues about the state of Emergency Room wait times in Alberta. On Friday, Dr. Sherman told the Edmonton Journal that he’d “had enough” and was “fed up.” In that interview, Dr. Sherman reserved some particularly harsh criticism for Alberta Health Services Board Chairman Ken Hughes and former Health Minister Ron Liepert.
Dr. Sherman is the fifth PC MLA to leave or be ejected from the governing caucus since the 2008 election.
Long-time Calgary-Glenmore MLA Ron Stevens retired in 2009. Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo MLA Guy Boutilier was kicked out of the PC caucus after speaking out about the state of health care in Fort McMurray in 2009. Airdrie-Chestermere MLA Rob Anderson and Calgary-Fish Creek MLA Heather Forsyth left the PC caucus to join the Wildrose Alliance in January 2010. Mr. Boutilier joined Mr. Anderson and Ms. Forsyth this summer.
There are now two Independent MLAs in the Legislature. The other is Calgary-Currie MLA Dave Taylor, who left the Liberal caucus earlier this year.
21 Responses on raj sherman suspended from progressive conservative caucus.
Wow! No room for dissent in Ed Stelmach’s world. Good for Raj.
Will he join the Liberals now? The Alberta Party? The Wildrose?
And the PC ship continues to sink deeper in the abyss. Sherman will have a better time as an Independent where he doesn’t have to tow the party line.
No word about Link Byfield resigning as Senator-in-waiting? I thought this was a hub for important Alberta political news.
Link who? Didn’t he used to publish a magazine that went broke?
Sherman is a nice guy. Any word if he’s going to join the Liberals? He was a Liberal member a few years ago and his riding was Liberal before he ran.
Thinking about the last comment could Sherman and Dave Taylor get together and create a new party?
They would be as big as the NDP and 10 times better. The Alberta Party could get their first 2 MLA’s.
I don’t see why Raj Sherman would join the Liberals. He’s already stated that he only ran for office to do something about the health care “crisis”, and as an opposition member he would be even less able to effect change. It sounds to me that he’s a one issue politician, so I don’t even know why the Liberals would want him.
If anything he should have been completely booted out, not suspended.
Matthew, are you on drugs? he stood up for his constituents and somehow that’s wrong to you? You’ll have to explain that to me, I’m having trouble understanding how you can justify the PC parties actions in this.
In my opinion it’s refreshing to know there is actually a Politician who isn’t a sheep and is willing to stand up and fight for, what I thought most of us want, a Health Care System that isn’t in chaos.
Raj Sherman is a man of integrity and has my respect.
[...] week’s political intrigue, the suspension of Edmonton-Meadowlark MLA Raj Sherman and Stephen Duckett‘s cookie-tantrum, are [...]
[...] course, this love is not extended by the PCs, who indefinitely suspended Dr. Sherman from their caucus earlier this week after he went public with his concerns about [...]
[...] message has been made clear once againthat caucus solidarity is more important than representing citizens or trying to fix the [...]
[...] for the creation of Alberta Health Services. An over-night folk hero to many, Dr. Sherman was suspended from the PC caucus and became the target of a whisper campaign to undermine his credibility, which started with a [...]
[...] spring on a province-wide town hall tour to hear Albertans’ views on health care. Dr. Sherman was kicked out of the PC caucus in November 2010 when he publicly criticized the PC government’s record on health care and [...]
[...] sitting begins on February 22, 2011. The past six months of high-profile health care news stories, the firing of Dr. Raj Sherman, and the political battles that ensued make it a no-brainer why the Liberals [...]
[...] Elected as a PC in 2008, Dr. Raj Sherman became an Independent MLA after being kicked out of the PC caucus in November 2010. Dr. Sherman has used his position as a vocal critic of the PC [...]
[...] to announce that he will join the Official Opposition Liberals at 12:30pm today. Dr. Sherman was suspended from the PC caucus in November 2010 after penning a blunt email to the Premier, and his caucus and [...]
[...] 2009 until November 2010, he became a liability for his political masters after a turbulent fall session of the Assembly. He was unceremoniously dumped after spending 2 minutes refusing to answer media [...]
[...] the Minister of Health & Wellness. Since writing the bluntly-worded email that led to hm being kicked out of the PC caucus, Dr. Sherman has attained a folk hero status among many [...]
[...] Dr. Sherman, who left the Tory backbenches in 2010 and now leads the official opposition Liberal Party, the debate will be his biggest opportunity to [...]
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