Bye bye, Guy!

This post is a spin off of ch's broader 'new' cabinet commentary because Guy Boutilier's exit out of cabinet is so fantastic, it deserves a post all its own.  Why was Boutilier the only MLA tossed from cabinet? Was it because his Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo riding had one of the lowest voter turnouts and as such, Stelmach thought he was expendable? I'm inclined to think it might have been something else. I think Boutilier's incompetence finally caught up with him and that's why he got the boot. Take for example:

• The time he interfered with a quasi-judicial AEUB hearing, by testifying in his capacity as MLA. Not only was this an exception to the rules, but it was completely inappropriate given that he was also Minister of Environment at the time. When asked whether Alberta Environment should set caps and target on growth and expansion, here's what he said:

A. "I'm here as the MLA today. And I'm saying to you, Mr. Chair, through the Chair as the MLA that I understand that those questions, I assume, you have asked to the actual technical people within Alberta Environment and the over thousand people that work for me within that department."
Q. When you appear here as the MLA, do you just turn off  an area of your brain where you were the Minister of Environment?
A. "Yes, I do."

• Or how about the time Alberta Environment pulled out all the stops and hosted the first (and last) Youth Environment Summit at the Delta in Kananaskis in October 2006. After a weekend long photo op, where climate change was the big pink elephant in the middle of the conference room, the minister held a Q and A session. When one delegate rose to ask Boutilier why he had chosen not to attend "Alberta Days" in Washington, DC three months earlier even though talks between the Alberta-US government on tar sands expansion were ongoing. He replied that his wife told him that they had to go on vacation or he would have to sleep on the couch, and he prefers to sleep with his wife. Realizing what he had just said, he attempted to fix it by muttering: and I support condom use! His EA ran up to the stage after that with a can of Coke and half-heartedly suggested that the Minister was suffering from low blood sugar. I know! I wouldn't believe it either, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes! Ask anyone in that room that day, no one will forget that mishap. (I wish I could offer a transcript or recording as evidence but  Alberta Environment never did forward the tape including those comments on to members of the press...wonder why??).

Those are two of the more memorable Boutilier mishaps. Together they show that even a Harvard degree in Public Administration can't guarantee competence. Feel free to add your own Boutilierisms in comments.

For more thoughts on Alberta's new cabinet, check out our 'Official AGRDT Alberta's New Cabinet Post', and the views of some other clever Alberta bloggers over at Daveberta, Calgary Grit, Straight Outta Edmonton, and Ken Chapman.