Klein's Resigning on Wednesday

CTV reports that Alberta premier Ralph Klein will submit his resignation letter on Wednesday.

Let's take a little walk down memory lane courtesy of Ian Doig's book Quotations of Chairman Ralph:

You can educate. You can say: 'Folks, part of the problem that contributes to waiting lists and so on are people who are there because they do something to themselves.
Calgary Herald, September 1996

Mayor Klein, then in his first term [during the oil boom in the early 80s], let it be known that he was fed up with the influx of 'bums...unskilled workers...a lot of creeps.' He advocated the use of 'cowboy techniques' to control undesirables. 'Even if we have to put them all in jail, on top of one another, we have to do it'.

'I used to literally get thousands of people out to protests and rallies [when he was environment minister]. They'd come to my house, put coffins on my front lawn. They used to throw dead fish at me, dirty water. I've had none of that as the premier. This is a Sunday school picnic.'
Calgary Herald, December 1999

Ever the wise man, 'Klein responds to the daily presence of demonstrators against privatized health care Bill 11 outside the Alberta Legislature':

'But that tells me that there is about 2.9 hundred some odd million people who are not out there protesting.' [We only have 3 million people in Alberta.]
Calgary Sun, May 2000

[Here's a Bush moment:]

Klein on Liberal charges that health cuts are killing people.

'We have a very deliberate program of fear mongery, of information that is not entirely accurate and correct'.
CTV National News, August 1996

[When Klein was asked which medical surgical procedures should be privatized to cut down on wait list time, this was his response:]

'I don't know...hernias.'
Calgary Herald, March 2000

'That's why I don't have [vision correcting] laser treatment. I prefer to wear glasses. Then I can take them off, and I don't have to look at [the opposition].'

'...as soon as a constitutional expert tells me I'm wrong, then I know I'm right.'
Edmonton Journal, May 1997

[On those happy-to-be-homeless people:]

'I've talked to a lot of these people. For the most part they're happy with their lot. I remember old Bob, the guy used to come down to the racetrack in his barefeet, Barefeet Bob. And we'd say 'Bob, can we help you?' And he would say: 'No I'm fine just as long as you find a warm place for me to stay.'
Calgary Herald, March 1997

[Another Bush moment:]

'...there is too much hospital in Calgary.'
Vancouver Sun, March 1994

Some of Klein's greatest hits:

The implosion of the Calgary General Hospital.
Showing up drunk at a homeless shelter and screaming at the clients.
Being headlined in the UK as Drunk in Charge.
Plagairizing an essay.
Throwing a book at a legislative page.

and many more...

Yes, it's the end of an era. The end of a frustrating, made your head explode like the General Hospital era. Finally.

Onward!