Strong and Free: My Journey in Alberta Politics

Politician and political scientist Ted Morton shares an insider’s view of Alberta Politics in this illuminating autobiography.

Ted Morton has spent 30 years in Alberta politics. He was elected as a Reform Party senator-in-waiting in the 1998 Alberta Senate election. In 2001, Stockwell Day appointed him as Parliamentary Director of Policy and Research for the federal Canadian Alliance Party in Ottawa. From 2004-2012, Ted represented Foothills-Rocky View in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party. During these years, he also served in cabinet as Minister of Finance, Minister of Energy, and Minister of Sustainable Resources Development. In 2006 and again in 2011, Morton ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for the leadership of the Progressive Conservatives.

In Strong and Free, Ted Morton shares the lessons learned from this journey, both his successes and his disappointments. Informed by his background as professor of political science, Morton recounts his early involvement with Preston Manning and the Reform Party, his friendship with Stephen Harper, and the infamous Alberta Agenda or Firewall Letter of 2001. He explains how the Progressive Conservative Party’s flawed leadership selection process eroded party support, and how the PC’s refusal to acknowledge and accommodate the growth of Albertans’ support for the federal Reform Party led to vote splitting with the Wild Rose Party and the end of the PC dynasty in 2015.

Openly discussing his conservative ideological principles and goals, Morton provides an account of thirty years of Alberta politics as seen from the inside by someone who reached for the top—and almost made it. Strong and Free argues that an independent, prosperous Alberta makes a strong and prosperous Canada. Ted Morton has spent thirty years fighting for both.

About the Author

Ted Morton is professor emeritus at the University of Calgary where he taught for over thirty years. He also served as the MLA for Foothills-Rocky View in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, and in cabinet as Minister of Sustainable Resources, Minister of Finance, and Minister of Energy. Currently an Executive Fellow at the University of Calgary School of Public Policy, Ted Morton is the author of seven books and has been recognized for his contributions to academia, public policy, and for his lifetime of achievement.

Strong & Free is a publication of Bighorn Books.

Preface
Acknowledgements
Illustrations

1. From Professor to Politician (1981-1997)
How I Became a Conservative (1967-1980)
Alberta: The Early Years (1981-1997)

2. From Waiting to Running (1998-2004)
Alberta Senator-in-Waiting (1998)
Canadian Alliance Leadership (2000)
Firewall Letter (2001)
MLA for Foothills-Rocky View (2004)

3. Life on the Back Bench (2005-2006)
First Caucus Meeting
First Day in Legislature
Foothills-Rocky View Constituency
De-Klein: Overspending
Maiden Speech and the Leadership Race
Bill 208: Protecting Freedom of Speech and Religion

4. PC Leadership Campaign: The Accidental Premier (2006)
Klein’s Long Goodbye
Morton Campaign Team
Issues: The Firewall Candidate
Campaign and Endorsements
First Round Results
Second Round Results
Ed Stelmach: The Accidental Premier

5. Legislating Conservation: Success and Failure (2007-2009)
OH Ranch: Heritage Rangeland (2008)
Sunday Hunting and Provincial Hunting Day (2008)
Land Use Framework andAlberta Land Stewardship Act (2009)
Bow Habitat Station and Kids Can Catch Trout Pond (2009)
Hunting for Habitat (2009)
Recreation Access Management Plan (2009)
Upland Birds Alberta and Pheasant Release Program (2010)
Micrex Mine and the Livingstone Range (2010)
Postscript

6. How I Became Finance Minister (2009)
The Klein Legacy
Stelmach: Buying the 2008 Election
Stampede Caucus 2008: Spending $4 Billion That We Did Not Have
Budget 2010 and the Wildrose Challenge
Leadership Review
Becoming Finance Minister

7. Finance Minister (2010)
Budget 2010
The Minister’s Cave
Fighting the Feds I: Securities Regulator
Fighting the Feds II: Pension Review
Fighting the Premier’s Office: North West Upgrader
Postscript

8. How I Unbecame Finance Minister (2010)
Recession
The New Normal
A New Fiscal Framework
Loosing the Fight
Stay or Leave?

9. Prairie Putsch (2011)
When to Leave
Recruiting Allies
How to Leave
January 25: The Putsch
Raucous Caucus

10. Redford and Prentice: The End of the PC Dynasty (2011-2015)
2011 PC Leadership: Two Minute Tories Strike Again
Minister of Energy
2012 Provincial Election
The Redford Debacle
Prentice to the Rescue… Not
2015: The End of the PC Dynasty

11. The Decline and Fall of the PC Empire: A Post-Morton
Flawed Leadership Selection Process
Vote Splitting on the Right
Dynasty Syndrome: Power Replaces Principles
The Resource Curse
Western Alienation

12. The Alberta Agenda: From Fringe to Mainstream
Kenney’s Hostile Takeover of the PC Party (2017)
Equalization Referendum and Fair Deal Report (2019)
Danielle Smith and the Sovereignty Act
The Next Chapter

Appendices
Notes
Index

As a Member of the Legislature, cabinet minister, and leadership contestant, Ted Morton tried to steer the Conservative Party of Alberta in a more genuinely conservative direction. In Strong and Free, he tells the inside stories of his successes and failures. Anyone with a serious interest in Alberta politics has to read this book.

—Thomas Flanagan, professor emeritus, Department of Political Science, University of Calgary

This is a rare political page-turner that rewards the reader with fresh insights into Morton, the internal politics of the late Alberta PC party, right wing politics in Alberta and Canada, and the challenges of governing this wonderful, diverse country. Not to be missed.

—Anthony Sayers, Department of Political Science, University of Calgary

Strong & Free is an exceptional memoir by a philosopher who accepted the challenge of electoral politics and ended up near the very pivot of power in Alberta. Here’s what he did; here’s why he did it. The book blazingly illuminates an entire political era in the province: I would have just called it Ted Morton Explains Everything.

—Colby Cash, Columnist, The National Post

Ted Morton has been up to his eyeballs in the most influential (and controversial) political debates of the last 30 years. Ted was either furnishing the intellectual foundations for reforms or pushing them through the corridors of power. Ted’s memoir, Strong and Free, is not only a ripping good read, but a key to understanding Alberta politics of the last 30 years.

—Lorne Gunter, Senior Columnist, Postmedia Newspapers

You cannot understand the last forty years of Alberta conservatism without the insight and perspective of Ted Morton. At times it is an insider account of a cabinet minister and leadership candidate, at other points it applies a political science lens to the practice of politics, and there are also several juicy gossipy moments (some of the sidebars are hilarious!). Every major conservative political figure of the last forty years is closely linked to Morton (Klein, Stelmach, Redford, Kenney, Smith, Love, Manning, Day, Harper). And Morton has memorable anecdotes about all of them.

—Duane Bratt, Department of Economics, Justice, and Policy Studies, Mount Royal University

Few people have more insight into Alberta politics than Ted Morton, who over his career balanced the studious distance of an academic with the passion of a participant. A true believer and advocate for a strong Alberta within a united Canada, Dr. Morton’s book, Strong and Free tells the story of his ride through the conservative movements peaks and valleys. It is a great story, well told.

—Peter Menzies, past CRTC Vice Chair & Calgary Herald Publisher

For insights into the ideas animating claims to expand Alberta’s autonomy, this memoir provides a studied glimpse from the inside. In a rare convergence of academic and political worlds, Professor Morton draws on his experience as a former cabinet minister and leadership contender, inviting readers into a reflection on Alberta’s future.

—E. Lori Williams, Department of Economics Justice and Policy Studies, Mount Royal University

Ted Morton is not just a thread that runs through the past 30 years of Alberta politics, he is a strong, multi-strand cord that has helped weave the very fabric of this province through his profound and sound ideas both as a professor and a politician. His latest book, Strong and Free, is a fascinating, romping read for those of us who care about this.

—Licia Corbella, former Editor Calgary Herald and Calgary Sun

In a compelling and highly accessible style, Ted Morton documents why Canadians can no longer wish away Alberta’s Fair Deal agenda. He skillfully traces how the agenda took shape and outlines the role various actors played. Readers have an added bonus – he details, without losing academic rigour, his journey from academe to a prominent role in Alberta politics, including as Minister in several high-profile portfolios. Students of Canadian politics, aspiring politicians and interested observers of Canadian federalism need to take note of this timely book loaded with lessons learned from someone who was in the arena.

—Donald J. Savoie, Canada Research Chair in Public Administration and Governance, Université de Moncton

Can Alberta be strong and prosperous? Ted Morton has always said ‘yes.’ A great read if you care about this place.

—Nigel Hannaford, former speechwriter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Director and Opinion Editor, The Western Standard