Gene Zwozdesky elected new speaker of Alberta legislature

EDMONTON - Provincial politicians on Wednesday elected veteran MLA Gene Zwozdesky as the 12th Speaker of the legislative assembly, Alberta’s first new Speaker in 15 years.

MLAs laughed and pounded their desks as Premier Alison Redford and Official Opposition leader Danielle Smith dragged Zwozdesky to the speaker’s chair after his win, a rare political comedy that continued the tradition of reluctance among house speakers, who were once beheaded for failing to do the bidding of the monarch.

The tradition is apt in Alberta, as Zwozdesky immediately faced questions about his commitment to impartiality.

For years, critics alleged that his predecessor retired MLA Ken Kowalski— also a Progressive Conservative MLA — was partial to the governing party.

Zwozdesky pledged that his first priority would be impartiality, and his second is to improve decorum in the legislature.

“I think the members know me well enough to know that I’ll be as fair as possible, I’ll be as firm as I need to be, but at the end of the day we should all do everything we can to help improve the decorum of this house,” Zwozdesky said.

Outside the legislature he explained that he plans to introduce a five-part “credo” that will help veteran and returning MLAs understand his expectations for decorum.

Alberta MLAs voted by secret ballot to elect Zwozdesky who defeated Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman to win the position.

Blakeman said she knew before the vote that “the fix was in” and that the Tories would use their 61-seat majority to install one of their own in the speaker’s chair.

“Clearly there were instructions from on high ... it worked out exactly the way the government wanted,” Blakeman said. “It signals very strongly that it’s business as usual.

“The irony is that this is exactly why the public wanted to give the Tories a kick in the but, was that sense of entitlement and of micromanaging absolutely everything to suit themselves. ... They’re not going to stop doing that.”

Also Wednesday, Leduc-Beaumont MLA George Rogers was elected Deputy Speaker and Mary Anne Jablonski, MLA for Red Deer North, was acclaimed as Deputy Chair of Committees.

Zwozdesky, 63, is MLA for Edmonton-Mill Creek and will be the second Edmontonian in the chair. He was first elected in 1993 and has served as minister of health, education and community development, among others.