Getty swings out of office

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Don Getty was ushered out of the Alberta premier's office and caused a stir by saying he wouldn't continue to work in the legislature. The man who has led Alberta's Conservative party of the last seven years instead plans to work out of a government office away from the legislature.

What kind of work does the former premier plan to do? Well, reports indicate Getty plans to sort through his papers, start an autobiography and - in his own words - become an "orangutan" for rural and Native issues.

You heard right. Orangutan. We think Getty means he plans to spend his final days as the representative for the central Alberta Stettler riding hooting and hollering about issues that don't come up in the province's urban centres.

Now Getty does have some feathers in his cap over such issues. It was his government that passed the progressive Metis Settlement legislation in northern Alberta. He personally intervened in the Lubicon dispute and helped settle issues regarding the size of their future reserve.

But the Getty Conservatives also raised threats to traditional lifestyles with their heavy support for a northern forest industry and controversial projects like the Oldman River dam. The Lubicon struggles continue with no end in sight and no encouraging words from the province.

And now Getty wants to be an orangutan. Why does the phrase "a monkey on the back" keep springing to mind?