After 32 years representing constituents in and around the Westlock and Barrhead areas, MLA Ken Kowalski will not seek another term.
He made the surprise announcement Friday, explaining that quite simply he wanted to be able to spend more time with friends and family.
“I’ve been putting on 70,000 kilometres a year in my car, which is 700 hours or three and a half months when you start calculating it all at 100 km/h,” he said.
Kowalski made an announcement in August that he would seek re-election to an 11th term, but said a few things have changed since then.
“I’ve started to wake up in the morning the last couple of months, and basically saying it’s pretty nice outside; the sun’s shining,“ he said.
“When there was no snow the grass was green and the birds are singing. Life is pretty good out there.”
Although days began on that positive note, he would then have to run from one appointment to another all day until he would get home after 10 p.m. and realize he had no time to enjoy it all.
“I’ve started saying to myself, I don’t have a life. I’ve got to get control of my life,” he said.
Kowalski has served under all five Progressive Conservative premiers since he was first elected in 1979, has held many cabinet posts, and has held the position of Speaker for more than a decade.
John Tiemstra, president of the Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock PC Constituency Association, said he was surprised to hear the news last Thursday, but fully respects and understands Kowalski’s decision considering the length of his tenure.
“He has certainly done yeoman’s service for our constituency and the province,” he said.
He added he has a lot of respect for the way Kowalski has conducted himself in office, describing him as a “24-hour MLA” who gave his all for the constituency and the province.
“It’s going to be very difficult for us to find somebody to fit in his shoes — if we indeed can,” Tiemstra said.
Both Tiemstra and Kowalski have said they believe there are half a dozen people who are keen to run, and the nomination process could begin as soon as this week.
“The are four or five people who have expressed an interest, but in all fairness expressing an interest and signing on the dotted line and getting the paperwork done and the money in, is a different thing,” Tiemstra said.
Whoever does step forward will have to have nomination papers signed and submit a deposit.
Then if there is more than one interested, the process will continue with a meeting to decide on a candidate.
Kowalski said he would not speculate on who might step forward to try to replace him, but said whoever is seeking the nomination should not be measured against any particular ideal.
“You shouldn’t compare anybody to anybody else in this business because everybody has their own plan and their own personality,” Kowalski said.
Whoever does intend to seek the position will have their work cut out for them, he added.
“I’ve been doing this for 33 years, and a new person coming in is going to have to get acclimatized, accustomed to the grind and work out their own schedule,” he said. “I’m just going to wish them well.”
As for Kowalski’s future plans, he said he looks forward to spending more time with friends and family, heading to a sunnier climate for the winter months and “just being more of a human being than I’ve been able to be for a long period of time.”
Despite having been through some situations that some people might have perceived as being definitive low points in a political career, Kowalski said he is fortunate to be leaving office without a single regret.
“I don’t have any regrets anyways because I’m a positive person,” he said.
One of the more significant challenges he faced during his tenure is a falling-out with Premier Ralph Klein, which saw him ejected from Cabinet and relegated to the backbenches.
“I was destined to be gone, according to some people,” Kowalski said. “I wasn’t. I stayed and did my work. I followed the professional approach in life of getting anything done with the highest degree of respect and continued to work away.”
Furthermore, he said he is happy that all the different projects he has set out to complete are either finished, close to being finished, or close to breaking ground.
“I don’t have a single file that I don’t have an answer to,” he said. “I’m really, really pleased with that.”
While he has done many things for his constituents over the years, Kowalski said he sees the highlight of his career as being a project that was built hundreds of kilometers away: the Oldman River Dam near Pincher Creek.
“That was the largest-ever construction project in the history of Alberta up to that time,” he said. “Secondly, it came in on budget and it came in on the time frame I announced when I started it.”
The project was the subject of a great deal of controversy in the early 1990s, partly because of Canada’s new environmental assessment laws. There were several attempts to block the project through legal means, and Kowalski said he was even the subject of an assassination threat because of his involvement.
“All those things, they just sort of bring the best out of you and bring the adrenaline to you and the commitment to you,” he said. “That’s what I’m proudest of, believe it or not.”
It is not surprising that the retirement of the longest-serving MLA has garnered a wide range of responses, but colleagues and even opposition candidates had good things to say about the MLA.
Premier Alison Redford issued a written statement Friday applauding his years of service and dedication.
“He served as Speaker of the House with endless grace and dignity, treating every member with fairness and respect,” she said.
She added she was fortunate to be the benefit of his wisdom over the years and that she was lucky to be able to serve alongside him.
“The Assembly will be poorer for his absence.”
Some opposition candidates have also spoken highly of Kowalski’s service, but pointed out the time is right for change.
Link Byfield, the area candidate for the Wildrose Alliance, said in his criticisms of the current government, Kowalski’s performance was never at issue.
“Ken has served the riding well for a long time, I've always said that about him,” he said. “The issue in this riding is not Ken Kowalski, the issue is the government of Alberta and how to run the province properly.”
He went on to say how Kowalski’s retirement would undoubtedly change the nature of his own campaign, but the overall message will be the same regardless of who the PC opponent is.
Trudy Grebenstein, the candidate for the Alberta NDP, said she appreciates the amount of work Kowalski has put in over the course of his career.
“He’s lived in that position for 30 years; I know it takes a lot from yourself and your friends and family to do that,” she said. “When people decide to step down after that many years, it’s never a small decision.”
She also said, however, that regardless who the PC candidate is, she sees the riding as needing a “shakeup.”
“(Kowalski’s) done a lot of work in Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock that has been appreciated, but I’m aware that voters here are looking for renewal,” she said.
