Klein leaves politics; Liberals eye his riding

Former premier Ralph Kleinresigned as an MLA on Monday, leaving one of the jewels of the provincial Conservative crown— the riding of Calgary-Elbow — up for grabs.

And while the riding has been held by just two Conservatives for the past 30 years, 17 of them by Klein,Liberal Leader Kevin Taft said he is hoping to build ongains in the2004 provincial election to capture the seat.

"Every byelection is a significant test and we will be working very hard in Calgary-Elbow," he told CBC News. "We've got a very strong organization on the ground there."

Honeymoon is 'pointedly over' for new premier

Mount Royal College political science instructor Bruce Foster said the Conservativesare favoured to win the Calgary-Elbow seat again, but it may not be a slam dunk.

"With the honeymoon of Premier [Ed] Stelmach pointedly over," Foster said, "I would suggest it probably becomes just a little bit more tense than previously."

In the 2004 provincial election,Liberal candidate Stephen Browntook more than 36 per cent of the vote in that riding, despite being up against a premier. That year, the Liberals won three seats in Calgary.

Long-time Klein supporter andformer deputy premier Shirley McClellan has also officially resigned her seat, effective Monday. She captured the Drumheller-Stettler riding more than 5,000 votes ahead of her nearest rival.

Two byelections within six months

In March, Klein received an approval rating of 55 per cent at a party convention prompting him to announced a leadership race for later in the year. Ed Stelmach was chosen as Alberta's new premier in December.

By Monday afternoon, both McClellan and Klein's resignation letters had arrived at the Speaker's office. Under Alberta law, byelections must be held within six months of a warrant being forwarded to the electoral office.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation estimates that Klein will collect $650,000 when he leaves office and McClellan will take home $589,000.

Alberta scrapped its pension plan for retiring or defeated MLAs in 1993, insteadoffering a "transition allowance"that amounts tothree months' salary for every year served as an MLA.