Suffice to say Ed’s gambit of naming Morton Minister of Finance last year didn’t work out so well, eh?

Alberta Finance Minister Ted Morton resigns from PC cabinet
Alberta Finance Minister Ted Morton has resigned from cabinet, two days after first planning to do so and after reluctantly agreeing to support a large deficit budget.

A source tells The Globe and Mail Mr. Morton resigned on Thursday, but remains in the PC caucus.

Tuesday, Stelmach sounded the starting gun on the PC leadership race. With today’s announcement, Morton is the first out of the blocks.

Morton’s resignation should come as no surprise. He plans to run in the leadership race as a fiscal hawk, and after he wins that, he’ll run in the next election as a fiscal hawk. Bringing in another deficit budget won’t do him any good.

Neither will running a large government portfolio – not when there are campaign teams to be assembled, membership forms to be sold, and theme songs to be written.