Sherman apology not enough, Liepert says

The Alberta cabinet minister who was criticized publicly by Raj Sherman last week said the former Progressive Conservative MLA's apology doesn't go far enough.

"I said I don't want an apology," said former health minister, now energy minister, Ron Liepert on Tuesday. "I want him to withdraw, publicly retract the remarks he made about my character that he can't substantiate."

Sherman was removed from the Tory caucus Monday for unspecified reasons that are widely believed to be related to his continued criticisms of how Alberta has handled a critical backlog in the province's emergency rooms and his remarks about Liepert.

Last week, Sherman criticized Liepert for being "rude and offensive" to front-line medical staff.

Liepert said he found the remarks hurtful and inappropriate and stated Sherman should not be allowed back into the Tory caucus until he retracted them.

That requirement was repeated by Premier Ed Stelmach.

"There was an opportunity to retract the comments. They were wrong. It questioned the integrity of caucus member or members. Those were wrong,"Stelmach said.

Sherman apologized for hurting Liepert's feelings, but said retracting the remarks, isn't so simple.

"When you make certain comments, once you make them, you can't retract them," Sherman said.

"You can say you regret making them. They were made. The comments I am going to stand by are the fact that this health care system needs to be fixed."

Sherman now sits as an independent in the Alberta legislature. The province announced Edmonton-Rutherford MLA Fred Horne will take over Sherman's position as the parliamentary assistant for health.