Getty's relationship with his own party was often stormy. Shortly after he lost his riding in 1989, a group of Calgary Conservatives, including party budget director Jack Major and Getty's old leadership rival Ron Ghitter, began making plans to force party renewal, with or without Getty. They felt that the party was perceived as being tired, directionless, arrogant, and deaf to urban concerns, and that it was in political trouble in the crucial battleground of Calgary. At the 1989 party convention, recently retired cabinet minister Marvin Moore, who had organized Ghitter's 1985 leadership campaign, advocated for a leadership review; after a speech by Getty, the convention voted to refer the recommendation to a committee for months of study. Cabinet ministers, including Treasurer Dick Johnston and Education Minister Jim Dinning, began to consider leadership bids in the event that Getty retired or was pushed out.