Alberta premier Alison Redford has promised to follow the policy course she established before the April 23 election.
In her first news conference as elected premier on April 24, she said the legislature will sit in late spring and a cabinet and staff will be named within two weeks.
The final results gave the Progressive Conservatives 61 seats, Wildrose Party 17, Liberal five and New Democrats four. All provincial leaders won their seats, although Liberal leader Raj Sherman cleared the hurdle by less than 20 votes.
Voter turnout was 57 percent, up from 40 percent in 2008.
Read Also
Louis Dreyfus posts higher volumes, lower profits in first half
Agricultural commodity merchant Louis Dreyfus Company recorded a rise in first-half sales, supported by higher volumes shipped, but weaker prices for most crops pushed down profits, it said on Friday.
When asked if she was surprised by the results when most polls placed the Wildrose in front, Redford said, “We were not as surprised as everybody else. The only poll that matters is election day.”
Redford’s agenda will continue to promote Alberta as an energy production leader, and she will travel to Brazil in June to attend Rio+20, the United Nations conference on sustainable development.
She is also promising to promote a province that is socially progressive but fiscally conservative.
“It is a great disservice to go back to old ideologies in respect to the future of Alberta,” she said.
She did not reveal specific details on what changes voters might expect, other than to say the government would continue working on the same policies that were developed during her eight month tenure after taking over the party leadership from Ed Stelmach.
She will be facing a larger opposition than past premiers, most of whom will be Wildrose members elected almost exclusively from ridings south of Calgary. The city of Calgary elected only two Wildrose members and the only northern Wildrose member is Shayne Saskiw of Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills. Three Liberals were elected in Calgary and the remaining 20 seats went PC.
All four ND members and two Liberals came from Edmonton. The rest of the province was solid PC.
