Once again Alberta proved to be the heart of Conservative country, doing its part to give prime minister Stephen Harper the majority government he has craved for five years.
And even though many of its prominent Tory incumbents were campaigning in vote-rich regions of Eastern Canada and rarely set foot in their ridings, Alberta rewarded them nonetheless with 27 out of 28 seats.
“We must be a government of all Canadians including those who did not vote for us,” Harper told the crowd at the downtown Calgary Convention Centre.
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Although the centre was not filled to capacity like past elections, the crowd’s mood was one of elation, big toothy grins and hugs among party workers of all ages.
The exception in the field of Conservative blue was a single bloom of orange in the urban riding of Edmonton Strathcona, where NDP incumbent Linda Duncan returned with more than 4,000 votes ahead of her nearest competitor.
Harper promised to start work immediately implementing a series of election promises that included no tax increases while still eliminating the budget deficit.
Families and senior citizens can expect to receive the benefits promised in the budget that was defeated. Part of that aid will come from increasing transfer payments by six percent a year to the provinces for health care. He also promised to pursue the Conservative’s tough on crime agenda.
Harper acknowledged the remarkable emergence of the New Democratic Party, which traces back to a prairie populist movement, taking more than 100 seats, its best showing in its 50 years.
Green Party leader Elizabeth May also received a tip of the hat for her first win in the riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands off the West Coast of British Columbia.
During his acceptance speech he recognized the legacy of Preston Manning who forged the Reform Party as a western protest movement with a handful of compatriots who wanted a new deal for the West including a young Harper.
Manning also ran in Calgary Southwest and is now a consultant teaching people how to enter public life.
Calgary Southwest is Harper’s home riding, which he won handily along with incumbents like Jason Kenney and Diane Ablonczy, who were early members of the Reform Party of Canada, which eventually merged into the modern Conservative Party.
This election also saw the return of rural candidates like Ted Menzies of the Macleod constituency, Kevin Sorenson of Crowfoot and Leon Benoit of Vegreville-Wainwright.
