Surprise win | Despite what polls were predicting, Alberta Progressive Conservatives return to power with a majority
Albertans showed they prefer a softer side of conservatism when they returned their 41-year-old Progressive Conservative government back to power April 23.
The closely watched election saw a PC majority declared an hour after polls closed when many expected a rout by the upstart Wildrose Alliance Party, which formed two years ago as a right wing protest.
On election night many pundits speculated Albertans backed off from the fiscal conservatism offered by Wildrose preferring the more lenient budget passed by the government at the end of March.
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However Alison Redford, as premier elect of the 12th straight PC majority and the longest ruling Tory government in Canadian history, promised her party will honour change and rejuvenation demanded by voters.
She will face a lively opposition party that campaigned on a platform of honouring property rights, im-proving access to public health care and paying off provincial debt.
“You spoke loudly and I heard you,” Redford told a small, but noisy group of supporters in downtown Calgary.
Redford and her closest competitor Wildrose leader Danielle Smith already changed history in the province. She is the first elected female Alberta premier and Smith will be the first woman leader of the opposition.
Leading up to election night, it seemed many voters were in favour of Wildrose’s agenda of more tightly controlled government spending, according to polls, but controversial social and environmental issues in the final week of the campaign may have swayed undecided voters to cast their lots with the Conservatives.
Smith commented that climate change is debatable and two Wild-rose candidates expressed personal opinions that riled gay rights supporters and ethnic voters.
The election saw an improved voter turnout of around 50 percent, up 10 points from the 2008 vote that gave then premier Ed Stelmach a record majority.
Wildrose leader Smith acknowledged change in Alberta might take “a little longer than we thought.”
Shortly after another PC majority was confirmed, Smith told supporters in her Highwood riding that she was not discouraged.
“Albertans have decided that Wild-rose might need some time,” she said in her concession speech.
“Today I stand at the helm of the official opposition. I’m sorry it didn’t end the way we all dreamed.”
The PC majority defied most polls leading up to the vote. At press time, seats stood at 62 for the Conservatives, 18 for Wildrose, and four for the New Democratic Party and Liberals were at three seats with leader Raj Shermann fighting to hold on by less than 50 votes. check
With four seats, the NDP doubled its fortunes from 2008 and will receive official party status. All four were in Edmonton.
Roger Epp, University of Alberta political science professor, said immediately after the election that the results were difficult to interpret but it may be evidence of a widening rural-urban split in provincial politics.
“It’s clear that Wildrose is the party of choice outside of Calgary, in southern Alberta,” he said.
“It’s now a mostly rural, mostly southern caucus” for Wildrose, he added.
“Maybe there’s a kind of kickback or something out of some of the rural areas.”
Two former agriculture ministers lost their seats. Evan Berger was defeated in Livingstone Macleod and Jack Hayden lost his seat in Drumheller-Stettler, both to Wildrose opponents.
Epp speculated that concerns over property rights may have resonated in areas where people were concerned over the building of electrical lines, namely in the south.
Larry Sears, a cattle rancher from Stavely, Alta., said he was disappointed with the result but was confident Wildrose would be an effective opposition.
As for the PC majority, “I think we’re in for four more years of what we had, and that is government in paralysis.
“They’re too scared to offend the greenies. They’re too scared to step up and do what’s right for business. It’s not a good operating environment for anyone.”
Marshall Copithorne, a rancher from Cochrane, said his support for Wildrose was based on the party’s pro-business approach and plans to reduce excessive regulation.
“I consider myself a businessman, whether I’m in agriculture, oil and gas or any other business. I need a government that works with me and for me,” said Copithorne.
He added he was disappointed that the Conservatives didn’t do more for the Alberta cattle industry in 2003 when BSE was discovered.
“Canadian producers were hit the hardest because we were overregulated.”
Copithorne was pessimistic about the future under another Conservative majority.
“I guess I’ll just go ahead and try and find a buyer and sell out, be-cause I don’t see any use in carrying on a business in an environment where you have no security of your property and no assurance that you’re going to be treated fairly in international markets.”
Epp said election results should make for a livelier legislature, with Wildrose forming a stronger block than past opposition and the NDP doubling their strength.
“Maybe we’ve seen the end of a certain phase within Alberta history.”
