In all of Alberta’s 104-year history, just four parties have governed the province. Each was replaced by a challenger perceived to be to the right of the incumbent party: the Liberals by the United Farmers of Alberta, the UFA by the Social Credit and the Socreds by the Conservatives, who have now been in power since 1971– 38 years.
That fact alone should make Premier Ed Stelmach and his party worried about the Wildrose Alliance, a new party that over the weekend elected intelligent, articulate, photogenic, 38-year-old Danielle Smith as its leader.
Another fact that should frighten Alberta’s Big Blue Machine: More than 8,000 Alliance party members voted in Saturday’s contest between Ms. Smith and Calgary chiropractor Mark Dyrholm. That’s nearly double the number that voted last winter in the provincial Liberals’ leadership contest, and the Liberals are Alberta’s official opposition.
The Alliance is perceived to be to the right of the floundering, bumbling, overspending Tories. To add to the Conservatives’ troubles, since the departure of popular premier Ralph Klein three years ago, voters have seen them as a gaggle of out-of-their-depth bumpkins who have careened from one policy mistake to the next.
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As a lifelong Albertan I would like to explain the mindset I believe is common in Alberta.
In Alberta the government is a neutral force. Its primary duty is to reflect the will and the image of the people. It is not the job of the government to regulate or otherwise run people’s lives. The government is akin to a commonwealth where everyone contributes their share toward the betterment of things like highways, schools etc. When the government begins to think it is too important by spending too much money or over regulating the people the government is replaced with someone who is more convivial.
In my life time I saw how Harry Strom did not reflect the image Albertans were developing of themselves. He was replaced with Peter Lougheed who although popular was not a very good premier. Don Getty who replaced Lougheed came close to following Strom when he failed to address the money problems Alberta was experiencing. Klein bought a few more years of power for the PCs when he cut the spending and royalties. He further extended his reign by using his superb political senses to reflect the thoughts and feelings of the average Albertan. Stelmach completely lacks Klien’s instincts and by playing the victim card (are we getting our fair share) royalty review while running an annual 7 billion dollar surplus Ed succeeded in getting thousands of people to lose their jobs. In other words Special Ed has done everything wrong that could be done wrong and is about to pay the price for his incompetence. Long story short: Unless the PCs find a new Klein they will join their political predecessors in the scrap heap of history. It has little to do with the Wild Rose Party becoming appealing. It has everything to do with the Wild Rose Party being the only option.
Great summation, Joe. I agree with you on all points.