For years in this country, and in this province, there has been an internal battle between the Blue Tory and the Red Tory factions when it comes to conservative politics. Some may argue that left and right don’t really exist, I disagree; there is a difference between the Progressive’s and the Conservatives that make up these particular parties. Most of the time the two can cohabitate together, but things always come to a head when a leadership contest comes about.
This latest leadership contest had an even mix of red and blue, centrist, and right wingers. The interesting thing this time was that our natural governing party decided they had no interest in the conservative side. Many of us locally, including our MLA George Groeneveld, were surprised the blue side of the party had been basically wiped out in the first vote. Sometimes when you live in a certain area or region of Alberta you may not have the best view of what is happening elsewhere. It is, as the saying goes, like living in a bubble.
Ted Morton won here in Highwood on the first ballot with a decent margin, the problem is this was one of only a few he did win.
When working the first poll we noticed turnout was way down, of course being in rural Alberta one quickly equates lower turnout with harvest. The only problem is turnout was low everywhere. I talked to Jonathan Denis and Dave Rodney, both MLAs in Calgary, and they had the same woes as Highwood did. In actuality roughly two-thirds of the people came out to vote compared to five years ago. This alone must send chills up the spines of the party brass. When people don’t show interest and don’t come out to vote this often is a tell tale of a decline in support. Of course there are those who state there just isn’t anyone that charismatic to support this time. In fact, on Twitter I saw calls for Ralph Klein to put his name on the ballot.
Ralph is done with politics but of course Albertans look for a leader who has that certain element that brings excitement to politics. Ed Stelmach may be an okay guy but he isn’t going to win any “Cult of Personality” contests, that is just a pure fact. This time around we may or may not have that dynamic leader Albertans love to get behind. One thing is for sure the Wildrose Party seems to have a leader who has lots of media savvy and experience. This poses a challenge for the new leader of the Progressive Conservatives who takes over Oct. 1.
With the current rejection of conservative principles, and candidates by the PC Party, it has taken a decided turn to the left which is fine with the party membership who voted on Saturday. My question is what about the rest of Albertans? I still seem to sense that a bunch of Albertans are fairly conservative so it looks like if the Wildrose can get ready for spring we will have a decent opposition — something the Liberals have not been able to provide since the Laurence Decore years.
If the turnout for the Oct. 1 vote doesn’t go up dramatically there will be cause for concern in the PC Party ranks. I have heard the Wildrose Party is already chomping at the bit to see who their Progressive opponent will be, Gary Mar or Alison Redford? It would be interesting to see two women battle it out for the premiership come next election that is for sure. If you don’t feel a dynamic change coming in Alberta politics stay tuned… its coming and its going to be a 9.9 on the Richter Scale.
