After electing the same political party into power for 44 years, Alberta voters have become wonderfully unpredictable. I have to admit that I was a little surprised by the Calgary-Foothills riding by-election result last Thursday.
This is the riding where Jim Prentice quit his Member of the Legislative Assembly job on election night when the New Democratic Party was elected to form a majority government in Alberta.
I figured that the voters of Calgary-Foothills would probably elect the NDP candidate Bob Hawkesworth. He is a former MLA and Calgary Alderman. He has more political experience than 90 per cent of the NDP MLA’s combined. Without a doubt he would have been assigned a cabinet post and would have been in the inner circle of Premier Notley’s team.
In fact, Notley campaigned with Hawkesworth many times in the Calgary-Foothills riding in the days leading up to the September 3, 2015 by-election. But, the people of Calgary-Foothills did not elect Bob Hawkesworth. It was not even close.
Prasad Panda with the Wildrose party won the byelection by a wide margin with 38 per cent of the vote. The third time was lucky for Panda as he had run and lost in the 2012 and 2015 general elections as a Wildrose candidate.
The most surprising thing in the byelection results is that the Progressive Conservative (PC) candidate Blair Houston was a very close third with 22 per cent of the vote. I know that 22 per cent doesn’t sound like very much but the NDP star candidate Bob Hawkesworth only got 26 per cent of the vote.
When you keep in mind that this is the very same riding where the people had elected the PC party leader Jim Prentice, only to have him quit on them on election night, 22 per cent is an extremely strong result.
So, what does this all mean? For me, it means that anything is possible in Alberta politics. It means that the Wildrose party can get elected in an urban riding. It means that the PC party still has a pulse.
It means that the NDP will need to achieve some great results over the next three and a half years if they hope to form government next time around.
It means that Alberta voters are not tied to any party and if you are not governing the way we would govern, you will be held accountable.
