11.16.2011 02:31 PM

Alberta’s new Premier

I just saw her speak at the Royal York. John Turner was there and lots of other folks. Very, very impressive.

38 Comments

  1. MississaugaLibPeter says:

    Bishop Carroll alum. Not a hack in high school. The real deal. Not afraid of a fight – Rob Anders. One of the few Canadian politicians who can do what is right because she is not beholden to anyone (since she rose so quickly and because she is “the real deal”). Easily Harper’s heir (a lot better than B. Lord). If the Liberal’s scooped her I would take 6 months off to help her.

    • Warren says:

      She was very good in the speech. I tell you, if the choice is between her on the Wildeyed Rosies, I’d pick her.

      • The Doctor says:

        Unfortunately, Redford was very late to the game. Wildrose have had a lot of time to raise money, get organized, etc. The Alberta PCs have alienated a lot of people, especially some of the oilpatch types in Calgary, who have traditionally been a key source of support and especially money. When the Calgary oilpatch poohbahs desert you in any significant numbers, that’s a very troublesome sign — because that’s exactly what happened in the late 1980s at the federal level — Calgary oilpatch people deserted the Mulroney PCs for Reform.

        The next Alberta election is going to be a rare interesting one. Possibly 1971 redux (an actual change of government).

        • MississaugaLibPeter says:

          You are friggin’ out to lunch. Better get some news meds prescribed Doc!

          Wild Rose will be lucky to make a dent in Alberta politics with Redford’s 55% approval rating. And there will be no second coming of the Reform.

          http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/alberta/Redford+polls+even+party+latest+survey/5592364/story.html

          Her popularity and splits on both sides could lead to a Lougheed-type majority next year.

          She has and will make many more mistakes, but her integrity will impress even those who don’t agree with her. You can’t say that about many politicians these days.

          It’s sweet to see someone good rising to the top.

        • Jan says:

          Maybe they should just let the oil companies run the province.

        • Ken says:

          Wildrose have been spending their money as fast as it comes in, and often faster.

        • Rick Thomson says:

          The PC are not very popular in Central Alberta. I know, I lived there when Eddy increased the royalities, which just saw the Oil Patch in Red Deer park the rigs. Many layoffs and many Easterns went back home. Wild Rose will win in this part of Alberta.

          • Matthew Sharp says:

            I think the oil patch in Red Deer parked the rigs at that time because oil fell from 140 dollars a barrel to 36, and gas fell from 11 dollars a cube to 4.

            It’s odd how people don’t mention that the “parking of the rigs” occurred at the time the global economic recession began. The AB government isn’t that powerful.

  2. MonicaTM says:

    So are you saying she’s somewhat ‘liberal’?

  3. Michael S says:

    If she wins the federal Conservative leadership you can kiss the Liberal party goodbye. You’d also get another split in the Conservatives as the Wild Rose gang go federal. So maybe her switching to the Liberals is the best for everyone?

  4. The Realist says:

    That she kowtowed to the teachers’ union lobby shows the sycophancy that comes with forty years of arrogance and incumbency.

    The Alberta Tories need to be voted out and eat humble pie. I don’t care if there is a liberal or Wild Rose government as a result.

  5. Warren says:

    Wow, Gord, thanks. You’re particularly rude today.

    • MississaugaLibPeter says:

      Gord, you also need to get a new prescription or the dosage upgraded.

      Democracy sucks when your buffoon loses. Every leadership candidate made promises. It sucks when MLA’s could not motivate their friends to come out and support an inferior candidate. Alison won fairly, without back room deals (she laid out her platform out for everyone to judge, and unlike many others, made all her donors known on her website even during the leadership race). For every backward thinking Gord that Alison loses, she gains two forward thinking voters (like WK).

      • Ted H says:

        “left of centre candidate Horner”????

        If any member of the Alberta PC’s can be considered “left of centre” then the political centre must have shifted considerably to the right.

        Diefenbaker by that standard must be considered an out and out communist based on the ground work he laid for universal health care.

    • Dave Wells says:

      For someone so smart, I often wonder why you spend the first part of your comments lobbing grenades. You are clearly well informed, yet spend so much energy throwing out phrases intended to insult and demean. Sad waste of talent if you ask me.

      • Warren says:

        Yeah, I particularly loved today how Gord – who seemingly spends 20 hours out of every 24 here – said if I endorse someone, they’re going to lose. If I/we suck so bad, Gord, why do you keep coming back?

    • Jan says:

      That Gord, is a matter of opinion. Believe it not, and I know you won’t, some people think an endorsement from Rob Anders is the kiss of death.

  6. Ken says:

    Between the first and second ballots, Redford found 17866 new votes compared to Mar’s 9038.

    On the final count, she picked up 8567 of Horner’s redistributed preferences, compared to Mar’s 2298. Mar got fewer than the number of Horner voters who didn’t even bother picking a second preference as they were entitled to, 5089. In other words, “None of the Above” beat Mar.

    After winning only a few central-Calgary ridings in the first round, Redford made inroads into rural areas on the second round (including Griffiths’ and Morton’s carried ridings), and into Edmonton. On the final count, every single Horner riding went Redford.

    Redford won because Redford won. That simple. Good old fashioned numbers. If it was some kind of Red Tory/Liberal conspiracy, then tens of thousands of Alberta PC members are in on it.

    • Ken says:

      So what if there was?

      Why didn’t the right-wing frothing crazies do anything to counter it, in that case?

      Sorry, bub, your Soreloseritis is showing.

      (Being neither PC nor Albertan I don’t have a dog in this fight.)

      DAMN YOU CAPTCHA.

    • Chris says:

      “Anecdotally there is much evidence that there was a coordinated effort by the unions to affect the outcome”

      What election doesn’t have groups trying to affect the outcome?

      Your comments read like a lot of sour grapes from somebody that got outplayed.

  7. Cynical says:

    By the next election public opinion towards your PMSH will be so negative that the Conservatives will impeach him. Once the gun folks realize that they aren’t going to get what they REALLY want, the fundies realize that they aren’t going to get anything at all, the public realizes that the “Tough on Crime” approach is costly smoke and mirrors, and we run through another Finance Minister or two trying to hold back the tide of economic disaster with faith-based economics, my prediction is that your old Red Tories will come back into fashion, and Redford could be the next big thing.
    And over time, Alberta will move toward the centre, legitimizing Redford’s positions. There is a deep undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the petroleum industry in rural Alberta, and it will be heard.

    A moderate Tory! Even I could buy that.

  8. james Smith says:

    well, my socred mother in law likes her, may not vote for her, but likes her.

  9. bigcitylib says:

    I’m waiting for her to cave on the repeal of section 3 of the Alberta Human Rights Code (which she proposed as a candidate, and which is analgous to Section 13 on the federal level). Because I’m sure she will, its just when, and when she does it will make Ezra Levant cry, and he will throw his weight behind Wild Rose, and they will be slaughtered in the upcoming provincial election.

  10. Tiger says:

    The more kind words I hear about her from Liberals, the more inclined I am to cheer for Wild Rose in the next election.

    No way that she’s Harper’s successor, incidentally.

  11. JStanton says:

    … the only Albertan Conservative who isn’t a dick… tee, hee.

    According to gordy. she is in trouble because “rank and file” hate her. It worked pretty well for Mr. Harper though, who was supported by rank and file almost exclusively.

    Sorry gordy; if a woman in Alberta can ascend to leadership using your own process, then she is as far from trouble as it gets. She could stay home and drink and shoot gophers for the next 4 years and still win. Heck, it worked for Ralph for two terms.

    Wildrose is half cult, half blow-back from Ralph’s years of mis-management. As soon adult supervision returns to Alberta politics, sensible Albertan’s will fall into line behind the premier, as will those leaning left.

    Still, its an amusing mental picture, isnt it? Clampett’s both in Ottawa and Edmonton at the same time. Talk about a bull in the china shop!

    .

    .

    • Matthew Sharp says:

      Completely agree. Wildrose faces a very big challenge; Edmonton. While still a conservative city, it is nowhere near as much as Calgary, and will have a hard time buying such a Calgary-focused party.

      Actually, I don’t even think they are a Calgary-focused party. Calgarians like their city, and the developments occurring in it. Smith would cut, cut, cut, and both YEG and YYC would suffer for it.

  12. dave says:

    When she became leader and premier I read her resume on this machine. I t would be hard to find a more accomplished young leader in our politics. Looks like she works very hard, with clear purpose.

  13. steve says:

    So the Conservatives rule BC by calling themselves liberals, and the Liberals rule Alberta by calling themselves Conservatives, and the Reform rule the country by calling themselves Conservatives, got it.

  14. Gerard says:

    All of this talk of the future of politics in Alberta is forgetting the still emerging Alberta Party. Two elections from now they should be contending for power. Doubt it? Over 40 years of one party, an ineffective opposition, and a Wildrose group of republicans leaves a big hole waiting to be filled, fast.

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