HIGH RIVER, ALTA.—In Premier Alison Redford’s Calgary riding on election day, Karen Crosby wouldn’t reveal who she voted for but made clear who she voted against.
“Let’s just say I voted for change,” Crosby said as she walked out of the polling station in the Southwest Calgary riding. “I don’t care if it’s a minority government as long as our present government isn’t in power anymore.”
Alberta elections are rarely this divisive. The province’s political history has followed a similar pattern since the 1930s — parties stay in power for decades until a grassroots opposition party emerges; that party takes over and rules for decades until the next grassroots opposition party emerges.
The Progressive Conservatives was the grassroots party in 1971 when it took over from the Social Credit, ending its 36-year reign. Now the Wildrose Party, the new grassroots party, wants to end the Conservatives’ 41-year record in government.
Last fall, when Redford, an international lawyer who was seen as a moderate, became the elected leader after former premier Ed Stelmach resigned because of internal dissent within his caucus, the party had a slight bounce back in the polls. But the Wildrose, which has been steadily gaining in popularity, continued its rise and ran a mostly error-free campaign.
“The Conservatives didn’t think we could mount the campaign we did and we didn’t know we would get the support we would get from the public,” said one Wildrose strategist. The fledgling party received $2.3 million in donations for the campaign compared with $1.5 million for the Conservatives. “We were able to run the campaign we did because many of our staffers were former Conservatives with experience provincially and federally.”
What has hurt the Conservatives in this campaign has been the typical issues that plague a party that has long been in power, including a dormant political machine that had little reason to fire up over the past four decades.
A Conservative strategist said moving to the progressive side of the spectrum has made the party more representative of the views of Albertans and better able to convince NDP and Liberal voters in the province that a Wildrose majority is not in their interest.
“Alison already knows that she’s not going to get the soft vote on her right flank to support her and her gains are going to be on her left flank,” said the strategist. “The Wildrose only has the right but we know that this province is not just made up of those on the right.”
The Wildrose Party became a factor after former Fraser Institute researcher and Calgary Herald columnist Danielle Smith took over as a leader in 2009, a year after the Alliance and Wildrose provincial parties merged. The new Wildrose grew rapidly in membership as some former Conservative supporters, Conservative MLAs and members fled the party over concerns it was moving to the progressive side.
“So what we ended up with is an Americanization of our Alberta politics,” said Conservative supporter Anita Loowell of Edmonton. “What we’ve got at that end, the Wildrose, is people who believe that private health care is okay, that people should look after themselves, that public education doesn’t matter and we’re all on our own. That’s not what I want.”
Wildrose supporter Alan Weenink, who voted for Smith in her riding of High River, an hour’s drive south of Calgary, sees nothing wrong with that. The Conservatives’ shift to the middle, partly in response to internal politics and partly to distinguish itself after the rise of the Wildrose, made it impossible for him to support the party he once backed.
“The people who were too conservative for the Conservatives left but look at where we’re at? We’re going to have real conservatives like Danielle Smith become the premier and a real conservative like Stephen Harper as prime minister,” he said. “The rest of the country won’t like it but that can’t be helped. We got to do what’s right for us here.”
“Let’s just say I voted for change,” Crosby said as she walked out of the polling station in the Southwest Calgary riding. “I don’t care if it’s a minority government as long as our present government isn’t in power anymore.”
Alberta elections are rarely this divisive. The province’s political history has followed a similar pattern since the 1930s — parties stay in power for decades until a grassroots opposition party emerges; that party takes over and rules for decades until the next grassroots opposition party emerges.
The Progressive Conservatives was the grassroots party in 1971 when it took over from the Social Credit, ending its 36-year reign. Now the Wildrose Party, the new grassroots party, wants to end the Conservatives’ 41-year record in government.
Last fall, when Redford, an international lawyer who was seen as a moderate, became the elected leader after former premier Ed Stelmach resigned because of internal dissent within his caucus, the party had a slight bounce back in the polls. But the Wildrose, which has been steadily gaining in popularity, continued its rise and ran a mostly error-free campaign.
“The Conservatives didn’t think we could mount the campaign we did and we didn’t know we would get the support we would get from the public,” said one Wildrose strategist. The fledgling party received $2.3 million in donations for the campaign compared with $1.5 million for the Conservatives. “We were able to run the campaign we did because many of our staffers were former Conservatives with experience provincially and federally.”
What has hurt the Conservatives in this campaign has been the typical issues that plague a party that has long been in power, including a dormant political machine that had little reason to fire up over the past four decades.
A Conservative strategist said moving to the progressive side of the spectrum has made the party more representative of the views of Albertans and better able to convince NDP and Liberal voters in the province that a Wildrose majority is not in their interest.
“Alison already knows that she’s not going to get the soft vote on her right flank to support her and her gains are going to be on her left flank,” said the strategist. “The Wildrose only has the right but we know that this province is not just made up of those on the right.”
The Wildrose Party became a factor after former Fraser Institute researcher and Calgary Herald columnist Danielle Smith took over as a leader in 2009, a year after the Alliance and Wildrose provincial parties merged. The new Wildrose grew rapidly in membership as some former Conservative supporters, Conservative MLAs and members fled the party over concerns it was moving to the progressive side.
“So what we ended up with is an Americanization of our Alberta politics,” said Conservative supporter Anita Loowell of Edmonton. “What we’ve got at that end, the Wildrose, is people who believe that private health care is okay, that people should look after themselves, that public education doesn’t matter and we’re all on our own. That’s not what I want.”
Wildrose supporter Alan Weenink, who voted for Smith in her riding of High River, an hour’s drive south of Calgary, sees nothing wrong with that. The Conservatives’ shift to the middle, partly in response to internal politics and partly to distinguish itself after the rise of the Wildrose, made it impossible for him to support the party he once backed.
“The people who were too conservative for the Conservatives left but look at where we’re at? We’re going to have real conservatives like Danielle Smith become the premier and a real conservative like Stephen Harper as prime minister,” he said. “The rest of the country won’t like it but that can’t be helped. We got to do what’s right for us here.”
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