Uh Oh!
Democracy can suck sometimes. You spend all that time and money, hiring the best PR agents and spin-doctors you can, campaign for two years, orchestrate a plan for the province and then watch as the nice guy standing to the side walks in and takes the grand prize.
Ed Stellmach wins as the “second best guy”, sneaking by Morton and Dinning to grab the top job as Alberta’s next Premier. Ralph Klein was soooo excited all he had to say was “Thank you. Thank you very much” before he slipped out the back door and left the Alberta Leadership gong show behind. Wow. To say that Jimmy Dinning is shocked at this outcome is an understatement. He took defeat graciously but his defeat is the end of the Rod Love era of politics. Guaranteed that once PC party members are done Xmas shopping they will be planning what to do once they lose the next election. What is on the horizon doesn’t look good. A continued dip in oil and natural gas prices, overinflated housing prices, crumbling public infrastructure, etc. could trigger the end of this government, just like the Social Credit crew experienced in 1970.
Yes my friends, it is just starting to get interesting now. ‘Steady Eddie’ will have to rally the troops, consolidate polarized opinions and try to run this place. It has been said that 1% of your time as a leader is spent leading and the remaining 99% is spent on babysitting party members, making sure they do not stuff feet into mouths, or worse, stick each other in the back with shameless self-promoting daggers. This PC party is divided and will be interesting to watch over the next year. Place your bets now - how many seats will the “new” PCs capture in the next election? It is wide open and ripe for anyone’s taking.