Kevin Laliberte
Editor, Smoky River Express

Congratulations go out this week to all elected newly elected MLAs as well as to those individuals from the unsuccessful political parties for having the courage to step forward in an effort to positively influence the direction of their respective constituencies. The March 3 provincial election results represent a renewed vote of confidence for the Progressive Conservative Party, which solidified its stranglehold on the Alberta Legislature by scooping up 72 of a possible 83 seats. From one corner of the province to the other – including the Peace, Smoky River and Mackenzie regions – the end result was a virtual clean sweep for the Tories which won and won big time. Provincially, the PC’s earned the lion’s share of voter support with 501,028 or 53 per cent of the votes. They were followed by the Alberta Liberal Party (250,862 or 26 per cent), the New Democratic Party (81,043 or nine per cent), and the Wildrose Alliance Party, which picked up 64,370 votes or seven per cent. In Dunvegan Central-Peace it was incumbent PC MLA Hector Goudreau coming out on top with an impressive 4,185 votes. He is joined in the victor’s circle by Peace River returning MLA Frank Oberle Jr. (3,264 votes), Grande Prairie-Smoky incumbent Mel Knight (who won by a landslide with 4,769 votes, Lesser Slave Lake incumbent Pearl Calahasen, taking the victory with 3,390 votes, and Grande Prairie-Wapiti Conservative MLA Wayne Drysdale who garnered 5,168 votes. Provincial election voter turnout Voter turnout, meanwhile, hovered around a record low of just 44.7 per cent, which was recorded in the last election. Fears that a low voter turnout could significantly hurt the Tories, meanwhile, were unfounded with the party boosting its public support by six per cent, up from 47 per cent in the 2004 election. Still, it’s hardly indicative of an overwhelming mandate, especially when you consider that 56 per cent of eligible voters failed to vote. And the president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, D’Arcy Lanovaz concurs. “Ed Stelmach needs to remember that what he did was win 87 per cent of the seats with 53 per cent of the votes from 44 per cent of the people,” says Lanovaz. “Most leaders wouldn’t consider that something to be proud of.” Party leaders ponder future Results of the provincial election have left several Alberta political leaders seriously contemplating their futures. That includes Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft, who says he’s uncertain at this point whether he’ll stay on as leader. It’s a reaction which really shouldn’t come as any big surprise given the Liberals sharp drop from 16 seats in the legislature to just nine. A similar sentiment is being expressed by NDP Leader Brian Mason, who says he will look to his party for a decision on whether he should stay on after dropping from four seats to just two. And then there’s Paul Hinman, leader of the Wildrose Alliance, who was seeing a recount in his southern Alberta riding after being narrowly defeated by Broyce Jacobs (a former Tory member of the legislature) by just 39 votes. Hinman says if the results hold true he expects to retire, unless there’s some real “arm twisting” from his fledgling party.

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