Wow, the polls leading up to the election last night in Alberta indicated the NDP could take power, and for the first time in 44 years, the Progressive Conservatives aren’t running the province.
OK, so does incoming NDP premier Rachel Notley suffer the same fate as Bob Rae? I liked Rae, who shot to power in Ontario in 1990 as head of the NDP here, but he flew into office with too many rookie MPPs, resulting in a very inexperienced cabinet. Plus he inherited the previous David Peterson government’s headaches, had to deal with a massive recession, and ultimately got scorched.
As for the Wild Rose and Conservative parties in Alberta, too long in office left you folks divided, and lounging around like fat cats. The Conservatives at times appeared to look at being elected to run the province as a divine right.
And now the attitude and division just bit them in the butt. The right took the majority of the vote last night, but the divorce helped the NDP gain power.
You would think righties would have learned from the Reform/PC split federally that gave Jean Chretien three straight majority governments, and the country so many ethic breaches and patronage appointments.
That left the nation so angry against the Liberals that once the righties kissed and made up, we’ve had nine years of Stephen Harper, yet another Conservative who thinks he’s king.
Notley, you worked hard to get there, but the right-wing division helped. Don’t forget that, because if you bungle running The Oil Patch, you’ll hand the province back to the silver-spoon squad, and the NDP will languish on the fringes for many years to come.
