NDP leader, Rachel Notley, is the new Premier of the province of Alberta. It is a stunning victory that brought an end to the provincial Conservative Party’s 44-year reign.
Similar to the so-called ‘orange crush’ in the federal election of 2011, when the province of Quebec witnessed 59 of its 75 seats taken by NDP candidates, in Alberta last night it was 53 seats out of 87 going to the province’s NDP..
Some of the gaffes, and missteps during the campaign were surprising but very few people foresaw the outcome last night. Professor Nelson Wiseman, of the University of Toronto‘s Political Science department, saw the writing on the wall just recently. “I would have been surprised two months ago had anybody said this, I would have said it’s inconceivable.”
I would have been surprised two months ago had anybody said this, I would have said it’s inconceivable.
ListenJim Prentice, a former federal politician conceded defeat, resigning from both his seat and his position as leader of the provincial Conservative party.
Albertans were battered by the collapse in oil prices and the realization that too many eggs had been placed in one resource-filled basket. Prentice, once touted as the heir apparent to Stephen Harper, made a lot of mistakes.
First he brought in a tough budget, raising taxes on everyone except the corporations. In response to the outcry he said if there were problems Albertans should ‘look in the mirror’. Then during the leader’s debate, in an exchange with Notley on numbers and figures, he condescendingly acknowledged that “math is hard”. It turned out her numbers were correct and his were wrong!
“things will be A-OK here in Alberta”
Rachel Notley, the daughter of former well-respected Alberta NDP leader, Grant Notley, is described as charismatic with a quick wit. Her father was killed in a plane crash returning from the legislature on a snowy night 31 years ago. She honoured both her parents in her victory speech last night.
Today in her first press conference, she thanked all the people who worked on the campaign and talked about how proud she is that her win brought people from all walks of life and almost 59 per cent of them women, into the “ledge” as the legislature is known, in Edmonton, the capital city of Alberta.
As CBC journalist Evan Solomon noted in commentary today, Alberta is one of the youngest provinces in Canada, with a median age of 36, and over the last 10 years, with so many people coming from all over Canada, and the world, drawn by the oil boom, it is much more multicultural.
He recounted a visit to Brooks, Alberta where an employer told him that 10 years prior only one language was spoken, now there are 70.
Among Notley’s campaign promises, she has vowed to raise the minimum wage, increase taxes on the wealthiest Albertans, undertake a royalty review with the resource companies, and said no more taxpayer dollars will be spent on promoting pipelines.
A former labour lawyer, who worked as an advisor with Ujjal Dosanjh, a former federal liberal health minister, and former Premier of British Columbia, Rachel Notley was first elected in Alberta in 2008, one of only two NDP candidates to do so that year.
Rachel Notley assured people in her first press conference today, that “things will be A-Ok here in Alberta.” Perhaps she was assuring big business as the TSX had dropped 162 points in early morning trading.
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