Alberta Election

As was expected, Ralph Klein called Albertans to the polls on March 12. This will be his third election as Premier, and the ninth for his government. The Progressive Conservatives currently hold 64 of the 83 seats in the Legislative Assembly, the Liberals hold 15, and the New Democrats hold 2. One seat is held by an independent member and one is vacant.

It will be no surprise to see Ralph (that's what his campaign signs said last time) win another term. Alberta politics are marked by their long strings of majority governments. It's been said that Albertans don't so much elect a government as anoint one. The province was governed by the United Farmers from 1921 to 1935, Social Credit from 1935 to 1971, and the Progressive Conservatives since 1971. The ruling governments have all been conservative of one stripe or another, and have enjoyed massive majorities. The just departed government faced a maximum of 18 opposition members, which by Alberta standards is large. Albertans tend not to wonder about who will win the election. Rather, the speculation is how many seats they will end up with.

It has to be tough to be the opposition in Alberta. In the early 90's, Ralph said he would cut health care spending, and did so with a vengeance. To the fury of the opposition, he not only retained his popularity, but increased his seat total when he ran for reelection. If any politician in North America has lead a charmed life, it is Ralph Klein. That bio doesn't mention the famous "Eastern bums and creeps" remark in the early 80's that ignited a national firestorm of protest, and confirmed Klein as a champion of Western Canada in general, and Calgary in particular. In 20 years he has gone from being a moderately well known local television reporter, to the most popular mayor Calgary has ever had, to being the Premier of Alberta in some of the best times in provincial history.

With high oil and gas prices, there isn't just buckets of money flowing through the Alberta Treasury. It's coming in dumpster loads. If it comes in any faster they'll have to bring in some of the earth moving equipment from the tar sands to keep up. Sure, many Albertans are paying historically high prices to heat their homes and cook dinner. But fear not, Ralph has been using some royalty money to offset the high prices. The oppositions claims he is trying to bribe us with our own money, but the vast majority of Albertans outside Edmonton seem to think of it as the government giving back money that's ours anyway.

The opposition will seek to make much of the problems in the health care system, especially Bill 11, the privatization access bill, as they call it. They will also try to pin all the problems from electricity market deregulation on him, but it won't stick. Ralph has a way about him that most Albertans trust. Even when he goofs, he can somehow back off and move in another direction. Some people say that lacks political courage, others say it's going with the prevailing wind. As for Ralph, it's whatever works.

It's rumoured he will retire sometime this term, and it may well happen. He's not quite 60, and would be a shoo-in for a raft of directorships and Boards. But I don't know if that's something he would like. He still lives in a nice, but not swanky home in southwest Calgary. While mayor he did lots of "public consulting" in the St. Louis, a seedy bar behind City Hall. He has a reputation as a man of the people, and might just settle down to the same kind of retirement as most other working people. We'll just have to wait and see.