There were tears shed for endings and for new beginnings as incumbent Progressive Conservative MLA Jeff Johnson lost his seat after seven years to NDP Colin Piquette Tuesday night.
There were some grim faces and tears, but as the initial shock passed, appetites roared and so did a few laughs. With a glass of red wine in his hand, as if to toast the end of one chapter in his life and the beginning of another, Johnson expressed the mixed feelings that election night — that also doubled as his wife’s birthday —brought with it.
“In one sense, I’m looking forward to moving back to a normal life, and in the other sense I’m disappointed that I wasn’t successful (with) all the work that everyone’s done,” Johnson said.
“My family has sacrificed time and we’ve had a lot of friends and supporters and volunteers that have sacrificed and worked very hard for us. I’m looking forward to spending some time at home and deciding what’s next in our lives.”
With his seven years in office, Johnson wanted to thank the people who put their trust in him and for giving him the opportunity, and now he passes the torch to the next MLA.
“I know that we’ve accomplished a great deal for this area and I know we’ve worked as hard as we possibly could — both in the last seven years and in the election – so I don’t think there’s anything locally or personally that we could have done that we didn’t do, and in that sense I’m satisfied.”
As for the new NDP majority in the legislature, Johnson was concerned what that would spell out for the economy and Alberta’s future.
“To the next government, I hope they temper their policies. It’s one thing to say things during the election, but now they have the reality of governing and the actions and the promises that they’re making could have dramatic consequences on our economy and could push this province into a recession if they’re not very careful. I would just urge them to be very thoughtful about looking to implement any of the things they’d promised they could implement.”
He had more supportive words for official opposition, the Wildrose Party, but said the split within the Conservative party caused a split among right-leaning voters.
“They’ve worked hard and they’ve worked hard for several years,” he said of the Wildrose Party.
“The irony is that the Wildrose opposition has elected a left-wing government. So it really is a result of a number of things, obviously, but one of them is in-fighting in the conservative family that has elected a left-wing government.”
In the aftermath of the election, Albertans will have to deal with a predictable division between the left-wing majority and a far right opposition.
“Well, obviously it’s a massive shift in Alberta. I think it’s indicative of the shift of power in Alberta from rural Alberta to central and urban Alberta, which is something that’s been happening over the last several years because, in great degree, the population which used to reside previously in rural, and (is) now primarily in urban or metro. So this is kind of a natural transformation, I think,” he remarked.
“And the issue that we’re going to wrestle with now with the province is how to balance the budget and not create debt with the policies and platforms put forward.”
