Did anyone expect that? We sure didn’t.
Around the Westlock News office a fair bit of time has been spent over last few months discussing the budget, the election and the outcomes of both, and none of us saw the evening of Tuesday, May 5 coming. Some of us thought the Wildrose would do well, but we also thought that Maureen Kubinec’s personal support would hold up enough to get her across the line.
But it was not to be. The same swing that was on towards the Wildrose was also on for the NDP, and now we have the first new provincial government in 44 years.
It seemed that the electorate was keen to punish PCs for a number of reasons and surprisingly, the incumbent came third which is almost as unheard of as the overall outcome.
Many superlatives have been thrown around in the wake of the election of the centre-left NDP.
Unprecedented, is one, but while a change of government in Alberta may be rare when compared to other places, it’s not without precedent. It’s happened four times before. Other provinces and other places in the world have shifted from decades of conservative government to more leftist, or socialist, or liberal, or whatever label you want to put on it, political leadership, and the world hasn’t collapsed.
No matter what the NDP do, Alberta won’t fall off the earth. Things will continue and the best part is, if you don’t like it, in four years you can make a change.
It’s also going to help that the PCs have left the province in quite good condition.
Skilled management, benign intervention or just dumb luck, no matter how you spin it, there are many positives about the state of the province after 44 years of Tory rule.
That actually makes the job easier for the NDP. They don’t have to fix a busted economy that’s at the whim of a volatile commodity. They just have to tinker at the edges and hope the price of oil improves.
The tinkering should generate enough revenue in the short-to medium term, and even if the direst prediction of the most conservative commentator comes true, it’s not going to bite hard within four years.
The election of a centre-left government is a sign of the times and like time, there’s nothing we can do to hold it off. All we can do is go with it and make the best of it.
