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Jim Prentice elected new Tory leader

Alberta has a new premier. On Sept. 6, Jim Prentice was elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta to replace Alison Redford, who resigned the post in March. Dave Hancock filled the void on an interim basis until Saturday’s vote.
Former Conservative MP Jim Prentice (in blue) is the new Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta leader and Alberta’s new premier following the party’s leadership vote over
Former Conservative MP Jim Prentice (in blue) is the new Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta leader and Alberta’s new premier following the party’s leadership vote over the weekend, where he garnered 76.8 per cent of the vote. He will be sworn in within the next few weeks.

Alberta has a new premier.

On Sept. 6, Jim Prentice was elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta to replace Alison Redford, who resigned the post in March. Dave Hancock filled the void on an interim basis until Saturday’s vote.

He will be sworn in as Alberta’s 16th premier in the coming weeks. In addition, he still needs to be elected to a seat in the legislature.

Prentice received 17,963 votes far outpacing fellow leadership contenders Ric McIver (2,741 votes) and Thomas Lukaszuk (2,681 votes).

Prentice’s total represents 76.8 per cent of the 23,385 votes cast.

For Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock MLA Maureen Kubinec, who publicly supported Prentice’s bid for the leadership, Saturday was a good day.

She was at Prentice’s headquarters when the results were announced.

“I was very pleased with the result,” she said. “It was such a decisive message that he was given so many votes.”

Kubinec said while she respects the work McIver and Lukaszuk have done, she said it’s what she saw in Prentice that led her to throw her support behind him.

“Jim’s reputation for integrity is one of the things that really caught my interest and I want to support that kind of integrity,” she said. “He’s the fellow we need in Alberta at this time to lead our government.”

With Prentice as leader, she said she expects all government MLAs to follow the strict guidelines for financial transparency that she adheres to — she has made it so anyone at any time can see how much she has spent on such things as gas and taxis.

“I expect all of us, ministers and everyone, the whole government, needs to be held to that same scrutiny and that we have that type of transparency and honesty,” she said, adding MLAs need to be mindful they’re spending public dollars.

The vote to select Prentice as the new Tory leader, and by default the new premier of Alberta, was not without its problems.

The turnout was less than half the number of people who voted in the last leadership vote in 2011, and much of the drop was chalked up to the new electronic voting system.

Party members needed to have on hand their membership number and a PIN, but many were unable to get their PIN before the vote and simply gave up trying.

“It was a real frustration,” Kubinec said, explaining she had heard from many people who wanted to vote but simply couldn’t.

However, she said she doesn’t think the problems had much of an effect on the end result.

“I think because all the candidates had the same issues, I don’t think it would have changed the percentage,” she said. “It would only have changed the number of ballots cast.”

Nonetheless, it was what sometimes happens when introducing a new technology to how things are done, she said.

“I’m upset by it, but it’s part of the process of moving forward.”

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