| Does anyone out there know when the next provincial election will be called? Amiable Ed probably knows, but he’s not telling. Besides, Stelmach has yet to become a household word, especially in Calgary, so it’s possible no one will notice when he does call it.Regardless, he needs to call it soon. Our new premier was elected by a majority of party members but not by the majority of eligible voters in the province. The longer he goes without an election, the less legitimate he and his government become. Ralph Klein waited only seven months after he was elected leader in 1992.
Of course, Ralph had already made a name for himself, especially in Calgary. He’d already been mayor for a decade when he entered provincial politics. People knew his name, associated him with the Winter Olympics, and all sorts of boosterism.
Ed Stelmach just doesn’t have that — or anything close to it — going for him as far as most Calgarians are concerned. Does this mean the Tories will find themselves in a battle to retain Calgary seats come the next election? Will the Ralph vacuum make it easier for Liberals or NDs to get elected?
Nothing is a given in politics — things can change from one hour to the next. Who knows how Ed is going to perform in the Legislature? And even if he does perform poorly, will that be enough to doom his larger efforts? Most Albertans aren’t fixated on the goings-on in the Leg. After all, Ralph constantly referred to "dome disease," as though the process of having our elected representatives gathered there to openly debate and pass laws is but a cancer on society.
Last week’s Throne Speech in which municipalities were promised billions of dollars seemed to leave Mayor Bronconnier ecstatic. That will give the Stelmach government some positive profile in Calgary. But come election time, will the Tory machine be enthusiastic about organizing for Ed? Or was it really Ralph’s appeal that greased the machinery, made it run so smoothly?
Not surprisingly, the Liberals and the NDs see Calgary as ripe for the picking. But a lot of things have to happen if their dreams are to come to fruition. For starters, they have to have high profile candidates in place – people who are already well-known to Calgarians, candidates who have a track record of public service and achievement. A while back I heard a rumour that Joe Ceci was going to run for the Liberals. I have no idea if this is true, but Ceci is certainly the calibre of candidate the Liberals need. Julie Hrdlicka, who is running for the NDs in Calgary Fort, has been building a strong base of support with her activism and community work for years now. She intends to win. She’s not simply putting her name forward so the party will have a full slate of candidates as is so often the case for the opposition parties.
The Liberals already have some local faces, David Swann, Dave Taylor and Harry Chase, so they are ahead of the NDs in that respect. However, Liberal organizers need to be careful that they don’t usurp the place these three have carved out for themselves in Calgary by imposing a leader-focused campaign on them. The phrase "Team Taft" has popped up lately on Liberal media releases – as in "Team Taft to Hold Calgary Availability Today on P3 Schools." In this particular case Kevin Taft, the Liberal leader, was not available to the media to discuss P3s. Team Taft referred to Calgary MLAs Dave Taylor and Harry Chase. This smacks of the Ralph’s Team propaganda a few years back. It worked for the Tories – Ralph’s team got elected over and over again. But it also diminished the role of the MLAs to mere coattail sitters. It’s one of the main reasons most Calgarians can’t even name local Tory cabinet ministers, let alone ordinary Tory MLAs.
If the Liberals and NDs can get strong candidates, and grease up the party machinery so candidates are well-supported, some of them may have a chance in Calgary. They will have an even better chance if the local Tory machine remains somewhat ambivalent about Honest Ed. After all, most Tories in Calgary (and some Liberals and NDs who bought party cards at the last minute in order to thwart Ted Morton) voted for Jim Dinning. He seems to have disappeared off the map entirely so it will be interesting to see where his supporters place their votes.
The Tory party is still suffering from the fractures inflicted by the leadership race. It doesn’t seem to know if it’s still Ralph’s party, Ed’s party or the party once headed by former premier Peter Lougheed. He’s been speaking out a lot lately and taking the Klein government to task as no other powerful Albertan has dared to do for many years. No doubt a clearer party identity will emerge once the factions have fought it out.
In the meantime, it’s not politics as usual in Alberta. Ralph left and the lid came off. It will be interesting to see if the Tories can put it back on, or if it’s gone forever.
Gillian Steward is publisher of Alberta Views.
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