Tom Bagley

Albertans love to think of themselves as independent-minded mavericks, but this month their political conformity shows its fruit. The Progressive Conservatives have become the longest-governing party in the province’s 102-year history.
    “It just reeks of hypocrisy,” says Keith Brownsey, a political scientist at Mount Royal College. “Whereas the same characters rail against the Liberals federally, they don’t see anything wrong with themselves having been in power for a solid 36 years. You can cut the hypocrisy in the air.”
    The Social Credit party previously held the record, reigning for more than 36 years from 1935 to 1971, when the party was swept out by Peter Lougheed’s Conservatives. The Conservative campaign’s one-word slogan emphasized the need for political change in the province: “Now.”
    As the Conservative dynasty breaks the Social Credit record, talk of political change is far from Tory lips. “If you do what is right for Albertans, there is no reason for change,” says Calgary-McCall MLA Shiraz Shariff. “It’s like a family. You don’t just abandon your parents mid-way, just because you’re tired of being a child for a long period of time. Similairly, in politics, elected people are reflecting what the citizens want them to do. And if they don’t do that, then there’s a price to pay.”
    Shariff says Albertans get changes in government through new MLAs after old ones retire or lose their seats. “There’s a regeneration of people which brings in new ideas, new vision, new blood,” says Shariff. “And that in itself is the change that is healthy.”
    Liberal leader Kevin Taft has a very different perspective. Helming the party that formed Alberta’s first government in 1905, Taft says the new record is an embarrassment to the Conservatives. “The Conservatives are a very tired, old government and I think they know it, and so they are not likely to bring much attention at all to the fact they’ve been there 36 years,” says Taft. “I think it’s very unhealthy.”
    Shariff downplays the Conservative longevity record. “It’s not a milestone in any way, shape or form,” he says. “It’s something that has to be earned on a daily basis, and we can never sit on our laurels.”
    Calgary-Bow MLA Alana Delong agrees that the new record is insignificant. “To me, it doesn’t matter how long the government’s in there,” says Delong. “What matters is that they’re good government.”
    Tom Olsen, spokesman for Premier Ed Stelmach, says the new record wasn’t celebrated in the premier’s office either. “There was not a whole lot of fanfare around it,” Olsen says. “(Stelmach) is less looking at the past and more looking forward.”
    Historically, Alberta’s governing parties have enjoyed repeat majority governments before suddenly being thrown out in favour of a new party. Alberta has never had a minority government, and no party that’s ever lost power in the province has been re-elected.
    Craig Chandler, a Conservative seeking the party nomination for Calgary-Edgmont, recently outlined Albertans’ voting habits on an Internet posting. He wrote: “To those of you who have come to our great land from out of province, you need to remember that you came here to our home and we vote conservative (meaning Social Credit, Alberta Alliance, Wildrose or the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party).
    “You came here to enjoy our economy, our natural beauty and more. This is our home, and if you wish to live here, you must adapt to our rules and our voting patterns, or leave. Conservatism is our culture. Do not destroy what we have created.”
    Brownsey says Chandler’s statements are “stupid and insulting.” “It insults the intelligence of voters in this province and it borders on a type of — and I use these words very carefully — fascism,” he says.
    Stelmach distanced himself from Chandler’s comments, but Taft says Chandler’s rhetoric reflects the party’s mentality of entitlement. “It’s more than a fringe perspective,” says Taft. “There’s that stripe in the Conservative party.”
    As rumours of a fall election spread, Brownsey says the opposition parties are unlikely to unseat the Tories anytime soon even though Conservative support is “declining precipitously.” The Liberals in particular, he says, aren’t capitalizing on the Tories’ low popularity.
    “The opposition is at best inept,” he says. “The New Democrats are very well-organized and they get their message out — but no one listens to them. And the Liberals couldn’t organize a two-car funeral.”