Redford calls for change as Tory reign continues in Alberta

EDMONTON – Alberta’s Progessive Conservatives have survived the biggest scare of their four decades in power and will head up a 12^th consecutive majority government.

The win also makes Alison Redford the province’s first elected female premier.

The victory flew in the face of polls that had Redford’s party trailing the Wildrose for much of the campaign.

However, the Tories surged ahead by a large margin in Calgary and in rural constituencies, both of which were thought to be swinging to the Wildrose.

In her acceptance speech, Redford stressed that her government will not rest on it’s laurels.

“Albertans want change. They want positive change and they want change that moves Alberta forward. You know what I know, change is difficult and we don’t always get it right, but I’ll tell you this Progressive Conservative party has introduced change and has promised change and will make change in this province,” Redford said to cheers from her supporters.

Smith remained upbeat in her concession speech to cheering supporters in High River.

"Tonight we found out that change might take a little longer than we thought," said Smith.

"We wanted to do better and we expected to do better. Am I surprised? Am I disappointed? Yeah. Am I discouraged? Not a chance.

"Albertans have decided that Wildrose might need some time to establish ourselves, and I relish the opportunity."

The majority also came at the expense of Raj Sherman’s Liberal party which saw its support collapse and its percentage of the popular vote in the single digits.

Just after the majority was declared Raj Sherman spoke to his supporters in Edmonton.

“Though we wish we could have won more seats, we can and we should take great pride in the fact that we got people across Alberta talking about our ideas. We have started some very important conversations in the province. Conversations that we will continue,” said Sherman who also congratulated the leaders of the other parties and to the Conservatives for their win.

The win suggested a groundswell push for a strategic vote to block the Wildrose was effective.
As the campaign wound down Liberal supporters were urged by campaign watchers to switch their vote to the PCs to block a Wildrose victory.

The NDP also received some benefit from the strategic vote movement as they doubled their seats to 4.

The Wildrose had alarmed moderates who feared that homophobic and racist comments made by a couple of their candidates would translate into an intolerant government that would move to restrict rights for minorities and women.

Redford did not make an open plea for a strategic vote, but said she could work with the Liberals or NDP in the legislature.

With the win, the Tory dynasty will soon surpass the Nova Scotia Liberals of 1882-1925 (43 years) and the 1943-1985 Ontario PCs (42 years).

The party's previous 11 majorities have been measured in large or larger majorities. The last time they were threatened was by a resurgent Liberal party in 1993. But under new leader Ralph Klein, the Tories took 51 of 83 seats to 32 for the Liberals and the dynasty rolled on.

Redford, who took over as premier six months ago from Ed Stelmach, has some fences to mend.

She ran on her record of spending increases and no taxes, promising millions of dollars to build more schools and family health-care clinics. She also promised to put up an extra $3 billion ver the next two decades to further develop oil ands products and protect the environment while not raising royalties.

The Tories were taken to task for granting themselves the richest salaries for provincial politicians in the country - about $163,000 on average. But it didn't end there. Over the last decade, the party quietly and broadly changed the eligibility rules allowing more than 20 retiring politicians to walk away this year with six-figure golden handshakes.

To top it off, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation reported last month that members of the government's largest legislature committee, mostly Tories, had been receiving $1,000 a month but had not met in over three years.

Redford stopped the bleeding early in the campaign, promising to end the six-figure handouts and ordering her members who sat on the no-meet committee to pay it all back.

With a week to go, polls suggested the Wildrose was headed for a majority. But then Smith's party got hung up in the razor wire of social issues and she had to fight off critics who suggested her party had a hidden agenda.

The criticism firmed up around the issue of conscience rights - allowing civil servants to opt out of doing jobs they morally object to, such as marrying gay couples or prescribing birth control.

When there was a suggestion that her party could use a citizens-initiated referendum to end public funding for abortion, Smith disclosed that she was, in fact, pro-choice and pro-gay marriage.

As the campaign entered its final week, Wildrose candidates entered the spotlight. A year-old blog surfaced from Edmonton candidate Allan Hunsperger suggesting gay people would "suffer the rest of eternity in the lake of fire" if they didn't change their lifestyles. He pulled the comments down and Smith stood by him.

Wildrose Calgary candidate Ron Leech was forced to apologize for suggesting in a radio interview that he had an advantage in his constituency because he is white and could speak for everyone.

Again, Smith stood by her candidate.

Smith herself was shouted down at a leaders forum last week when she questioned the science of climate change.

Environmentalists feared that a Smith government that still didn't believe in climate change would not push hard to clean up toxic emissions from the oil sands.

The Liberals took to calling the election a choice between Tory “bullies" and Wildrose "bigots."

The outcome of the election will not only affect the direction the province takes next, but will also have reverberations across the country.

It’s been a tumultuous 28-day contest that has given Albertans one of the most important and unpredictable campaigns in decades.

Albertans were also asked at the polls to choose who they’d like the prime minister to name to the senate the next time there’s a vacancy.

Three “senators-in-waiting” will be elected from among 13 candidates.

- With files from Linda Hoang, Global News