Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Alberta Politics Just Got Interesting

First Dave Taylor moves to sit as an Alberta Party MLA, and then Stelmach steps down.

I'm not sure what to make of all this just now, but things definitely just got interesting.

If I had to make a guess, I'd say that the Alberta Party is well positioned to fill a void in Alberta's politics and Dave Taylor may be just the right guy to help them become a visible part of the process.

As for Stelmach's departure, I think it tells us that the PC party is not a united monolith at all. There's too many signs that suggest he was pushed out - and likely as not pushed out by the extremist right who are beginning to fear that the Wildrose Alliance is eating their base of support up.

With an election likely in the next year or so, 2011 should be very interesting with the PCs trying to portray themselves as "renewed" and two new parties competing for the votes of voters long disaffected.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The ConservaTories have been split between hard-right and moderate "red" tories since about when Ralph left, and Wildrose and the Alberta Party are the logical extension of that. What the (P?)Cs must do now is either find a strong leader who can consolidate or keep in line both halves (Ed's main weakness is actually that he was unable to do the latter) or else lurch to one direction or the other. And they fear the right more.

There is a persistent rumour that Ted Morton is considering switching ridings and running in Okotoks-High River against Danielle Smith. He's also seen as a strong contender for the (P?)C leadership. So the decision for someone else to run in that riding continues to get more interesting and more imposing. (But there is an interested party)

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