Local MLA Doug Horner will return to his post as deputy premier, premier-designate Alison Redford announced yesterday.
Redford also announced she will be sworn in on Friday and will announce her new cabinet next Wednesday. She also reversed her previous position and said the legislature would have a fall session. Redford made the announcements following a caucus meeting at Government House on Tuesday morning.
The about-to-be premier said after the meeting with her caucus she sees they are ready to dive in.
"I believe it was important for me to be able to talk to my caucus to make sure we were ready to proceed and I believe that we are."
Redford will be sworn in as the province's first female premier at the legislature Friday at 11 a.m. She has already said the province will go to the polls sometime in the next 12 months, but ruled out any election this fall.
Horner, who served as Ed Stelmach's deputy premier prior to entering the Progressive Conservative leadership race, said Redford has a different vision for the role.
"It is different; it is going to be different from what Alison and I have talked about. There are going to be some different roles there."
There was no announcement about cabinet positions Tuesday. Horner said he would serve in any capacity he is asked to and admitted that it would be unusual for the deputy premier not to have a cabinet post.
"I will leave that up to the premier and the announcements that will come out in the next week or so," he said. "I am interested to serve in whatever capacity my premier asks me to serve."
Horner said the caucus room was electric and that they clearly had full-throated support for Redford.
Redford was finally announced as the victor early Sunday morning as the new Progressive Conservative leader, edging out Gary Mar by about 1,600 votes. On Sunday morning, St. Albert MLA Ken Allred said Redford's victory surprised him.
"I don't think she has made any mistakes, but I am really surprised that she is able to come from behind."
Allred added he was concerned Redford would give an opening to the Wildrose party on the electoral landscape.
"Even after the first ballot there was a real shift to the left of the party and that surprises me and I guess it concerns me a little bit — it certainly gives the Wildrose a larger field."
Following the caucus meeting, Allred said he had taken the time to better understand Redford's policies and he has a better comprehension of where she wants to take the province.
"In looking a little more closely at some of the things, the fiscal conservatism is still there. I wasn't aware of that on Saturday. I hadn't followed her platform that well."
Redford had little caucus support in the leadership race, but Allred said none of that matters now.
"With any election you are strong behind a certain candidate and obviously you are disappointed when your candidate doesn't win, but after the election is over you move on and get behind the new candidate."
On the issue of the Wildrose, Allred said he is no longer certain about his predictions from Sunday morning.
"Only time will tell … she is such a dynamic person that it will be very interesting when we get into a debate between her and Danielle Smith."
He said he was also very impressed with the energy Redford had exhibited, jumping right into the job.
Allred, 70, said he hasn't decided if he will stick with the party through to the next election and will soon make that choice.
"I will [make the decision] fairly shortly. We will probably have a nomination meeting in the next couple of months."
Votes cast
In Saturday's contest, Redford took 37,104 votes to Gary Mar's 35,491. Redford only won after Horner's second choices were counted.
The first place choices gave Mar 33,233, Redford 28,993 and Horner had 15,950.
All of the local ballots broke strongly for Horner in the race.
His home riding, Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert gave him 845 votes with Redford far behind at 320 and Mar with 143. In the St. Albert constituency, Horner had 401 votes, followed by Redford at 387 and Mar at 210.
Horner also took Athabasca-Redwater with 897 votes, followed by Redford again at 290 and Mar at 139. Speaker Ken Kowalski's riding Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock also was Horner country with 902 votes, 253 for Redford and 111 for Mar.
