Alison Redford won the race for the Progressive Conservative leadership and will be the next premier of Alberta.
Redford's campaign was a call for change in the party and in government and she promised action in her victory speech.
"Today Alberta voted for change, change that means teachers will be returning to classrooms, change that means better healthcare for all Albertans," she said. "Make no mistake, we are going to do things differently."
"I believe Alberta is the best place in the world to live and we can make it better," she added.
It was 1:30 a.m. Sunday before the votes were announced to a weary crowd of party faithful at the Edmonton Expo Centre on the Northlands grounds. In the final tally, Redford had 37,104 votes to Gary Mar's 35,491, enough to claim the victory.
The vote was decided by a preferential voting system that took effect because no candidate earned the required 50 per cent plus one on the initial ballot. The system allows voters to mark a second choice if their first choice isn't elected. The format saw third place candidate Doug Horner dropped from the race. The second choices of his supporters brought in big numbers for Redford.
After the first place choices were counted, Mar had 33,233, Redford had 28,993 and Horner had 15,950.
When it was all over, Mar said he respected the result.
"The people of Alberta have made their wishes known and I respect their decisions," he said.
Horner also applauded the victor and called for party unity.
"This province has a tremendous future and now we have a tremendous leader," he said.
Redford victory opens door for Wildrose, Allred
Redford has pledged to restore $100 million in funding to education that school boards have asked for and also indicated that her first piece of legislation will be a new education act.
Redford campaigned on a plan to allow nurses and nurse practitioners to bill the province directly for providing healthcare services. This change was meant to pave the way for what she called family care clinics, facilities open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. She said previously she would like to open the first of those in her first six months in office.
St. Albert MLA Ken Allred agreed that Redford ran an excellent campaign but said he was still surprised she was able to overcome the odds.
"I don't think she has made any mistakes, but I am really surprised that she was able to come from behind," he said.
Allred believes the victory shows a shift in party thinking that could pose a problem in the next election.
"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," he said.
Mar appeared impossible to catch after the first ballot on Sept. 17, finishing with 24,195 votes or 41 per cent of votes cast. Within days he followed that up with endorsements from all three of the defeated candidates — Ted Morton, Rick Orman and Doug Griffiths.
At the time Redford was some distance behind with 11,127 votes, or approximately 19 per cent, and Horner took 8,635 ballots or 15 per cent of the vote.
Horner third
Even before the second ballot numbers were final, Horner accepted he would not be premier.
"We are done," he freely admitted. "I am so proud of the team that we have got, we thought it would be a little better than this, but it is what it is."
Horner said Redford ran a skillful campaign and deserved the victory.
"She got her message out and that is what happens in a campaign and I have to accept that and move on."
Horner drew big support from several local ridings, including his home riding of Spruce Grove –Sturgeon-St. Albert. He received 845 votes there, to Redford's 320 and Mar's143. In the St. Albert constituency, Horner took got 401 votes, followed by Redford' 387 and Mar's 210. Mar had the support of Allred, who previously supported Ted Morton.
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 was also Horner country. Horner earned 902 votes, Redford got 253 and Mar got 111.
That support was not able to counter a weak showing in the major cities, Edmonton and especially Calgary.
