Jim Prentice’s visit to the Gazette last week was a telling one. The frontrunner in the provincial Tory leadership race has a quiet self-confidence about him. He is a man of vision, experience and practicality.
But are these attributes enough? According to a recent Leger poll, it doesn’t matter who wins the Tory leadership race – the Wildrose would form the next government if a vote were held today.
Unfortunately for Smith, Prentice said if he wins, the provincial election will take place in 2016, as scheduled. It gives Prentice two solid years to heal the bruises on the battered Tory party.
Can one man turn the party’s fortunes around? The undertaking is colossal. The Tories did just about everything in their power to sour Albertans under Alison Redford’s leadership, from alienating public sector unions, to running a provincial deficit while telling Albertans there’s a budget surplus, to paying out huge severance packages to senior civil servants, to rattling the sabre at the Alberta Teachers’ Association with the Task Force for Teaching Excellence, to spending transgressions … the list goes on.
The problems plaguing the PCs are mind-numbing, and Prentice can’t solve them all by himself. He told the Gazette he thinks the current cabinet is too big at 17 members. If he becomes leader, rearranging and downsizing cabinet will be one of his first priorities in an attempt to put a fresh face on the government.
What will that mean for St. Albert’s local MLAs? First off, Education Minister Jeff Johnson, who is the MLA for Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater, will almost certainly be shuffled into another post. Johnson, while well-intending, has lost his ability to guide Alberta through needed educational change. Suffering from a non-confidence vote by the powerful ATA, Johnson no longer possesses the credibility to spearhead innovation in Alberta’s education system.
Doug Horner, MLA for Spruce Grove-St. Albert, will also likely be moved from the Finance portfolio. Try as he might to defend Alberta’s new three-part reporting process, which separates capital, operations and savings budgets, Horner and the government have been heavily criticized for telling Albertans the operating budget is in surplus, but the capital budget is running a huge deficit.
Perhaps the fortunes of St. Albert MLA Stephen Khan are on the rise. Khan showed up at the Gazette with Prentice, and he’s a solid backer of the frontrunner. Initially in Redford’s cabinet, the first-term MLA now has the experience and savvy to play a larger role.
Prentice is going to have to surround himself with some fresh faces who share his vision of Alberta if he hopes to turn the party’s fortunes around. Who he puts around the cabinet table may be the most important decision he makes.
