If Alison Redford thought she had a fight on her hands to win the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party, wait until she has a long, hard look at the battles that face her now. The first female premier in Alberta’s history heads up a party fractured partly by left versus right, age versus youth and the status quo versus change.
And Redford, who went into the race with virtually no caucus support and then criticized her own party and its stagnant thinking during the campaign, hasn’t done anything since her victory to help heal the splits.
It’s often said one of the worst things a new leader can do is let power go to his or her head. Redford’s statements in the days following her victory leaves one wondering if that has already happened. Yes, it is great she says she will follow through on her promises to immediately restore $107 million in education funding, call for a full inquiry into allegations of doctor intimidation and queue-jumping in the health-care system, and review MLA pay and perks. However, those moves go directly against the wishes of the caucus.
There’s an old sports adage: if you rub a loser’s face in the mud (which she appears to be doing), be damn sure you don’t slip and end up in that same mud.
There are also questions about Redford’s take-charge, bull-in-a-china-shop leadership style. It appears she doesn’t have much time for the establishment (a la Ralph Klein) and is pressing to fulfil her election promises despite not having a mandate to do so from Albertans.
Saying she’ll restore the education funding cut within 10 days means she plans to do it no matter what. Where, one wonders, does the money come from? Cuts in other areas? And if she doesn’t find the funding in a week, what does that do to her credibility? Her immediate free spending does nothing to appease the right wing side of her party and may be creating an even larger chasm. That thought would certainly put smiles on the faces of the other party leaders: Danielle Smith of the Wildrose, Liberal Raj Sherman and ND Brian Mason.
Redford’s victory should have been the perfect solution to any Conservative problems in the near future. She’s a young (by political standards) 46-year-old woman full of new ideas, and she’s extremely intelligent, well travelled, and probably the most comfortable and well-spoken Alberta party leader since Peter Lougheed.
Before any of that matters, however, she first has to deal with her own party. And, frankly, she hasn’t exactly been extending any olive branches. Considering how narrow her victory was over Gary Mar, one would think that might be a wise first step. Many think it was Tories of convenience who produced the win: teachers and health-care workers, and some card-carrying Liberals and NDs, who paid their $5 to vote just to ensure Mar and the old guard didn’t win. It doesn’t mean they’ll be voting Tory come election time.
As well, the low turnout of about 75,000 voters – about half of the number from 2006 – leaves the Conservatives wondering where their supporters have gone. Ask Smith and she’ll tell them – to her Wildrose party.
Change does not come often in this province. In the 106 years Alberta has been a province only four parties have ruled and the shortest reign was 14 years, the United Farmers, 1921-1935. The Conservatives have been in control for 40 years and the election of Redford as their new leader should have ensured a smooth continuation of that rule. Question now is: after her criticisms of the party and her maverick stance on education, health care and pay, how can she possibly unite the Tories? Did she win the battle but not the war?
