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Opposition Leaders React to PC Support for Stelmach
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This weekend's Progressive Conservative Annual General Meeting in Red Deer was widely touted as the fight of Premier Ed Stelmach's political life.
Now that the fight is firmly behind him -- and unequivocally won -- Alberta's opposition leaders are beginning to weigh in.
NDP leader Brian Mason previously predicted that Stelmach would emerge triumphant from the vote on his leadership.
Liberal leader David Swann was much less diplomatic. Afterward, he blasted the Tories as having tolerated the "incompetent" leadership of Ed Stelmach.
"It suggests that the Tories have voted for the end of the old Progressive Conservative party and are embracing the Stelmach Tory party," Swann insisted. "The centrists, the Red Tories ... are not going to be as well recognized within that party."
Which may lead one to wonder how firmly Dr Swann has his finger on the pulse on Albertan politics.
The troubles facing Stelmach -- the alleged (and in the wake of the overwhelming support his party, one begins to question the veracity of those allegations) dissent within his own party and the to-date bordering-on-meteoric rise of the Wildrose Alliance -- are allegedly predicated on Stelmach not being conservative enough, and on suggestions that Stelmach has conceded too much to the centrists and Red Tories in his party.
Danielle Smith, who previously noted that the results of the vote on Stelmach's leadership would change nothing for the Wildrose Alliance, also shared Swann's opinion that Stelmach's troubles were the result of mismanagement of key issues. But while Swann blamed Stelmach for threatening public healthcare in the province by promising to allow more private clinics in the province, Smith cited Stelmach's handling of the energy economy.
"Albertans are upset with this government for destroying investor confidence in our energy industry, for mishandling our health care system and for taking us back into deficits," Smith said.
It will be interesting to see if the Tories' endorsement of Ed Stelmach will do anything to swing the polls back in his party's favour. But for now, not only do Stelmach's opponents know who they'll be facing in the next election, but Albertans also know their game plan.
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