Brown says he felt winds shifting during race
Neil Brown was ready to pack his bags.
Like many fellow Tories, the two-term incumbent from Calgary Mackay-nose Hill watched his party slip further behind the Wildrose in early polling numbers. The north-central city riding had already changed its boundaries since the last provincial election.
Brown figured a new MLA may be next.
“Twoweeks ago I thought we were really sucking air,” Brown said. “The polls were telling us we were sixteen points behind. “It was monstrous.” Slowly, he started feeling the shift.
“In the last week I think a lot of the undecided people have come over to us,” he said. “I think they’ve given the opposition a better look to see what they stand for.”
On Monday, Brown took an early lead and didn’t look back. The former lawyer held a sizable lead on Wildrose candidate Roy Alexander at press time.
“It’s a shocker,” Alexander told the Herald as polling numbers rolled in. He attributed the loss to a “culture built-up” across the province.
Both front-runners complimented their opposition for running a clean race.
Meanwhile, the battle for third place was neck-and-neck between Liberal Don Thompson and New Democrat Anne Wilson. Alberta Party candidate Jason Webster was clearly behind in fifth place.
Despite winning, Brown thinks there’s still room for improvement. During his time in the Legislature, he called for an independent body to determine MLA pay and set pay and benefits for cabinet members.
“I think the PC party has got some housekeeping to do,” he said earlier Monday. “We have to take a hard look at some of the things done in the past — some of the mistakes.”
“With Ralph Klein as premier, you only got paid for committees if you actually attended the committee.”