Backlash in southern ridings takes toll on Tories
Years of Tory dominance in southern Alberta’s rural ridings took a serious hit on Monday with a strong showing by the Wildrose party.
Traditionally the backbone of Progressive Conservative support — all the rural seats in southern Alberta went PC in 2008 — the Wildrose party made a breakthrough on Monday from Red Deer south to the U.S. border.
The races in rural southern Alberta were between the two conservative parties, with tight races throughout — even for the highest profile candidate, Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith, in her riding of Highwood.
It was the her first election win for the former journalist and small business advocate since she became a Calgary Board of Education trustee.
Her biggest competition was from Progressive Conservative John Barlow, a journalist, who lost by a slim margin.
“It’s always a battle. I think people who were voting for Danielle were thinking they were voting for the next premier,” said Barlow on Monday night. “That obviously didn’t transpire. You’re obviously climbing a big hill, but we did everything we possibly could.”
Some longtime Tories in other ridings were in for close fights, like Ty Lund, who was seeking his seventh term in office representing the Rocky Mountain House region.
As of press time, the fivetime cabinet minister was losing to the Wildrose’s Joe Anglin, former leader of the Alberta Evergreen party.
Neither returned calls from the Herald.
The Wildrose garnered a lot of its support with angry landowners who are upset with perceived property rights infringements from the governing PCS for two proposed electricity transmission lines.
“We do appeal to the rural people who have felt kind of hard done by,” said George Bikman, a newly elected Wildrose MLA for CardstonTaber.
“For year, rural people have felt disenfranchised, like there was no conservative side to the progressive party. So, they’ve obviously let their feelings be known,” Bikman said.
Three-time cabinet minister Luke Ouellette, who has represented Innisfail-sylvan Lake since 2001, faced political rookie Kerry Towle of the Wildrose in a race too close to call.
In other ridings, Canmore Mayor and PC candidate Ron Casey made the jump to provincial politics in the Banff-cochrane riding, beating Wildrose Tom Copithorne.