More than thorns

Inexperienced Wildrose will need discipline to grow

At least one political scientist suggested Tuesday that Danielle Smith’s Wildrose Party will not be an effective opposition due to its inexperience. We beg to differ.

Although two of the party’s four incumbent MLAS were defeated in Monday’s election — leaving Heather Forsyth in Calgary-fish Creek and Rob Anderson in Airdrie as the only party members with legislative experience — the Wildrose showed in the last sitting that it was tenacious, even without Danielle Smith on the floor. Having won her seat Monday, Smith will be able to demonstrate that she is quick of mind and sharp of tongue.

With 17 MLAS, Wildrose will form the official Opposition in the assembly. The party will be no pushover. It was the party that blew the whistle on the Hector Goudreau letter, illegal campaign donations, and other sins of the ruling Tories. Wildrose, however, faces several challenges.

With the exception of Forsyth and newcomer Jeff Wilson in Calgary-shaw, the Wildrose caucus is almost entirely made up of MLAS from rural southern constituencies. Traditionally, official Opposition status in Alberta has come from urban-based Liberals and New Democrats. A large caucus of rural MLAS may skew the Wildrose’s focus in a province where a majority of the population lives in the metropolitan centres of Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer and Lethbridge, which are all firmly in Tory hands.

If Wildrose is to grow, it will likely need to ameliorate some of its policies. For a lesson, it could look east to the Saskatchewan Party of Brad Wall.

After the Saskatchewan Party lost a 2003 campaign that it was expected to take, the conservative Wall undertook a review of party policies on becoming leader in 2004. The following year, a more moderate policy platform emerged at the Saskatchewan Party’s annual convention. By 2007, with three years in Opposition, Wall’s party robbed 10 seats from the NDP and formed government.

Wisely, Smith was already showing some leadership strength on Tuesday, saying, “We have some soulsearching to do as a party. Our members have now seen that some of our policies were rejected by Albertans, quite frankly. We will be revisiting some of those. You can’t run a government if you don’t get sanction from the people.”

It will be critical for Smith to build a cohesive official Opposition. If the experience in Saskatchewan is any indication, this may take time and a willingness to be more palatable to voters.

An upcoming spring sitting of the legislature is just around the corner. It will see a total of 26 MLAS on the opposition benches, including five Liberals and four NDP, giving Alberta its largest opposition since 1993.

A healthy parliamentary democracy demands that it functions well.