Don’t hold your breath waiting for a change in government

A lack of palatable alternatives gives Alberta’s Tories the edge

I keep looking in Jim Prentice’s infamous mirror, but for the life of me, the only reflection to be seen is some yet- to- be- born grandchild being urged to seize the day and vote for change by electing a new “we’ve seen the light” PC government.

Alberta is a wonderfully strange political beast — unique is an overused word, but it fits when it comes to this province. On Tuesday, we had an election call, announced with all the purpose and revolutionary zeal of a young Fidel back in 1959 Havana. The assembled hordes — mainly media and political hangers- on, to be honest — were in for a treat.

In this auspicious moment, we were told this is the turning point. That we are setting off on a new course, but only if you can give us your trust. If Alberta had real, salt water- lapped beaches, then no doubt Jim Prentice would have conjured up his best Churchillian voice in promising to fight upon them.

Which is a tad ungracious to the current premier. After all, this is a fellow who’s played about as good a political game as imaginable since grabbing the rusty mantle of political power in our Wild Rose Country. He undid the daft Redford follies — imagine a political machine being so arrogant to spit in the face of voters over something as arcane as licence plates — and then did the old shell game with then- Wildrose leader Danielle Smith.

Roll up, roll up. Come into the tent. Now, pretty lady, is it under here? No. OK, well is it under there? No. Darn it. Actually, power’s over here, with me. It never left. Still, thanks for joining us, but I’m afraid that’s it. You lose and you’re done.

Afterwards, everyone was stunned — maybe even Prentice himself. We’d witnessed an up- and- coming opposition with a reasonably charismatic leader emasculate itself. We’re still sifting through that fallout.

Which is why, when the writ dropped this week with a resounding plop, most Albertans simply shrugged and thought “OK, it’s business as usual — another Tory majority.”

And they’ll be right. A recent poll did put the Wildrose, under the new leadership of somebody, as neck- and- neck with the PCs. But that’s a sympathy vote — like a kiss from your sister at Christmas: nice, but nothing to get excited about.

Are we really going to entrust this province to those virtual unknowns still standing after the great betrayal? Not a chance. Then there are the Liberals. A quick throat- clearing and mention of the NEP and the bogeyman Trudeau, and that threat is born with a stake through its midriff.

Nope, it’s left to the good old NDP to provide the only real opposition, and we all know the chance of the wonderfully earnest Rachel Notley being premier is akin to the Oilers making the playoffs.

So what will this latest incarnation of Torydom strive to accomplish as they move closer to a mind- boggling half a century in power? We are going to get off the energy price roller- coaster, we are going to balance the books and put more money away for those rainy days, we are going to be a centre of innovation and a light to environmentalists everywhere. Peter Lougheed couldn’t have said it better 44 years ago. In fact, he probably said it very much the same.

It won’t happen. We’ll keep on making our way with what we dig out of the earth and raise upon it. Sometimes, it will be rosy and sometimes it will look bleak.

Alberta will remain essentially the same, leaving outsiders to wonder how in a functioning democracy the same party can keep power for so long. It’s because, in the end, while we might occasionally flirt with a new partner, we end up dancing with the one who brought us.