About a year ago, most Alberta politicos were waking up and asking themselves "did that REALLY happen?"
Today marks the one year anniversary of Premier Stelmach's PC Leadership victory.
There are a plethora of stories looking back to that night and the year that has passed since. The Edmonton Journal seems to have done the best job with items here, here, and here.
The story in the Journal is pretty good, despite its torqued headline (perhaps Graham Thomson is looking after that these days). Some groups are skeptical and unhappy, of course (the opposition, the political academia, Craig Chandler, etc), but I think that a lot has been accomplished in this first year. Judging from the latest polling info, it appears that Albertans are also coming to appreciate the new style of leadership.
For my own reflection, I looked back at some old blog posts from the tail-end of the race.
My thoughts on the day-to-day issues that come up in Alberta are fairly well-documented here, so I won't bother rehashing them.
But if you ask me how I feel about it all now that a year has gone by, I think i'd sum it best by sharing the closing words of my post from December 4, 2006:
I have a Premier whose hand I have proudly shaken, whose character I admire, whose party I am absolutely and unequivocally proud to be a part of, and whom I will gladly work tirelessly to re-elect.
Folks, you bet i'm glad I have a Premier.
His name is Ed.
Alberta Tories had three choices on the final ballot.
ReplyDelete1. A Conservative
2. A Moderate
3. An Incompetent
It's quite obvious which one came out on top.
For my part, I will take the $200 I donate yearly to the Provincial PC's and send it to the Federal Conservatives.
Blake, can you really say that Ed was the right choice?
Would Jim Dinning have let the Chandler episode run its course the same way Ed did?
Would Jim Dinning hire Tom Olsen, a man who spent the last year being a pain in the ass for half the caucus, as his media handler?
Would Dinning have alienated many rural voters with the EUB scandal and then defended it?
Would Jim Dinning piss of the entire oil patch with the worst managed public relations campaign that the Royalty Review turned out to be?
Now a question I hope you give a simple yes or no to:
If you had the chance to vote for a leadership review today - would you take it?
I think Anon @ 8:51 sums up my feelings pretty well.
ReplyDeleteI'm dissapointed that Dinning lost, of course, but i've gotten over it. Would he have handled some of the things that tripped Eddie up differently? Maybe. But you can be sure other difficulties would have taken their place... no new leader gets everything right OR a free ride.
To answer the last question about whether or not i'd vote for a leadership review if given the opportunity today, my answer is no.
Regardless of your feelings on Stelmach. Everyone should breathe a sigh of relief that Ted Morton didn't win.
ReplyDeleteAnd frankly, Tom Olsen has all the personality and communication skills that the premier sadly lacks. It's probably why Olsen was hired.