Editorial

Weighing the Tory candidates

Who do we want for Alberta’s next premier?
It’s a question that should be answered in a general election. But, unfortunately, it seems the natural governing party of this province is the Progressive Conservative one. Therefore, the real election is the one of the party leadership, which is going on right now.
This could be dead wrong. The next general election could be the one where Albertans rise up and replace the Tories with some other party. It’s happed before, but in times of prosperity it seems unlikely.
So anyone who wants a hand in electing the next premier of Alberta should pay five dollars and become a PC Party member. That’s the only way you can vote and that’s why some people who never vote Tory are becoming members. This is Alberta. If you want to make a difference, you have to vote for the party leadership.
There are eight candidates. Which of them would be best for the north?
The Leader asked that question of a few local municipal councillors. Three said Lyle Oberg was probably the best candidate for the north, with Ft. Saskatchewan MLA Ed Stelmach getting a few good comments as well.
One put Jim Dinning – the apparent front-runner – dead last on the list of preference.
Oberg and former Attorney General Dave Hancock both appear to be paying special attention to the north. Whatever the other six have been doing, they haven’t held any public meetings in Slave Lake to which the press has been invited. This doesn’t disqualify them of course – Alberta is a big place with a lot of communities to visit. But on the other hand, Slave Lake is the third or fourth largest municipality in the north (depending on what you call ‘north’). Any serious provincial contender should visit the community at least once in a campaign.
Town councillors have seen and heard all the candidates at least once – at the recent Alberta Urban Municipalities Association meeting. Two who saw the whole group twice in the past couple of weeks say that Dinning – the former cabinet minister who has been out of politics since 1997 – seemed cocky and apparently without any new ideas. One went as far as to predict that it would come down to Stelmach and Oberg in a run-off vote. Another likes Oberg’s ideas, but doesn’t like the man very much, seeing him as too concerned about control.
Another likes Gary McPherson very much, but figures he can’t win, and so prefers Oberg among the others.
So if Oberg or Stelmach really are the best men for the north, what are their chances? And if Dinning is ‘Mr. Status Quo’, why does he have all that support from other MLAs?
There’s more to the story, obviously. Dinning apparently has the support of the oil industry, for what that’s worth.
All we have to go on for now, is that from the perspective of a few northern municipal politicians, Oberg (or maybe Stelmach) is the best man for the job.