- Well, those who would have thought Jim Prentice would be Stephen Harper’s successor should be thankful they didn’t bet any money on the idea.
- No, I’m not going to weep / wail / mourn the so-called “death” of conservatism in Alberta. Conservatism hasn’t “died,” it’s just suffered a long-overdue setback.
- Yes, I wrote “overdue.” Any political party that stays in power for over four decades runs the risk of growing stagnant and complacent. And ideology never confers immunity from voters desiring change.
- Do I expect the Alberta PC Party to go the way of its Saskatchewan counterpart, or the old Social Credit party in BC? I’d say the odds are pretty good that’s going to happen. If Wildrose plays its cards right, it’s a party all ready to fill the shoes of the main voice for Alberta conservatism.
- Some of the punditocracy seem worried that the new premier, Rachel Notley, may follow the example of Bob Rae’s first (and last) NDP government in Ontario. Frankly, she’s got better role models: the Romanow era in Saskatchewan is the most likely model of governance that Alberta’s progressives will strive to emulate, and that’s not a bad one, so far as provincial governments go.
- It would be a mistake — big mistake — to try to see an impact on the federal scene. Jim Prentice was away from federal politics too long for him to be seen as a born-and-bred Harperite in the same way that John Baird, Tony Clement and Jason Kenney are, so the idea of “Alberta will reject Harper” won’t fly. Premier Notley may get a “honeymoon break” from provincial voters, but that’s not really the sort of thing that can help Tom Mulcair.
- Yes, I know, it’s apparently snowing in Edmonton. That’s just the weather. It’s not a divine comment.
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The Phantom Observer 
I agree with nearly all of this, Victor, but I do hope that the election has some relevance to the federal level.
For one thing, it provides a much-needed morale boost to the NDP in terms of their status as the default place to park an anti-Conservative vote. I always felt that Justin Trudeau and his Liberals never really did deserve all the attention the press has continued to shower on them ever since Ignatieff led them to third party status. I think that at least some of Trudeau’s influence is due to maximum sympathetic media coverage. But even though the Liberals are ahead of the NDP federally in the various polls, it is the NDP that has the far larger caucus. I worry most about an NDP-Liberal-Green-Bloc split that allows the Tories to capture another majority. I don’t think that would be good for the country at this stage.
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By the way, nice joke about snow! ;-D
Generally concur with all these. After watching municipal elections as well as reading opinion polls Alberta seems to be shifting more leftwards than other provinces or at least the gap is closing as they have a fairly young and urban population, but still more voted for parties on the right than left. While on the national scene it may be good news in the sense both the NDP and Liberals have a legitimate claim at winning nationally thus splitting the vote in Ontario which will determine the winner, I could see it causing some trouble in Alberta. While Alberta is still a centre-right province, I feel the fact other parties always wrote off the province was part of the reason the Tories always won big never mind Alberta bashing to gain votes in Central Canada was common. I suspect after this the Liberals and NDP will campaign more aggressively in Alberta and also avoid Alberta bashing thus making things a bit more challenging.