After a leadership race that lasted several weeks, the votes were in Saturday evening – with candidate Jim Prentice chosen as the Progressive Conservative party’s new leader, and Alberta’s premier designate.
Party officials said a total of more than 23,000 votes were cast by PC members over Friday and Saturday – Prentice’s win came with 76 percent of the vote, with 12 percent for Ric McIver, and finally 11.5 percent for Thomas Lukaszuk.
The votes broke down as follows: Out of a total 23,386 votes – Prentice had 17,963 votes, McIver garnered 2,742 votes, with 2,681 counted for Lukaszuk.
Shortly after the results were announced, the province’s new premier designate took the stage at the Edmonton Expo Centre – he thanked Premier Dave Hancock, and his family.
“This represents a new beginning for Alberta,” Prentice said. “Today we begin the work of restoring the trust of Albertans.”
Prentice was quick to separate himself from former premier Alison Redford, and the scandals connected to her time as premier, saying he “wasn’t at the table when those decisions were made, but I am at the table now.”
Congratulations quickly came in from the leaders of the opposition parties Saturday evening.
Official Opposition Leader Danielle Smith released a statement congratulating Prentice on his win.
“Mr. Prentice has a tremendous road ahead of him in order to rebuild trust with Albertans and get a grip on a government that has spiraled out of control,” Smith said in her statement. “Albertans will now look to him to start repairing the government’s damaged reputation and making progress on the many challenges we face as a province.”
NDP Leader Brian Mason also released a statement in the wake of Prentice’s victory. He congratulated the new leader on his win, but criticized the PC Party’s recent track record.
“The Progressive Conservatives have voted in a new leader, but the party itself cannot change its political stripes,” Mason said in his statement. “This government has broken dozens of promises to Albertans, the promises it was elected on. The PC Party is broken and after 43 years in power, the PC dynasty is crumbling.”
Liberal Leader Raj Sherman also congratulated Prentice in a statement.
“This has been one of the most bitter and divisive leadership races in recent years, which made all but the most die-hard PC supporters realize that this old, tired party is quite simply out of ideas, out of touch with the needs and sensibilities of modern Albertans and outright obsessed with clinging to power at all costs,” Sherman said.
Prentice, a former Member of Parliament in Calgary was considered the front-runner throughout the race – with public support of almost all of the PC caucus, and raising $1.8 million in donations.
Candidates Lukaszuk and McIver raised about $300,000 and $417,000 respectively.
It’s expected Prentice will be sworn in as premier soon – but he also needs to become an MLA.
During his speech, he said he would seek a seat in the Legislature “in short order”, and in a scrum following his speech, Prentice would not say when or where he will run.
A general election is expected in 2016, a vote Prentice is looking forward to.
“Eventually, there will be a general election, and we will ask Albertans to judge the new Progressive Conservative Party.”
Reaction to low voter turnout
For a number of party members, the process of voting through the new online and phone voting system proved to be frustrating.
It didn’t take long for members to start venting frustrations over snags they encountered while trying to use the online system, and for delays they ran into when trying to contact the party for assistance.
In the end, more than 23,000 members cast a ballot – a number considerably lower than the 60,000 votes cast on the first ballot the last time the party elected a leader.
“I think the low turnout tonight is quite telling,” NDP MLA Deron Bilous said.
“It’s just the continuing saga of the fact that this party is plagued with problems.”
Prentice’s two challengers told CTV News the next challenge for the new leader is a major one, to bring the party back from the controversies that forced former premier Alison Redford to step down.
“Now Mr. Prentice is going to have to make some decisions to re-affirm the sentiments in all Albertans,” Lukaszuk said.
“We all have to work together as a team, those in cabinet,” McIver said. “To serve the 4.1 million people I’ve been calling my bosses my whole live.”
Political analyst Marc Henry agrees.
“Now, Jim Prentice has to be the one to try and bring back some degree of confidence in the public’s mind,” Henry said, going on to say he believes the PCs can bounce back.
“It’s a heck of a lot of work for Prentice to do. It has to be done right, but they can recover from this.”
With files from Bill Fortier, Serena Mah and The Canadian Press
