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Alberta Tories in free fall

Poll suggests Stelmach is contaminating Tory brand

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach will appear on television Wednesday night to outline exactly how his Progressive Conservative government will deal with the province’s ballooning deficit and an unwieldy healthcare revamp. It better be good. According to a telephone poll conducted by Calgary consulting firm Return on Insight, Tory support is down to 30 per cent, a hefty drop from the 54 per cent approval rating they enjoyed not long after Stelmach captured the leadership race in late 2006. Worse, almost six out of 10 respondents disapprove of how the premier has steered Alberta over the past year, with a similar number adding that their opinion of the party has diminished over the same period. Numbers like that suggest Stelmach’s unpopularity is seeping into the bones of the venerable PC party, which has been in power since 1971. There’s more, too: the poll also shows the Wildrose Alliance Party nipping at the Conservatives’ heels with 22 per cent support, even though the upstart party has yet to elect a leader and boasts only one MLA.

Calgary Herald

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