Is Alberta’s business community ready for a leadership change? “I think so,” says former premier.
When former Alberta premier Ralph Klein squeezed out a 55.4 per cent approval rating in an internal Progressive Conservative leadership review vote in 2006, it led to his departure from politics. Klein had enjoyed massive popularity in his career, so the poor showing came as something of a surprise. Less so Ed Stelmach, the current premier, who faces the same vote on Nov. 7, during his party’s annual general meeting in Red Deer. Yesterday, Klein repeated his assertion that Stelmach must meet a 70 per cent threshold in the vote. Is Alberta’s business community ready for a leadership change, reporters asked him? “I think so. Enough said.” How must Stelmach be feeling with the vote just around the corner? “I suspect that he’s going through much the same as I went through,” Klein said. “It was uncomfortable.” Meanwhile, one-time Bonnyville Tory MLA Ernie Isley will head to the Progressive Conservative annual general meeting in order to cast a vote for Stelmach. Why? The recent Wildrose Alliance convert believes Danielle Smith, the upstart right-wing party’s new leader, would cream Stelmach. “Unless there’s a significant change in attitude in the Stelmach Conservatives, I will be with the Wildrose,” Isley told the Calgary Herald‘s Renata D’Aliesio.