It didn’t happen overnight. Inside the unravelling of the longest-serving provincial regime in the history of Confederation
The Oilers’ owner faces a probe over his gift to the Alberta Tories
The Globe and Mail, by means of outstanding spadework, has accounted for the particulars of all of the $430,000 donated to the Alberta Progressive Conservative party in its hour of electoral need by Edmonton Oilers owner and pharmacy magnate Daryl Katz. Actually, David Ebner and Dawn Walton traced the $430,000 and then some—others with close business relationships to Katz, it turns out, contributed to the PC kitty. But even the $430,000 donated this spring, supposedly in the form of a single cheque, represents more than a quarter of the cash raised by the Tories during the 2012 election period. The party managed to raise just $1.6 million—while spending almost $4.7 million protecting its flanks from the upstart Wildrose Party.
The early days of the Alberta election showcase the Wildrose tacticians at their best
The dearth of attack ads in recent Alberta politics is testimony to its one-party nature
The appearance of a coronation undid the front-runner in the race to lead Alberta’s Perpetual Governing Party