Conservative delegates gave Premier Ed Stelmach an overwhelming show of support in Red Deer last weekend.

Giving Premier Ed Stelmach a good grade was ultimately the right thing for Alberta Progressive Conservative Party members to do, said a local party member.
“It’s not a good time to change the leadership in this province. Really, it’s going to cause a lot of uncertainty and that’s not good for the province right now,” said Dean Leask, who attended the vote on Saturday. Leask was Highwood MLA George Groeneveld’s campaign manager in the 2008 provincial election.
Stelmach was given a 77 per cent vote of approval by party members in a leadership review at the party’s annual convention in Red Deer on Saturday.
Leask said the party is making the right moves in the wake of the vote with a potential cabinet shuffle appearing in the works and a shift in party policy.
“From the MLAs I’ve talked to, it sounds like they’re going to make more of a shift to the conservative side,” he said. “Whereas, I think they’ve been fairly middle of the road lately.”
Leask said Stelmach has done a good job with some of his current cabinet selections, particularly Agriculture Minister George Groeneveld and Sustainable Resources Minister Ted Morton.
The weekend’s vote is not the first time Stelmach has come out on top in the face of what appeared to be an uphill battle. “Steady Eddie” waged a come-from-behind win in the leadership race to replace former premier Ralph Klein and he led the party to a majority government in the last provincial election after predictions the party would flounder at the polls.
Leask said Stelmach has been able to come from behind to win because of a lack of real opposition.
“With this leadership vote, who are they going to turn to? He’s the guy. I think that weighs into it,” he said.
Keith Brownsey, Mount Royal University political science professor, said the PC party is ultimately no further ahead after the leadership vote.
“What was the result of all the debate over Stelmach’s leadership, was a strong endorsement of it on the weekend,” he said.
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Brownsey said the result was not just a vote of confidence, but it also shows an element of party members sticking with the current leader because of a lack of other options.
“I think there’s a lot of discomfort with his leadership at this time within the party and within the province,” he said. “I don’t think the party can make a choice, they don’t have any choices.”
In spite of the increasing popularity of the Wildrose Alliance, Brownsey said the Conservatives don’t have much to worry about. He said the Liberals pose no threat to the PCs and the Wildrose Alliance would be easy to beat because their policies would not go over with the majority of Albertans.
If the Tories take too large of a shift to the right he said it would be popular with supporters of the Wildrose Alliance, but not as much with the general public.
“You’ve gotta play to the centre and if Stelmach goes too far to the right, he loses that base,” said Brownsey.
Danielle Smith, Wildrose Alliance leader, said the results of the vote were to be expected, but it goes against what she has been hearing from Albertans.
“Albertans are upset with this government for destroying investor confidence in our energy industry, for mishandling our health care system, and for taking us back into deficits,” she said. “Tonight’s decision by the Alberta PCs doesn’t change a single thing that the Wildrose Party will do in the coming months.”
Smith said the party will work to provide an alternative to Stelmach’s Tories.

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