David Hanson will be the new Wildrose MLA for the riding following the May 5 election, making up the Official Opposition to Alberta's NDP majority government.
David Hanson will be the new Wildrose MLA for the riding following the May 5 election, making up the Official Opposition to Alberta's NDP majority government.
Alberta's NDP carried its orange crush momentum throughout the day as was predicted in the polls, and with a predicted 54 seat majority, the party managed to unseat the 44-year-old PC government.
"I never thought I'd see that in my lifetime," said Hanson. However, he said from his experience talking to constituents, people were mad at the Progressive Conservative government and it showed in the win. He said he would carry on with the Wildrose platform of opposing tax increases and working on curbing spending "to get the province back on its feet."
The mood at the Wildrose celebration party was upbeat, given the NDP win, with several people expressing gladness that the PCs were turfed.
"In four years, they can't do as much damage as the PCs have," said Wildrose supporter Richard Creelman. "Our health care is saved, our schools are saved."
While Hanson won the local riding with 38.65 per cent of the popular vote, NDP candidate Catherine Harder, a recent university graduate from Camrose, surprised people by coming in second, capturing 34.21 per cent of the vote, as she caught some of the wave of NDP support in the province.
"I think we might have made a little bit of history tonight," Notley said in her victory speech to huge cheers from NDP supporters, adding it would be a "fresh start" for the province.
Former premier Jim Prentice conceded defeat in the night, saying, "It has been a trying time for all of us," and saying he shared in the disappointment of all Conservative candidates and their supporters. Prentice used his speech to resign as leader and to give up his Calgary-area seat.
Local PC candidate Darrell Younghans expressed some doubt about the NDP's ability to run the province, especially given the youth and inexperience of some of its newly elected MLAs.
"I am not saying there are not some 20-year-olds that can definitely do the job but overall it is going to be absolutely mind boggling to them to try to manage the budget," Younghans said. As for finishing in third place, Younghans said it was "very disappointing."
"You kind of have to really wonder what it is that would make the voters shift to someone that doesn’t really know of the constituency and isn’t even here in the constituency tonight. If it was a protest vote, whatever it was, it was disappointing."
However, Hanson said he was ready to work with the new government, saying, "We'll have to work together to run the province."
Complete results and more on this story will be in next week's St. Paul Journal.
