Conservatives win majority Government, Wildrose candidate Pat Stier wins Livingstone-Macleod

Chris Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

Premier Alison Redford
(promotional photo)

After a rollercoaster of a campaign, Alberta's Progressive Conservative Party secured their 12th consecutive majority government, this time under the leadership of Premier Alison Redford, who has now had her title confirmed by the electorate.

According to unofficial Elections Alberta poll results, the Progressive Conservatives won 61 of 87 seats in the Legislature. The Wildrose placed a distant second with 17 seats.  The Liberal Party won 5 seats and the New Democratic Party won 4 seats.

“Tonight is a very happy night for the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta,” said a jubilant Premier Redford to her supporters. “I also want to thank the leaders of all the other political parties, because something very exciting happened in Alberta tonight. Everyone got engaged in the future of this province again.”

This was the second time Redford baffled most pollsters and pundits, who believed she had no chance to win the PC Party leadership in October of last year, and who until very recently, in some cases until the numbers started rolling in, were predicting a Wildrose majority

Wildrose leader Danielle Smith, her enthusiasm evidently undaunted, told supporters "Change might take a little longer than we thought."

"I'm sorry that it did not turn out the way we all wanted it to, but we're not done yet," she continued. Smith has won her Highwood seat in the Alberta Legislature, relieved to have passed "The longest job interview of my life."

Rural southern Alberta was one of the areas where the Wildrose made the most inroads, including our own riding of Livingstone-Macleod, where Wildrose candidate Pat Stier gained and maintained an early lead, ousting PC incumbent Evan Berger.

Here in Pincher Creek voter turnout was reported to be strong early in the day, and steady through the rest of the day.  A record number of  people voted in the advance polls.

WildRose leader Danielle Smith and
Pat Stier, now MLA for
Livingstone-Macleod
C. Davis photo

Here's how it played out in Livingstone-Macleod, according to Election Alberta's unofficial results:

• 8,565 - Pat Stier, Wildrose Party
• 7403 - Evan Berger, Progressive Conservative Party
• 944 - Matthew Halton, New Democrat Party
• 597 - Alex Macdonald, Liberal Party
• 347 - Larry Ashmore, EverGreen Party

Progressive Conservative Doug Black won a close contest for Senate Nominee.

Voter turnout was reported to be more than 45%, better than it was in the 2004 and 2008 elections.

Liberal candidate David Swann, who some local voters heard at the Cowley Candidates Forum, won his seat  in Calgary-Mountain View.  Liberal Leader Raj Sherman won a squeaker in the Edmonton-Meadowlark riding by 118 votes.  NDP leader Brian Mason was re-elected in Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood.  "We're going to need a slightly bigger phone booth,"  he said, noting that his Party had doubled their presence in the Legislature from 2 seats to 4 seats.

Updated for accuracy, April 24, 4:17 pm:  Elections Alberta now reports only 80 polls in the Livingstone Macleod riding, which does not change the figures previously stated here, so they have remained the same in this story, but does mean that the one poll not reported last night was probably an error on Elections Alberta's part in the number of polls for the riding, not the number of polls reporting.

Notice: All results given above are unofficial until the final ballot counts are verified by Elections Alberta. 

Primary Sources:
http://results.elections.ab.ca/wtResultsSNE.htm
http://results.elections.ab.ca/wtResultsPGE.htm
http://www.globaltvcalgary.com/Pages/Story.aspx?id=6442626975