Quote:
Originally Posted by Resolute 14
If Smith and Anderson didn't sell their souls for cabinet seats under Prentice, Danielle would be premier today, with a large enough base of support to keep the fringes of the party on the fringe. She wasn't right, and she played a major role in creating the scenario that put the NDP in power.
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I disagree. The WR vote against inclusivity was a shot against the bow of the party leadership, and Smith knew it. The rural, socially conservative wing of the party flexed its muscles and showed the Calgary corporate wing who was really in charge. Smith recognized she no longer had control of the party, and that a socially conservative party could not win an election in Alberta in 2015, and she walked.
The WR is a coalition of grassroots rural conservatives and corporate Calgary. The WR was nothing more than a protest party until Calgary oil money flooded into the party as a way to threaten Stelmach. Those two groups have much less in common than WR supporters like to admit. The Conservatives were able to keep a similar coalition together for so long by buying off the rural wing with great gobs of money (at the expense of Alberta's cities, it must be noted). The demographics of the province have changed, and that's no longer a viable political strategy (or fiscally responsible). My guess is it will take another election loss or two for the rural wing to recognize that they will have to be a junior partner in any coalition going forward. Even then, I think we'll see a splinter party, or maybe even a rump WR (if the Conservatives make a comeback) representing rural, socially-conservative voters.