Quote:
Originally Posted by Slava
Well no one predicted that outcome and if someone had posted it here we would've ridiculed them as dreaming. Prentice was in the business of winning elections, and I think an advisor would've told him it was a great time to cement his government with the opposition in shambles.
It's easy to look back with the benefit of hindsight and say it was a poor choice. I never would've predicted that things went that way though. I thought Prentice would win 70+ seats, and even in the event of a loss wouldn't have thought the NDP would win.
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I think even at the time, it was viewed as a poor choice - though not in the same way. Everyone knew that Prentice's early call was a cynical effort to take advantage of the mess he left Wildrose in. And even at the time, he should have had no expectation of a slam dunk. Polls conducted on April 7 - the day of the election call - showed that the PCs immediately dropped several points from just two weeks earlier, and that the election was going to be a three way battle.
Though, looking at the numbers from the election, it should be noted that Notley's gains from the April 7 call to the May 5 election were entirely made up of the Liberal party's collapse. That is something the PCs should be mindful of if they choose to go with Kenney as leader.