Shockingly, the sun still rose over the Alberta prairies this week. The four horsemen of the apocalypse didn’t ride into town on four strong winds. The earth still spun on its axis, albeit tilted slightly to the left.
But the NDP’s historic win in our neighbouring province, ending a 44-year reign of Conservatives, was indeed a very big deal.
For both politicians and pundits, the idea that the NDP would sweep Alberta was not so long ago as foreign an idea as waking up on the moon.
Alberta has essentially been under one-party rule for so long, it’s been impossible to think of it in any other terms.
Rachel Notley’s stunning victory is a reminder that nothing is forever in politics and that pendulums do swing.
It was a long party for the Conservatives in Alberta, where oil wealth liberally greased the wheels of power. What wasn’t to love? But eventually the old adage about “absolute power” caught up with the ruling Tories.
Voters became less inclined to overlook the scandals of their over-entitled leaders and the cynical manoeuvrings of those who sought to hold on to power.
Alberta itself also changed over those four decades — some politicians just didn’t know how much.
The entrails will be read for a long while on this week’s toppling of a political dynasty.
If nothing else, it’s a powerful reminder that voters still ultimately call the shots and politicians who take their support for granted do so at their peril.
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