Redford not surprised by victory

EDMONTON, ALTA - Premier Alison Redford said she’s not surprised by the scope of her majority electoral victory, adding the leaders’ debate was a clincher.

A day after after her PCs extended their 41-year reign by winning 61 of 87 seats by turning back a Wildrose challenge in Monday’s vote, Redford told reporters she never bought into polls putting her main foes well ahead.

“I’m not as surprised as everybody else - we doorknocked hard, we listened to Albertans,” said a triumphant Redford.

“People who were covering the election, they knew I wouldn’t comment on the polls until election day ... all of the questions so many of you asked me based on those polls didn’t reflect what I was either seeing, hearing or feeling.”

PC strategist Stephen Carter agreed the April 12 leaders’ debate was quietly decisive, though most pundits deemed it devoid of knockout blows.

“People could say ‘she’s not as bad as people thought,’” said Carter, who also cited Wildrose leader Danielle Smith’s refusal to condemn candidates’ anti-gay and racist remarks as a factor.

“People saw leadership from Alison - they didn’t see leadership from the other party.”

The fledgling Wildrose Party increased its seat count from four to 17, while grabbing 34% of the popular vote compared to the Tories’ 44%.

Alberta’s Liberals won five seats - down two from before the vote - while the NDP doubled its MLA count to four, all in Edmonton ridings.

Redford, who said she’d call a pre-summer legislative session, spoke Tuesday morning with Prime Minister Stephen Harper for the first time since the election upset.

She insisted she’s on good terms with the PM, even though a number of federal Conservative operatives worked on the Wildrose campaign.

“We talked about some of the successes we’ve had together over the past six or seven months ... I’m looking forward to continuing that relationship,” said Redford, who was criticized by the Wildrose during the campaign for being cool towards Harper.

And the premier made no apologies for being a political moderate while poking the Wildrose who deemed her too far to the left.

“We set out an agenda that’s socially progressive and fiscally conservative ... I find it ironic that our fiscal commitments were far more conservative than the so-called conservative party,” said Redford.

Smith told QMI Agency on Tuesday voters have decided her party needs more experience and seasoning.

But she also said the PC’s victory doesn’t banish the governing party’s problems.

“They still have a crumbling health care system they don’t know how to fix, they have a such rosy budget projections nobody thinks they can reach them, they still have problems with transparency,” she said.

Tight race, balmy weather credited for high voter turnout

Monday's improved voter turnout was exciting to see, Premier Alison Redford said as she celebrated her majority electoral triumph.

Redford said "a record number of Albertans" had gone to the polls, four years after a disappointing 41% bothered to cast ballots in a provincial election.

"Something very exciting happened in Alberta tonight -- everybody got engaged in the process," she said Monday.

On Tuesday, she said there was "a tremendous amount of interest among Albertans ... it's pretty exciting there's so much political engagement."

But the unofficial figure of a 57% turnout Monday didn't set a record, falling short of the 60% who turned out in 1993 when new PC leader Ralph Klein faced off with a strong Liberal party.

Until Monday. those numbers had trended down.

But this election's uptick didn't impress PC strategist Stephen Carter, who said far more Albertans should feel motivated to vote.

"It's not high enough," said Carter.

Politicians, not the public, are to blame for voter apathy, he added.

"It's us, it's not about them -- we're not making it relevant," said Carter.

"Municipally, it's about electing people who ensure the roads are there, when you elect provincial governments it's making sure your educational system is there."

The relative tightness of Monday's vote and the prospect of changing governments, along with balmy weather, is being cited for increasing the voter count.

Carter said the larger turnout helped his party.

"It helps democracy, it helps Alberta -- clearly, it helped us," he said. "Sadly, more people voted out of anger than out of hope."