Was I hasty in the last post on the Alberta Alliance? Yes indeed. But election night was full of interesting tid-bits anyway. Here are a few observations, listed in order of importance.

1. Ralph Klein won a massive majority government, four in a row. No matter what wet blanket election-night commentators could find to toss on that accomplishment, it remains a remarkable one. As the Globe headlined the next day, “Klein goes out a winner.”
2. Ted Morton was elected for the first time with a massive lead in Foothills-Rockyview, the first step in his leadership campaign. We’ll see if Klein lands him a cabinet position.
3. Mark Norris was a frequently-mentioned potential successor to Klein. He was the only cabinet minister dumped. Too bad, one less challenger to Morton.
4. Of the three remaining candidates, Morton and Gary Mar are on their way to the Legislature. But where was Jim Dinning last night? Oh, thats right, Mr. Dinning does not need to earn the trust of the electors of any particular riding before he benevolently graces us with his leadership. Upon the given hour, he will ascend the premiership without having dirtied his hands in any sort of mucky democratic contest. How very, very lucky for us.
5. The two most prominent members of the Alberta “Firewalls Committee,” which masterfully stonewalled public consultations and rejected the Alberta Agenda recommendations, were dumped. So long Ian McClelland and Jon Lord. Maybe the Reform Party and Calgary municipal council respectively will have you chumps back.
6. Outside of Edmonton and Calgary, a transformation of the Alberta party system is occurring. In most cases, the Tories came in first and the Alberta Alliance came in second. The Liberals and New Democrats weren’t on the map. The Alliance won a single seat (in Cardston, suprise!) but were competitive in many more, particularly in Dunvegan.
7. The Liberals and the NDP increased their seat shares. In particular, the Liberals cleaned up in Calgary’s inner city ridings (with the exception of the downtown Buffalo riding) and took the Varsity university riding, which suprised Klein. With typical Liberal humility and virtue, the Liberal victor in Varsity celebrated his win by criticizing Klein for sitting down during the past leaders debate. Then again, who cares what the Alberta Liberals and NDs do.
8. Kevin Taft has one evil smile, but thats OK. The funniest moment of the night was during his speech when he was listing off the victorious Liberal candidates (the fact that he could do so in a reasonably short span of time is in itself fairly funny) and suddenly shouted, “MEEEEEEE!” before letting loose with one helluva cackle.