The Wildrose’s slogan is ‘Send Ed a message: Bring Back The Alberta Advantage’. Paul Hinman, the Wildrose candidate in the Calgary-Glenmore byelection was elected tonight with 37% of the vote.

I have to admit that I liked the send a message to Ed section on Paul Hinman's website (bottom right corner). The message has been sent and I am scared shitless. Say hello to future Ralph Klein cut backs.

Liberal candidate Avalon Roberts was unable to pull out a Tom Brady-like come back (2 touchdowns in the last 2 minutes Monday night). She finished with 34% of the vote.

The big surprise of the night was that the Conservative candidate Diane Colley-Urquhart came in third with 26% of the vote. Looks like it is back to city council for her.

Hinman’s victory is like a tsunami heading over towards the Conservatives. Without evasive action the Conservative dynasty could be over. Expect the Conservatives to implement Wildrose-like policies before the next provincial election (2011 or 2012).

What is on the Wildrose Alliance platform?

1.     Have the lowest Provincial personal and corporate tax rates to encourage investment and growth. (What this means is more debt).

2.     Know the prosperity of Alberta is dependent upon the natural resource and energy industries. A stable, price sensitive, and internationally competitive royalty and tax framework must be in place to attract investment. (What this means is even lower royalty rates and bending over backwards for oil and gas). 

3.     Implement innovative new ideas that deliver health care more efficiently such as funding following the patient and the expansion of home care. Give hospitals more control over where money is spent, increase accessibility and reduce wait times. (How these are going to improve health care is beyond me. This sounds like privatization talk to me).

4.     Introduce standardized annual testing of students, teacher quality, and monitor graduation rates. (Don’t test creativity, just ‘get with the program’).

5.     Support Truth in Sentencing provisions for incarcerating of criminals. (Classic tough on crime mentality. Crime doesn't change, but costs go up).

6.     Provide tax incentives to industries and individuals to invest in environmentally friendly endeavours. (Actually sounds decent, until you remember that the Wildrose were fierce climate change deniers until recently. In addition, any environmental gains will be cancelled out by maximizing oil and gas extraction in point number 2).

7.     Put the power back in the hands of Albertans through meaningful electoral reform including MLA recall, fixed election dates and citizen initiated referenda. Limit the size of Cabinet to 16 members. Eliminate pork-barrel politics through stable, predictable and non-partisan municipal funding. (Sounds too good to be true).

Well I guess it could be worse, but not by much. I like the environmental and democratic points (6 and 7), but the other items on the platform are brutal. We have seen a similar platform before. The ghost of Klein has returned. Hold tight and get out your protest. The next two to three years could be ugly.