We saw it in the polls leading up to Election Day, and heard rumours on the streets throughout the province, but it all culminated in a torrent of votes, sweeping the NDP into power with Rachel Notley as premier.
In one night, Albertans tossed out Prentice’s PC government, ending 44 years of Tory rule beginning in 1971.
It wasn’t long into the night, only about 20 minutes after the polls closed, that it was clear that things would be different in the province this time around.
The NDP came out with a majority government, capturing 53 seats in the legislature.
It’s a major change for the City of Calgary as well, with 14 seats going to the NDP. Experts believed that the NDP would have a hard time winning much here, because the most they’ve ever won has been two, with their powerbase in the province’s capital.
When it came to Edmonton, however, the whole city was painted orange.
Before Tuesday, the NDP has only ever won 23 percent of the popular vote, but they came away with just over 41 percent of the vote, a big change.
Notley said during her speech Tuesday night that she and her party will work hard for the voters that put them in power.
“I want to say that I'm deeply humbled and I want to pledge to you, the people of Alberta that we will work every day to earn your trust.”
However, it’s likely that Notley won’t be relishing in her victory for long, because Albertans will be eager to see how her promises will materialize.
Those thoughts were reflected during Notley’s address on Wednesday morning from the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton.
“Spring has come to our province in its own very special way,” Notley said. “We’re ready to get to work today.”
Notley says that she won’t be taking the trust placed in her and her party for granted.
“I’ll be speaking with members of my new caucus today and I have some meetings set up to discuss transition. I’m looking forward to talking with our first ministers and reaching out to key business leaders including partners in the energy industry.”
She also thanked everyone involved in the election and said she was proud to be part of the historic event.
It will be just a few days before she names her new cabinet. Notley says she’s really excited about working with her new caucus and she has a wealth of talent to draw from.
“I’m so proud that they reflect the diversity of the province, that we have almost 50 percent women in our caucus. To me, that’s historic. We have people from all walks of life and I’m very confident that we will be able to put together a very capable cabinet from a very capable caucus that reflects Albertans.”
Notley reassures investors, says that she will be reaching out to them to ensure they know they can count on her and her party.
“I’m hopeful that, over the course of the next two weeks, they will come to realize that things are going to be a-OK over here in Alberta.”
Some are disappointed with the outcome of the historic election, one being former Wildrose leader Danielle Smith.
Smith had said many times while she was leader of the Wildrose that the right should be united under one party.
“When Jim Prentice and I met in December, we talked a lot about how the character of the province was changing,” Smith told CTV Morning Live on Wednesday. “I think a lot of the reason why it’s changed is because you’ve got Mayor Nenshi who won in Calgary, Mayor Iveson who won in Edmonton, both of those are very progressive mayors. They’ve galvanized progressive voters and the progressive vote was looking a party to coalesce behind.”
She says that she did not expect that that party was going to be Rachel Notley and the NDP, but with the Conservative vote divided, the surge was inevitable.
Smith says she doesn’t think that if she had stayed put with the Wildrose that it would have made any difference on what happened on Tuesday night.
“When I was looking at Jim Prentice coming in, he and I were very similar in what we thought had to happen with Alberta and that we both wanted to govern as Conservatives. There is no way for the Wildrose to win that solid core of PC vote and you can see with this election that the PCs got a higher percentage of the vote than the Wildrose did.
“The people who voted for Rachel Notley were the people who voted PC last time to stop the Wildrose. In my opinion, it would not have changed anything.”
As for the other parties, the Wildrose Party captured 21 seats, forming the Official Opposition in Alberta.
Derek Fildebrandt is one of those new seats, winning in his riding of Strathmore-Brooks.
He says that the NDP win was a once or twice in a lifetime event. “Last night was a real victory for democracy. I don’t think people voted for the NDP platform per se, I think they wanted change.”
He says that the Wildrose Party sees that Albertans are ready for change in the province, but there is still room for his party.
“I believe the Wildrose represents the broad mainstream of conservative values, but, at the end, people liked the personality in Rachel Notley.”
Prentice’s Tories suffered the biggest loss from the night, dropping from 72 down to just 10 seats.
The Liberals came away with one seat, belonging to interim leader David Swann.
Surprisingly as well, the Alberta Party, who has long fought for recognition and seat in legislature got just that, with leader Greg Clark beating PC Education Minister Gordon Dirks in the riding of Calgary-Elbow.
