I am not the first, last or best person to comment on the outcome of Monday's Alberta election. I just spent two hours at a bar with people better versed on the intricacies of this province's politics, people who were not calling for Kevin Taft's head as I was roughly 20 minutes after the ballots closed.
(These people point out that Paul Martin stepping down minutes after defeat did no favours to the federal Liberal party. Point taken.)
It does not matter whether you come to politics from the left or right of the spectrum. It does not matter if you think the current (reigning) government has done a good job or not. No party, no democracy, benefits from not having any opposition at all. When I last saw the head count, the Tories had 73 of the Legislature's 83 seats. The Grits had eight. The NDP schlepped in with two, cutting its caucus in half.
Meanwhile, voter turnout was a pathetic -- absolutely pathetic, no matter how you cut it -- 41 per cent. The lowest this province has ever seen.
This was my very first Alberta election. I felt more like I was a part of this province 24 hours ago. Now I'm just really, really sad.
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