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All Albertans should have a say; call election now

So Jim Prentice has won the leadership of the Alberta Conservative Party. Oooo — there’s a big surprise!

So Jim Prentice has won the leadership of the Alberta Conservative Party. Oooo — there’s a big surprise!

What I find particularly interesting is that he won the position with less than one per cent of eligible voters in Alberta. He got about 18,000 votes of the approximately 24,000 ballots that were cast. But that’s only 1 per cent of the total of 2.35 million eligible voters in Alberta.

That’s astounding. The party governing our province only has per cent support of all of Alberta’s eligible voters.

It also says to me that the supporters of this party are primarily from the higher income bracket of those eligible voters. Much like the Republicans in the U.S., whose main support comes from the rich one per cent of the country. And they wound up with a liberal government under Barack Obama!

When you only get one per cent of the eligible voters turning out to select the leader of the sitting ruling party, it shows a real lack of confidence in that party.

It also indicates we need a provincial election now instead of waiting until 2016.

The spending antics of this government and the total disregard for the health and financial welfare of Alberta citizens warrants an early election.

Prentice is the leader of the Conservative Party but does not hold a seat in the legislature. How can Prentice declare himself as the premier of the province if he doesn’t hold a seat?

He hasn’t won anything.

Why not let all the eligible Alberta voters decide whether we want the Conservatives to continue to rip us off under Prentice’s leadership?

Let him take his chances in a complete political arena. Have an election now.

To do anything less is not a real democracy. It’s nepotism. Albertans deserve better.

Dale Stuart

Red Deer