JIM PRENTICE had every reason to feel confident when he called an election for May 5th. His Progressive Conservative party has governed Alberta without interruption since 1971. It held 70 of the 87 seats in the provincial legislature. Wildrose, the main opposition party (named after Alberta’s official flower), seemed to be self-destructing: late last year nine of its 14 legislators, including the leader, joined the ruling party after Mr Prentice became premier. How could he lose?
Yet opinion polls now suggest that he might. Wildrose is running ahead of the Progressive Conservatives, and both are trailing the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP). Its victory would be a shock for a province that is, as one political scientist puts it, conservative in every sense of the word. And it would worry Canada’s prime minister, Stephen Harper, whose Conservative Party has links to both right-of-centre provincial parties. Alberta is his adoptive home; he hopes to win re-election in October.
Mr Prentice’s biggest problem is the economy, which has sagged along with the oil price (see chart). After several years growing faster...
from The Economist: The Americas http://ift.tt/1bi6XWs
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