Alison Redford keeps Joe Clark legacy alive to maintain status quo

Though former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark is only a couple years off from being a whole decade away from the active political scene in Canada, his current protege and former senior policy advisor when he was a Canadian Minister as Secretary of State for External Affairs under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, Alison Redford, has been making quite the name for herself in a likely to be successful effort to surplant his importance politically in the Province of Alberta. The academically inclined Redford eventually took up law and then articled for Jim Prentice at his law firm Rooney Prentice, another former protege of Clark who had been himself a Canadian Minister as Secretary of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non Status Indians, of Industry and of the Environment under prime Minister Stephen Harper, which allowed her to grow up politically in the ideals of the Progressive Conservatives. Therefore it was not a stretch when Redford took over from Ed Stelmach last fall to lead the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta and its 41 year old run of provincial government without interruption under four, likely now to be five, Premiers Lougheed, Getty, Klein and Stelmach who collective have allowed the form of government that my poli sci prof Dr. David T. Koyzis here at Redeemer University College colloquially called Albertocracy to threaten the record provincial governmental dynasties held by the 42 year hold Ontario Tory Premiers Drew, Kennedy, Frost, Robarts, Davis, Miller and their Big Blue machine had at the Pink Palace from 1943 to 1985 and the 43 year record by Nova Scotia Grits who kept their legislature red under Premiers Pipes, Fielding, Murray and Armstrong from 1882 to 1925.

Looking back then and into the future now, I note that a supposedly dead more British Progressive Conservative movement, which had been philospohically nurtured and influenced by George Parkin Grant and politically by Charles Joseph Clark, did not die a political death when the more American Reformed Conservative alliance, which had been philospohically nurtured and influenced by Ernest Preston Manning and politically by Stephen Joseph Harper, came into town. Rather, the competition within conservative ranks in Canada of a more republican, libertarian and individualistic flavour brought the classic taste back in style, which is how one explains the withering away of Californian Frederick Lee or Ted Morton and the influence of his University of Calgary School, in the areas of economics, history and political science towards policy goals of more individual freedom and less government. Redford, who opposed Morton like Stelmach before her, used progressive conservatism head on against reformed conservatism, showing the example of how Harper has used the latter federally in Ottawa to reason why we need the former once more.

Conservatives of the progressive kind will likely end out with a 12th consecutive majority government in this upcoming 2012 provincial general election, which should be a short one, as this has been the going trend in duration of elections recently. People wonder if the Wildrose Party alliance of blue conservatives, green reformers and white and black libertarians, objectivists and independents, lead by Danielle Smith, can make up the difference and take back Edmonton. However, as was shown by the massive progressive comeback of the Alberta Party, formulated by Edwin Erickson, Brian Thiessen and Dave Taylor and led by Glenn Taylor moving on up in the polls, any of the parties in this election have a shot at second, but neither the Raj Sherman led Liberals, Brian Mason led New Democrats nor this brand new Alberta Renew Green Progress alternative can honestly say they will make up the next government in Wild Rose Country, but then neither can Wildrose itself.