28th Alberta General Election

As early as October 2011, Albertan's may be going to the polls for the 28th time in our history to choose our premiere.  With Ed Stelmach's announcement that he will not be seeking election, the PC party of Alberta has been in the throes of picking a new leader.  In the race, for what some are deeming the 'Coronation of Alberta' (PC's have 72 of a possible 83 provincial seats), were 6 candidates.

Since the first ballot was struck, the PC's are down to three candidates (Gary Mar, Alison Redford, and Doug Horner) and the second ballot, a preferential vote, will be cast on October 1.

As with most politicians, its very hard to pin down exactly what they plan to do if elected.  Policy on education with these three is no different. 
Gary Mar is very concerned with 'vision', he wants to present the end goals and have buy in from the people, then he'll take care of the rest.  He does say though that he is committed to stabilizing the education budget.  Alison Redford is the most clear when it comes to details and promises to return the reduced education budget within ten days of winning the premiership as well as creating some budget certainty for the future.  Doug Horner feels that education is a provincial foundation and he would focus on high school drop out rates and new technology but his policy pages fail to detail funding issues.

It appears that one of these three candidates will be our next premiere, let's hope whoever it is can stabilize the Education budget and return some money to our classrooms.

Where to see the candidates next:

Mar will be on Stephen Ave Mall to meet and greet Friday from 11:30 to 1:30
Redford will be at the CAPSC meeting tonight at AE Cross, 7:00
Horner has nothing soon in Calgary but will be in St. Alberta's Farmers Market on Saturday