Mar Is Most Likely The Man

Alberta’s next premier benefits from Washington experience

By the time you read this, the Alberta Progressive Conservative party will have chosen a new leader. As this is being written, it appears that the chosen one will be Gary Mar. All three candidates defeated on the first ballot in mid-September – Ted Morton, Rick Orman and Doug Griffiths – quickly joined the Mar camp, leaving Alison Redford and Doug Horner remaining as challengers.

Given the theory that the last thing the Tories need is another eleventh-hour dark horse coming to power ala Ed Stelmach, it will be a shock if Mar is not anointed the next party leader and Premier-elect on Oct. 1.

Mar’s immediate challenge will be to quickly rebuild the party – less than 60,000 ballots were cast in the first round of the leadership contest, compared with 97,690 in 2006 when Stelmach was elected.

“Low voter turnout usually means apathy, and apathy doesn’t exactly bode well when you’re choosing the next leader of the province,” Griffiths comments. “The party needs to step back and ask questions of why that happened.”

The party also needs to be prepared for battle against a two-pronged attack from Danielle Smith’s Wild Rose Alliance and the resurgent Liberals, now under the guidance of disaffected former Tory Raj Sherman. Safe to say that the NDP may also be on the upswing and for all of this, the PCs can thank the disastrous Stelmach reign.

These are stronger foes than the Tories have been used to facing in the past and they’ll definitely keep Mar and company on their toes.

Good, then, that Mar is the man for the Tories. He brings 14 years experience as an MLA for the Calgary Nose Creek and Calgary McKay ridings to the table, serving under Ralph Klein and Stelmach. More importantly, he has held several high-profile cabinet portfolios – Environment, Education, Health and Wellness and International and Intergovernmental Affairs.

But in politics, as in life, it’s all about what you’ve done lately and Mar’s most recent posting as Eddie’s emissary in Washington is most important – certainly in the eyes of the oil patch.

Smart folks know that the Athabasca oil sands are the lifeblood of the Alberta and, indeed, the Canadian economy. Talk to any exec and they’ll tell you Mar did an able job selling the province’s economic strengths and our emergence as a world leader in the supply of reliable, clean, safe energy.

In fact, many would say he did a stellar job. And though Mar maintains that he kept abreast of all things Albertan during his time trolling the political corridors in D.C., having a little physical distance from the daily squabbles emanating from the legislature didn’t hurt his political career.

His work in Washington, more than any other post in my opinion, qualifies Mar above all others to succeed Stelmach as party leader and premier. Mar succeeded the venerable Murray Smith, who focused on selling the oil sands to George Bush’s Republicans.

With the new Obama administration, Mar’s work has focused on both Republicans and Democrats.

“The other thing that has occurred that is dramatically different is that new there are efforts at the state level to try to extinguish the use of oil sands derived fuels.” In places like Minnesota, Michigan and Maryland, Mar’s influence has helped stop legislation that would have unfairly targeted Alberta’s oil sands interests.

Another success is the number of high-profile U.S. legislators and decision-makers Mar has helped bring to Alberta – this “see for yourself ” approach has turned heads and is vital to showing transparency and accountability, traits one hopes to see in other facets of his government.

And so I’m excited to see how things unfold – Mar is fortunate, in many respects, to be succeeding a Stelmach rather than a Lougheed (ask Don Getty). If nothing else, think of it this way – for the first time in a generation, politics in Alberta will actually be worth paying attention to!