Alberta's first female premier

by The Canadian Press - Castanet Oct 2, 2011 / 6:41 am

In a week of heartbreak and triumph, Alison Redford saw her mom die in hospital and four days later delivered a stunning electoral upset that will see her become Alberta's first female premier.  In doing so, the 46-year-old rookie legislature member rewrote the rules on electioneering, reaching over the heads of traditional power brokers to create a tidal wave of popular support through social media.  Redford's voice quivered as she remembered her mother from the podium after she took the Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership. The party vote was held Saturday, but Redford had to wait until after 1 a.m. Sunday before her victory was confirmed.  "I'm proud of my mom," she said. "She got me involved in politics 30 years ago. She's a big part of the reason I'm here and I'm thinking about her."  Redford takes over as leader of the governing party and will become premier when she is sworn in. Premier Ed Stelmach remains in charge for now, but has already delivered his resignation letter.  "Today, Alberta voted for change," Redford told supporters. "Make no mistake, we are going to do things differently. Over the last eight month we have opened the door for all Albertans to participate in our party and they did that today."  Redford's team rallied supporters throughout the province to deny Gary Mar, the overwhelming favourite, the majority vote he needed to win outright on the preferential ballot. Mar collected 32,233 votes for 42.5 per cent of the vote. Redford had 28,993 for 37.1 per cent. Former deputy premier Doug Horner was third at 15,950, 20.4 per cent.  Under the preferential system, voters were allowed to mark their first and second choice.  As Horner finished last, he dropped off the ballot and his votes were redistributed accordingly to Mar and Redford, giving her the win. The final total was 37,104 for Redford and 35,491 for Mar. (more)