www.ChrisLaBossiere.com

The best leaders have one thing in common. They make everyone feel like they are part of something, even if they shouldn't normally feel like they belong. The disadvantaged and disenfranchised included. Which of our leaders have this ability?

If the provincial election happened today, Danielle Smith of the Wildrose Alliance Party would win the election and become our new Premier.

She would win deservedly also. She controls the imagination of Albertans. As a woman, who is intelligent and interesting, we all would want to give her a shot at running things. I think it is long overdue that we have a woman challenge the position of leader in this province, and frankly Smith seems to be able to do it with her intelligence, age and enthusiasm. Her problem might be timing and her party. Her party does not control the ideological space most Albertans are most comfortable voting into.

Ed Stelmach would lose, and mostly in spite of everything his party helps him with. The PC party control the power, money, ideological spectrum, and historical ethos of the electorate. He can not get himself re-elected because of his lack-lustre ability to inspire Albertans. Ed seems a normal Joe, which can be a great thing in Alberta, but he lacks the ability to speak with the folksy charm, AND authority that endears Albertans. He has also lost touch with those same people by relying on and delegating his leadership position to those around him.

David Swann is in a real tough spot. His party carries the name most every Albertans can't vote for. He irritates that with a bland personality (at least publicy), and a party that reeks of defeatist mentality. His party is the logical benefactor of the right-wing split that is happening today, but yet he has not been able to connect his Liberals with the "everyman" voter.

Brian Mason is a non-factor. Interestingly, he has a great personality for "roll-your-sleeve" up politics, but he is captain of the good ship crazy. He has perpetuated the brand of the NDP's as a party that hates everything business, entreprenuer, and low-taxes. A toxic recipe in Alberta.

The yet to be named leader of the yet to be named Renew Alberta party is not worth talking about.

So, all that said, we must assume that if no leadership changes are made in the Province between now and the far-out 2012 election, we must assume that Danielle Smith and the Wildrose Alliance Party will be elected.

In my opinion, the only thing that changes that, would be a new leader of the PC Party, Alberta Liberals, or a new moderate alternative Renew Alberta party. Bring a game-changer to the table, and of course then the game is changed.

If not, Smith is our next Premier. I'd be fine with that if she can convince me her party can represent the wishes and dreams of ALL Albertans. What say you Danielle? Can you speak on behalf of our impoverished, indigenous, outcast and indifferent? Are you comfortable trying to win the hearts of those who can't sponsor you, financially support you, or bring droves of fundamental voters? Because in my opinion, that's what leadership is all about.

Can you make people who don't feel like they belong, feel like they belong?

You might remember the story of Mountaineer Aron Ralston who became famous when he had to cut off his arm after with a dull-knife after becoming trapped by a boulder while climbing in Utah. The basic story is that he had to endure the short term pain to ensure his survival. Sounds painful, but as the story proved out, imperative to his survival.

Well in bad taste or not, I feel there is a parallel story playing out in Alberta as the Wildrose Alliance Party of Alberta has won the Calgary Glenmore by-election tonight. Much has been written about how the Progressive Conservatives have lost their right-wing base to the young and upstart WRAP. There may be some truth to this story, but I think the PC's need to evaluate the bigger issue at play here.

I think that since Ed Stelmach has become leader of the party, he has fumbled and bumbled many different issues that are simply not right-wing issues as much as they are poor leadership and vision. From waffling on energy royalties, to the much debated Bill 44, he simply has not given Albertan's a reason to believe in his vision of Alberta. A leadership review is necessary, but the party as a whole is still best positioned to represent the average Albertan.

I am not convinced that the PC strategy right now should be to chase the WRAP into the right-wing corners of the electorate. I still contend that society, even Albertans, are becoming more centrist on issues, and even less interested in hard core partisanship. As I have stated in the past, we are conservative by nature, but I always have believed that is more on fiscal and personal responsibility issues, and not on issues that are social conservative in nature. I think that things like social media tools and urbanization have made us all a little bit more tolerant of differing social beliefs.

So, here is what I think the party needs to do to reinvent itself. It needs to cut-off the right-wing extremes of the party and start to align itself with a more progressive, centrist standpoint. Trying to fight for right-wing voters with the WRAP will only harm it in the long run. They should come out swinging against the extreme factions of the WRAP and show strong leadership on social value issues that will attract the voters in the middle. They should be marginalizing the social conservatives as the extremists they are, and appeal to those who want a government that supports individual responsibility, conservative fiscal management, but cares less about who sleeps with who, and cares a bit more about how our environment can be preserved.

There are a lot of votes being left on the table by disenchanted centrist voters, and not to mention the voters who choose the Liberals as their only alternative if the PC's and WRAP stake their claim on the far right. But these of course are just my two cents.