Richard Catangay-LiewOrange Crush “makes a little history” in AB
Rachel Notley and the Alberta New Democratic Party squashed the Tory regime, en route to a majority provincial government which had been under Progressive Conservative control for 44 years.
Former Alberta and Tory leader Jim Prentice resigned from his post as MLA and as party leader immediately after the wave of orange swept the province.
A raucous NDP headquarters at the Westin Hotel in downtown Edmonton welcomed Notley to the reigns of Alberta. The exuberant crowds watched as the NDP were elected to 53 of 87 seats in the Legislative Assembly.
The commanding win by the Alberta NDP came just months after former Wildrose Party Danielle Smith defected to the Tories in late 2014.
The Notley NDPs are the fifth party to lead Alberta since 1905. The 53 seats, including a clean sweet of the capital, dwarfs the NDP’s previous record in Alberta, which was 16 in the 1986 and 1989 elections.
While the jubilant NDP supporters and MLAs celebrated their historic win, they would to get to work the next day.
AB Economy
The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil plummeted fro $53 US a barrel to $35 over the year. The nosedive in oil price came just one year after the province announced a record $107 a barrel.
Alberta faced an estimated $5 billion revenue deficit, the largest in history.
Former Minister of Finance Robin Campbell announced the revenue shortfall at March’s 2015 Budget announcement. Campbell went on to say that the province wasn’t expecting to return to a budget surplus until 2017–18.
The economy hit the post-secondary sector hard. The Campus Alberta grant was announced to be diminished by $28 million in 2015-–16 and by $60 million in 2016–17. The cuts to Alberta advanced education institutions were then reversed by the Notley NDPs in Bill 3, and subsequently in their budget announcement.
EPS Const. Daniel Woodall killed on duty; brings community together
It doesn’t happen that often, but when it did, all of Edmonton was brought together.
Edmonton Police Service Const. Daniel Woodall was shot and killed while on a warrant and arrest assignment in Ormsby Place, West Edmonton on June 8.
The 35-year-old husband of two was the lead investigator on a case to get Normal Walter Raddatz to come outside. The case was described by police as Raddatz did not comply, and shot through the door Woodall and his team were attempting to break through, killing him. Raddatz then turned the gun on himself and committed suicide in the basement.
Community residents showed an outpouring of support for Woodall and the Edmonton Police Services, as they tied blue ribbons on neighbourhood lampposts to show their support for the fallen officer.
Woodall’s death was the first EPS casualty in the line of duty since June 25, 1990, and the 100th to die in Alberta between 1876 and 2015.
