Today is Election Day in Alberta and for many Albertans that means two things: winter is here to stay — and so is Ralph Klein. With energy prices at record levels, the pragmatic Alberta government is continuing its costly winter natural gas subsidy to Alberta residents through 2006. Albertans can always count on the Klein government to insulate them from energy inflation — especially in an election year. So here’s to four more “warm and fuzzy” years of hand-outs from the Queen Victoria of Western politics.

As a former Albertan, I’m sure going to miss the pre-election cheque in my mailbox. The last time Klein held a provincial election I was instantly $300 richer. New to the province, I thought someone had made a clerical error. (Gary Doer never paid me just for living in Manitoba.) This is pork barrel politicking at its finest. When I was a girl, my Grandma Brough used to save $2 bills. She would roll them up in a fist-full, tie a rubber band around them then stuff them in the toe of my stocking at Christmas. For superstitious women of her generation, spending two-dollar bills was bad form. This is because politicians used to buy votes with them.

Klein has always been good at anticipating the needs of his province and the electorate. When their burgeoning economy required skilled workers, Klein’s government lured the young, educated and ambitious to Alberta with appealing bait: no provincial sales tax, good white-collar jobs and when inflation hit the wallet, he handed out utility subsidies.

The Okie-like, mass migration of the last decade is proof of his good judgment. The streets of Calgary are still clogged with starry-eyed Joads: economic refugees who left home for greener pastures. Did you know that the median age in Alberta is 35? This is not a place you go to retire. It’s where you go to make your money, then cash out and move to the Okanagan or Vancouver Island. I can tell you one thing for sureâe¦they aren’t moving back en masse to Saskatchewan or Manitoba. How many farewell parties have you attended in the last decade?

On slow days here in Wakaw, I feel like the proverbial ex-wife who left the monied spouse in exchange for her independence. I sometimes miss the booming economy Klein helped to create, but not the social problems that accompany such affluence. My Calgary was also a Mecca of pawn shops, peeler bars, booze cans, raves, erotic video stores, cheque cashing outlets, rundown bottle depots, crack houses and chronic homelessness.

I’m already feeling oddly nostalgic about the end of Ralph Klein’s tenure in Alberta. He says this will be his last term as Premier. Who else will the small, but rabid group of liberal Albertans demonize at their smart dinner parties?

Speaking of irritable lefties, Liberal opponent Kevin Taft was quoted recently in The Globe and Mail saying that the neophyte Alberta Alliance Party was a non-contender in the upcoming provincial election. He predicted that they will be “stuck on the fringes of Alberta politics for many years to come.” Well, Mr. Taft, that comment has considerable weight: it comes from a former academic who has very comfortably occupied the margins since he took over the thankless role of provincial leader in the Klein Age.

Yes, Ralph Klein is a shoe-in to win the election. He’s so popular that he’s able to run a successful election campaign without even conceiving a platform. He’s prone to frequent outrageous outbursts, tactless poor-bashing and an intolerable aura of smugness as he manages his very liquid and debt-free province. But quite frankly, I think it all comes down to one thing for many Albertansâe¦a plump chicken in every pot or a rebate cheque in every mailbox.

What concerns me now is Klein’s shaky succession plan. Who is the party grooming to replace him? Will he hand the sceptre over to the nearest Conservative Party member with a pulse? Who will steer Alberta through the perils of the forthcoming post-oil, hydrogen economy?

The 2004 election results are a foregone conclusion. I want to know what the future holds. As a western neighbour, I want to know what comes after four more years of Klein leadership.

Why don’t politicians, or voters for that matter, ever think beyond the election cycle?