EDMONTON — Alberta’s PC party has selected an interim leader less than one week after suffering a shocking defeat in the provincial election to the NDP.
Calgary-Hays MLA Ric McIver has taken over the position. The party says McIver was chosen by members of the PC caucus, which was reduced from 70 members to 10 in the provincial election last Tuesday.
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McIver says he is honoured that his caucus colleagues have chosen him to lead the party as it works to rebuild, and hasn’t ruled out seeking the job permanently once a leadership race is announced.
“That is a question that hasn’t been determined,” he said Monday.
“There will be some process down the road which the party will be leading. And right now I and my colleagues are focused on doing the work that Albertans want us to do.”
He replaces Jim Prentice who resigned as the party’s leader and MLA despite winning his riding of Calgary-Foothills.
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McIver didn’t have much to say about Prentice’s decision to quit politics or why he hasn’t faced the public since making a quick exit following the NDP majority win.
“I think that is a question that only Mr. Prentice can answer and Albertans can have their opinion,” he said.
McIver served as the minister of infrastructure until May 2014 when he resigned to run in the PC leadership race, which he lost to Prentice. The 56-year-old is a former Calgary city alderman who has also served in cabinet as minister of Transportation.
The party will select a leader within six months. McIver said Richard Starke, the member for Vermilion-Lloydminster, has been appointed Tory house leader.
With files from The Canadian Press