Editing Jim Prentice (section)

==Premier of Alberta==
{{see also|Prentice Ministry}}
[[File:Prentice and Smith.jpg|thumb|Prentice and [[Danielle Smith]] announcing that Smith and eight other [[Wildrose Party|Wildrose]] MLAs would be crossing the floor to join the [[Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta|Progressive Conservatives]]]]
Though previously rumoured to have been interested in succeeding [[Stephen Harper]] as federal Conservative leader,<ref>{{cite news|title='Draft Jim Prentice' movement urging ex-Harper minister to leave CIBC and run for Alberta PC leadership|url=https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/draft-jim-prentice-movement-urging-ex-harper-minister-to-leave-cibc-and-run-for-alberta-pc-leadership |access-date=May 6, 2014|newspaper=National Post|date=April 9, 2014}}</ref>  Prentice entered the [[2014 Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta leadership election|2014 Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership election]] on May 15, 2014.<ref>{{cite news|title=Prentice enters Alberta PC Party Leadership race|url=http://calgary.ctvnews.ca/prentice-enters-alberta-pc-party-leadership-race-1.1823250|access-date=May 15, 2014|newspaper=CTV News|date=May 15, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Jim Prentice forming team for Alberta Tory leadership race|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/jim-prentice-forming-team-for-alberta-tory-leadership-race-1.2624808|access-date=May 6, 2014|newspaper=[[CBC News]]|date=April 28, 2014}}</ref> At the time the Alberta PC party was lagging badly in polls behind the opposition Wildrose due to personal expense controversies with [[Allison Redford]], who resigned as premier and party leader after facing a revolt from the caucus and riding associations, with [[Dave Hancock]] serving in these roles for the interim. On September 6, 2014, Prentice won the leadership race with more than 76% of the vote on the first ballot (the leadership contest was conducted using [[Instant-runoff voting]]).<ref>{{cite news|title=Alberta PC leadership vote: Jim Prentice wins on 1st ballot|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-pc-leadership-vote-jim-prentice-wins-on-1st-ballot-1.2758180?cmp=rss|access-date=September 6, 2014|newspaper=[[CBC News]]|date=September 6, 2014}}</ref>

Prentice was formally sworn in as premier on September 15, 2014.<ref name=newway>[https://edmontonjournal.com/Prentice+names+Mandel+health+minister+member+cabinet/10205281/story.html "Prentice promises ‘new way of doing things’ as smaller cabinet sworn in"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006130519/http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Prentice%20names%20Mandel%20health%20minister%20member%20cabinet/10205281/story.html |date=2014-10-06 }}. ''[[Edmonton Journal]]'', September 15, 2014.</ref> He immediately named a 20-member [[Executive Council of Alberta]], smaller than the cabinet had been under recent premiers. His recommendations for cabinet appointments included two people, former Edmonton mayor [[Stephen Mandel]] and former [[Calgary Board of Education]] trustee [[Gordon Dirks]], who were not members of the Legislative Assembly.<ref name=newway/> Prentice was elected to the legislature in a [[by-election]] in [[Calgary-Foothills]], the seat formerly held by MLA [[Len Webber]].<ref name=foothills>[http://globalnews.ca/news/1587770/premier-prentice-to-make-byelection-announcement/ "Premier Prentice to run in Calgary-Foothills in October byelection"]. [[Global News]], September 29, 2014.</ref> The PCs won all four of the provincial by-elections held on October 27, 2014, in what was seen at the time as a major electoral success for Prentice.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-byelections-swept-by-jim-prentice-s-progressive-conservative-party-1.2815059|title=Alberta byelections swept by Jim Prentice's Progressive Conservative Party|author=CBC News|author-link=CBC News|date=27 October 2014|access-date=7 May 2015}}</ref>

On November 24, 2014, [[Wildrose Party]] MLAs [[Kerry Towle]], ([[Innisfail-Sylvan Lake]]), and [[Ian Donovan]], ([[Little Bow]]) [[cross the floor|crossed the floor]] to join the ruling PC Party's caucus giving the turmoil within the Wildrose Party, uncertainty about the leadership of [[Danielle Smith]] and confidence in Prentice as reasons for their move.<ref name=floorcross>{{cite news|title=Two Wildrose members crossing the floor to join Tories|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/alberta/two-wildrose-members-crossing-the-floor-to-join-tories-sources-say/article21733277/|access-date=November 24, 2014|work=[[The Globe and Mail]]|date=November 24, 2014|last1=Bennett |first1=Dean |agency=The Canadian Press |location=Edmonton}}</ref>

On December 17, 2014, in a highly unusual move within any parliament using the [[Westminster system]], [[Leader of the Opposition (Alberta)|Leader of the Opposition]] Danielle Smith confirmed that she and eight other Wildrose members&nbsp;– [[Rob Anderson (politician)|Rob Anderson]], [[Gary Bikman]], [[Rod Fox]], [[Jason Hale (politician)|Jason Hale]], [[Bruce McAllister (politician)|Bruce McAllister]], [[Blake Pedersen]], [[Bruce Rowe]] and [[Jeff Wilson (Canadian politician)|Jeff Wilson]]&nbsp;– would cross the floor to the Progressive Conservative caucus.<ref name=smithfloorcross>{{cite news|title=Nine Wildrose MLAs bolt for Alberta PC Party|url=http://metronews.ca/news/calgary/1242550/nine-wildrose-mlas-bolt-for-alberta-pc-party/|access-date=December 17, 2014|work=[[Metro International|Metro]]|date=December 17, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218030000/http://metronews.ca/news/calgary/1242550/nine-wildrose-mlas-bolt-for-alberta-pc-party/|archive-date=December 18, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> At a press conference, Smith said that her conversations with Prentice revealed that they shared so much common ground that it made little sense for her to continue in opposition. "If you’re going to be the official Opposition leader," she said, "you have to really want to take down the government and really take down the premier. I don't want to take down this premier. I want this premier to succeed."<ref>[https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/12/17/albertas_wildrose_leader_and_eight_members_join_prentice_government.html Alberta’s Wildrose leader and eight members join Prentice government]. [[Canadian Press]], 2014-12-17.</ref> The defections were termed by a journalist as "an unprecedented move in Canadian political history", although they did not change the overall make-up of the legislature – the Conservatives still held a vast majority of the seats, and the Wildrose Party remained the Official Opposition.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/nine-wildrose-mlas-%E2%80%94-including-leader-danielle-smith-%E2%80%94-cross-floor-to-prentices-tory-government/ar-BBgVxWl |title=Nine Wildrose MLAs — including Leader Danielle Smith — cross floor to Prentice's Tory government |work=[[Calgary Herald]] |last1=Wood |first1=James |date=December 18, 2014 |access-date=2015-01-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218062749/http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/nine-wildrose-mlas-%E2%80%94-including-leader-danielle-smith-%E2%80%94-cross-floor-to-prentices-tory-government/ar-BBgVxWl |archive-date=2014-12-18 }}</ref>
[[File:Jim-Prentice-2015-Provincial-Election-Campaign.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Prentice at a campaign stop at the Whitemud Creek Community Centre in Edmonton during the 2015 election]]

Prentice's March 2015 budget "raised a plethora of taxes and fees to help pay the province's way out of its hole, but he refuses to touch corporate taxes, because he is spooked by the prospect of investors skipping over Alberta for their next billion-dollar energy project, in favour of some more clement petro-state somewhere else. This array of taxes on you and your friends, but not on the C-Suite in Calgary’s office-tower jungle, has provoked populists on the left and right".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wells |first1=Paul |title=Paul Wells in Alberta: Could Jim Prentice actually lose? |url=https://www.macleans.ca/politics/paul-wells-in-alberta-could-jim-prentice-actually-lose/ |work=[[Maclean's]] |date=2015-04-23 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Alberta Premier Jim Prentice (left) congratulates Robin Campbell (right), Alberta Minister of Finance, after Campbell delivered the provincial budget speech at the Alberta Legislature on March 26, 2015. |url=http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Alberta+Premier+Prentice+left+congratulates+Robin+Campbell+right+Alberta+Minister+Finance+after+Campbell+delivered+provincial+budget+speech+Alberta+Legislature+March+2015/10923100/story.html |work=[[Edmonton Journal]] |date=March 26, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506211218/http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Alberta+Premier+Prentice+left+congratulates+Robin+Campbell+right+Alberta+Minister+Finance+after+Campbell+delivered+provincial+budget+speech+Alberta+Legislature+March+2015/10923100/story.html |archive-date=May 6, 2019}}</ref> In retrospect, Ron Kneebone of the [[University of Calgary]]’s School of Public Policy defended Prentice's budget saying "'We've got to look in the mirror.' He got tossed for it. But he was absolutely right because he said, 'You guys keep electing us for spending all this money.'"<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hudes |first1=Sammy |title=How Alberta went from Klein's 'paid in full' years to record debt in 2021 budget |url=https://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/how-alberta-went-from-kleins-paid-in-full-years-to-record-debt-in-2021-budget |access-date=24 May 2021 |work=[[Calgary Herald]] |date=February 26, 2021}}</ref>

On April 7, 2015, Prentice advised the Lieutenant Governor to call an early election for May 5 claiming that he needed to seek a new mandate in order to pass his budget, a full year before he was mandated to by the provincial fixed-election law of an election every four years (by the constitution, the incumbent government could run for up to five years before the writ had to be dropped in 2017).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/alberta/alberta-to-hold-election-on-may-5/article23821249/|title=Jim Prentice seeks mandate on May 5 in cautious Alberta election bid|author=Justin Giovannetti|date=7 April 2015|access-date=7 May 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Leong |first1=Ricky |title=Jim Prentice and Alberta Tories should remember Grit election disaster |url=https://edmontonsun.com/2015/04/06/jim-prentice-and-tories-should-remember-grit-election-disaster/wcm/1226f787-1272-45f8-a297-e5307d3787c3 |access-date=24 May 2021 |work=Edmonton Sun |date=April 8, 2015}}</ref> The Progressive Conservatives were already lagging in polls behind the resurgent Wildrose Party led by [[Brian Jean]], as Prentice's pre-election budget was deeply unpopular with both the left and right in the political spectrum while only "business leaders thought it was tough but fair". Several gaffes by Prentice hurt him and his party in the campaign, including a comment before the election call in which Prentice appeared to be blaming Albertans, telling them that they had to "look in the mirror" to understand the root cause of Alberta's "serious budget shortfall"; [[Alberta Party]] leader [[Greg Clark (Canadian politician)|Greg Clark]] dubbed this “Mr. Prentice’s [[Alice in Wonderland]] moment because it’s only in some alternate reality that the blame for decades of PC mismanagement can be placed squarely on Albertans".<ref name=electiongaffes>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/alberta/mirrors-and-miscalculations-five-alberta-election-moments-to-remember/article24254881/|title=Mirrors and miscalculations: Five Alberta election moments to remember|author=Allan Maki|date=7 April 2015|access-date=5 May 2015}}</ref> There was an "embarrassing miscalculation in the proposed NDP budget" released two days before the debate that Prentice planned to capitalize upon; during the televised leaders' debate Prentice said "I know math is difficult" to [[Alberta New Democratic Party]] leader [[Rachel Notley]] in criticizing the "multibillion-dollar hole in [her] proposed budget", however Prentice's remark came under fire for as being deeply patronizing as well as potentially [[sexist]].<ref name=electiongaffes/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/ndp-misses-by-a-year-on-balanced-budget-calculation|title=NDP misses by a year on balanced budget calculation|first=Karen|last=Kleiss|date=21 April 2015|access-date=4 December 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/alberta/mirrors-and-miscalculations-five-alberta-election-moments-to-remember/article24254881/|title=Mirrors and miscalculations: Five Alberta election moments to remember|first=Allan|last=Maki|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=7 April 2015|access-date=5 May 2015}}</ref>  While Prentice otherwise performed respectably ahead of Wildrose leader [[Brian Jean]] and interim Liberal leader [[David Swann]], the NDP gained momentum as a result of the debate and overtook Wildrose for the lead in polls.<ref>{{cite news |title=Report card: How the leaders did in the debate |url=https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/report-card-how-the-leaders-did-in-the-debate |access-date=24 May 2021 |work=[[Edmonton Journal]] |date=April 24, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Braid |first1=Don |title=Braid: Notley shines in the best-ever Alberta leaders' debate |url=https://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/braid-notley-shines-in-the-best-ever-alberta-leaders-debate |access-date=24 May 2021 |work=[[Calgary Herald]] |date=April 23, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Gerson |first1=Jen |title=Alberta election debate 'math' remark could subtract voters for PC's Jim Prentice |url=https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/math-remark-during-debate-could-subtract-voters-for-alberta-pcs-jim-prentice |access-date=24 May 2021 |work=[[National Post]] |date=April 24, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Bartko |first1=Karen |title=Notley emerges as winner of Alberta election leaders' debate |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/1958961/notley-emerges-as-winner-of-alberta-election-leaders-debate/ |access-date=24 May 2021 |work=[[Global News]] |date=April 24, 2015}}</ref>

The [[2015 Alberta general election|provincial election]] ended the Progressive Conservatives' 44-year run in government, with the Alberta New Democratic Party winning a [[majority government]], the first time the party had been elected to government in the province's history. The Progressive Conservatives fell to third place in the legislature, with 10 seats, behind both the NDP and the Wildrose Party.  While the PCs placed second in terms of the popular vote, their caucus was decimated due to being completely shut out in Edmonton and losing all but eight seats in Calgary. Thirteen members of Prentice's cabinet were defeated, though Prentice himself was re-elected in Calgary-Foothills.  However, with the overall result beyond doubt, he resigned as PC leader, disclaimed his seat (thus voiding the election result in his riding)<ref name=legbio>{{cite web|title=The Honourable Jim Prentice, PC, QC, 2014–2015|url=https://www.assembly.ab.ca/lao/library/premiers/j-prentice.html|website=Legislative Assembly of Alberta|access-date=November 24, 2015}}</ref> and retired from politics.<ref>{{cite news|title=Alberta PC Leader Jim Prentice resigns after winning seat in Calgary-Foothills|url=http://globalnews.ca/news/1982058/alberta-pc-leader-jim-prentice-wins-seat-in-calgary-foothills/|access-date=May 5, 2015|work=Global News|date=May 5, 2015}}</ref>

During the transition of power, Prentice advised Premier-designate Notley to continue settlement talks with the [[Lubicon Lake Band]]. The band had been seeking an agreement for 80 years, and Prentice had reopened negotiations in the fall of 2014. Notley recalled "He saw a path forward and he advised me how to travel that path, for which I, and many, many others, are very grateful", and the land claim deal was reached in late 2018.<ref name="cbc20190204">{{cite news |last1=Bellefontaine |first1=Michelle |title=Jim Prentice's 'sense of vision' depicted in official premier's portrait |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/jim-prentice-premier-legislature-portrait-1.5005667 |access-date=24 May 2021 |work=[[CBC News]] |date=February 4, 2019 |location=Edmonton}}</ref><ref name="Global20190204">{{cite news |last1=Bennett |first1=Dean |title=Former premier Jim Prentice honoured with official portrait at Alberta legislature |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/4924639/alberta-legislature-jim-prentice-portrait/ |access-date=24 May 2021 |work=[[Global News]] |agency=The Canadian Press |date=February 4, 2019}}</ref>