Once in a generation or so, in most provinces, a transformative premier arrives. Their legacy outlives them.

Jean Lesage and Rene Levesque’s legacy lives on in the success of Quebec Hydro, central to the province’s economy decades later. Bill Davis’ creation of the largest network of community colleges in the nation is at the foundation of Ontario’s technology success. Allan Blakeney’s decision to promote potash and uranium mining generated billions of dollars in revenues for Saskatchewan, saving the province from bankruptcy under the Devine government that followed.

Peter Lougheed, a well-loved and complex statesman, dragged Alberta into the late 20th century through a combination of compassionate capitalism, state intervention, and set the table for the future bonanza of the oilsands. Rachel Notley was described as Lougheed’s heir by many. Her legacy will be difficult to undo.

The new government has pledged to limit spending on schools and health care and to proceed with new corporate tax cuts. Trump failed at reviving coal. The new Alberta government seems unlikely to be able to be more successful. Alberta public opinion is divided, but even a large number of industry leaders welcomed the Notley balance between oilsands production, an off-coal strategy, and building a nonfossil fuel-based innovation economy. It was Notley who stumped Canada fighting for the right to build pipelines married to an off-carbon agenda.

Unlikely to survive will be Notley’s rollout of $25-a-day child care. The pilot study and the operational lessons it offered will sit, waiting to be implemented by a future government.

Notley ignited a furor over granting farmworkers the same health and safety benefits as every other worker. This resulted from too little consultation and was poorly defended; it is, however, unlikely to be seriously rolled back. It is a rare politician who wants to take away new benefits.

Notley learned from that beginner’s gaffe. For the first time in decades, the province had not one serious public-sector strike. This was the result of contracts that were settled with zero increase terms, after endless consultation and negotiation. A return to nasty fights with teachers and nurses are inevitable now that government cutbacks seem certain.

It will be very interesting to see if there is an attempt to rollback Notley’s $15 minimum wage. To conservative economists’ chagrin the evidence that decent minimum wages “kill jobs” gets more ambiguous with every long-term study. Equally difficult for conservative leaders everywhere, is that a higher minimum wage has the support of roughly three-out-of-four voters, even after extensive campaigns against the increases. Many of those supporters are conservative voters.

If the new government does follow through on its strategy of attacking Ottawa on carbon taxes and B.C. on the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMX), the political toll will rise quickly. Notley would not have won a constitutional challenge on “turning the taps off” over TMX, neither will the new government. Apart from the rollback of the National Energy Program in the Lougheed era, there are very few examples of a province winning a quasi-constitutional battle with Ottawa, over issues that cross jurisdiction and provincial boundaries.

An attack on equalization, whose formula was part of the Harper government’s legacy — the very government in which the new premier was a senior minister — seems certain to crash as well.

It is difficult for any new governments to build their own positive legacy merely by undoing the agenda of their predecessor. Can anyone name a positive Mike Harris legacy in Ontario today?

Perhaps Notley’s standout legacy bequest will have been her elevation of civility, her leadership values, her rejection of social exclusion, and her vigorous defence of climate change action based on compromise and coalition-building.

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Notley paid a heavy political price for attempting to build Alberta’s bridges to Canada, and for seeking to defend Alberta to Canadians, as did Peter Lougheed. She refused to divide the province and the country by stoking anger and fear. The new premier was elected on his successful exploitation of that angst.

Lougheed launched Alberta’s outreach to Canada with vigorous campaigning on how important a player in Canada’s success Alberta was. He launched Alberta on a global stage with the first provincial trade offices in Asia and Europe. He would have approved of the Notley agenda and style.

RS Robin V. Sears is a principal at Earnscliffe Strategy Group and was an NDP strategist for 20 years. He is a freelance contributor for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @robinvsears

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