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It did not have to end this way.

Danielle Smith — once the future premier of Alberta — may have had plenty of perfectly sensible reasons to leave her role as leader of the upstart opposition Wildrose party, when she crossed the floor to join the governing Progressive Conservatives in December.

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As a political entity, the party was in that awkward phase between adolescence and adulthood, trying to make peace with its social conservative base, its grassroots optimists and its pragmatic, victory-focused leadership.

And, certainly, Wildrose was coming of age gracelessly, and in full sight of a new premier, Jim Prentice, who enjoyed the dual benefits of maturity and novelty.

But it didn’t have to end the way it did Saturday night, with Ms. Smith stunningly losing a PC riding nomination battle as her former party — the one she brought from nowhere to the brink of power — loudly cheered her demise while crowning her successor.