{"id":5027,"date":"2014-03-24T04:43:41","date_gmt":"2014-03-24T11:43:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=5027"},"modified":"2014-03-24T04:43:41","modified_gmt":"2014-03-24T11:43:41","slug":"alison-redford-out-dave-hancock-sworn-in-as-albertas-15th-premier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/03\/24\/alison-redford-out-dave-hancock-sworn-in-as-albertas-15th-premier\/","title":{"rendered":"Alison Redford out, Dave Hancock sworn in as Alberta’s 15th premier"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dave<\/a>
Dave and his wife, Janet.
Photo: Facebook Page of Minister Dave Hancock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

EDMONTON – It’s official \u2014 Dave Hancock is now the 15th premier of Alberta.<\/p>\n

Hancock took the oath of office in front of fellow caucus members, family, and guests in a short ceremony at Government House on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n

“I’m honoured by the confidence my colleagues have placed in me and I’m humbled by the sense of responsibility and the opportunity to serve,” Hancock said in a speech.<\/p>\n

Minutes before Hancock took the oath, government whip George VanderBurg formally submitted Alison Redford’s written resignation as premier to Alberta Chief Justice Catherine Fraser.<\/p>\n

Fraser was substituting for Lt.-Gov. Don Ethell, who could not attend because of previously scheduled trip.<\/p>\n

Redford was not at the ceremony, but Hancock paid tribute to her.<\/p>\n

“She worked tirelessly to promote our province and to build its place in Canada and the world,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I want to extend my thanks, those of my colleagues and of all Albertans to Premier Redford for her service and for her sacrifice,” he added, to applause.<\/p>\n

Hancock was voted by the governing Progressive Conservative caucus to take over from Redford after she resigned Wednesday amid internal strife.<\/p>\n

He said he understands he will only serve as premier until the party picks a permanent replacement in the coming months.<\/p>\n

“I’m only too aware that my term as premier is finite and short,” he said.<\/p>\n

“But it’s critical that we continue to build Alberta together.”<\/p>\n

Hancock, the Edmonton-Whitemud MLA, has worked for 17 years in the legislature in seven portfolios along with duties as government house leader.<\/p>\n

He was deputy premier under Redford and later told reporters he doubts he will name another deputy premier.<\/p>\n

“I’m not planning to make any real changes in cabinet,” he said.<\/p>\n

Hancock has already said he plans to keep his other job as advanced education minister.<\/p>\n

PC party officials meet Monday in Red Deer to set the rules and deadlines for the leadership race.<\/p>\n

Under party rules, the vote must be held no earlier than four months from now and no later than six.<\/p>\n

A number of PC cabinet ministers have said they’re mulling over a run for the leadership.<\/p>\n

Hancock said he will respect the tradition that any cabinet ministers who decide to run must resign from cabinet to prevent any candidate from having an unfair advantage.<\/p>\n

Hancock has said he won’t run for the job.<\/p>\n

He takes over a caucus that has fallen to historic lows in recent opinion polls under Redford.<\/p>\n

The surveys suggested widespread anger and distrust with Redford over lavish spending on herself and members of her inner circle.<\/p>\n

Her resignation came after she failed to stop growing unrest within her party and her caucus.<\/p>\n

When she left, two caucus members had already quit, 10 more were thinking about it, and riding presidents from Edmonton and Calgary were considering a motion to ask her to resign.<\/p>\n

Earlier Sunday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a statement wishing Hancock well, saying he looked forward to working with the new premier.<\/p>\n

Harper also thanked Redford.<\/p>\n

“Ms. Redford was a strong steward of the Alberta economy, a strong voice in Confederation, and I commend her for her dedication and service,” Harper said in the statement.<\/p>\n

“Laureen and I wish her the very best in her future endeavours.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EDMONTON – It’s official \u2014 Dave Hancock is now the 15th premier of Alberta. Hancock took the oath of office …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":5028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1298],"class_list":["post-5027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","tag-dave-hancock","mauthors-dean-bennett","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}