Almost four years ago, the Province of Alberta elected Premier Ed Stelmach to office.

Now, some of the people who supported Stelmach are probably regretting that. 

A recent poll brought out by CTV Edmonton says that 48 per cent of Albertans say that Stelmach is doing a poor job.

This is down from when Stelmach first took the helm, when he had a 54 per cent approval rating four years ago.

 “I can’t believe we elected him in the first place,” says Barb Bianchi, a resident of Milk River and a person who is a clear supporter of this poll.

But should the Tories be worried that their numbers are starting to slip?

The PCs say that this doesn’t faze them, but Faron Ellis, a political scientist at Lethbridge College, says they should be.

“The Alberta Progressive Conservatives should take these numbers seriously – as they are – but only in the context of one of many polls that measure their general malaise,” says Ellis. 

Ellis also notes that “they will argue they were getting only mixed (and sometimes negative) reviews prior to the last election and they ended up kicking their opponents’ butts.”

So now how can the PCs make it so that they can get their ratings up in time for the next election?

“They can start governing much more competently than they have up to this point,” says Ellis. “Developing a competent plan for governing, systematically articulating that plan and then competently implementing it would help a lot.”

Bianchi also says” it’s amazing how when we were picking out a new leader, he (Stelmach) was able  pull up ahead of the other two.”