In September, Progressive Conservative Party members will choose a new leader for their party and a new premier for Alberta.

At 43 years in power, the PC Party has lasted longer than East Germany’s Socialist Unity Party (41 years). It’s an impressive record, but the party’s longevity and its actions over the better part of the last decade have led some to ask if it can be saved, regardless of who it selects as leader.

To be sure, the last decade of PC rule has been fraught with cronyism, massive deficits, a return to debt and unethical spending by some of its leading members. But the PCs have turned it around before. In 1992, they showed Don Getty the door and saw a revival of fortunes under Ralph Klein.

The PCs are searching for their third leader in three years. Is there a Ralph Klein or Peter Lougheed in the mix, or are they doomed to fall like the Berlin Wall? 

If he or she does exist, here are a few things that the PCs should be looking for in their new leader:

No Sense of Entitlement

The one thing Albertans will be able to smell quickly is if the new PC leader has an air of royalty about them that at all resembles Alison Redford. Redford’s expense claims show that she almost always stayed at the most expensive hotels, ate the most expensive foods, and flew on the most expensive flights. She felt entitled to fly her family and friends at taxpayers’ expense and was incredulous when anyone questioned her about it.

The next PC leader is likely to be scared to death of this perception, but a real sense of modesty will be required, not just claims that things are different now.

Not beholden to big money

The next PC premier needs to fight the leadership campaign and general election without being beholden to big money from large corporations, unions or wealthy individuals. Redford was bailed out in the last election by a last minute “bulk donation” of $430,000 from Daryl Katz while he was pleading for taxpayers’ money to build a new NHL arena. North West Upgrading Inc. is being handed up to a billion dollars in corporate welfare. It just happens to be a generous donor to the PC Party.

Candidates seeking the PC leadership should introduce legislation that discloses all political donations no less than a week before Election Day and bans donations from businesses that receive subsidies from the government. They should further refuse to accept any donations from unions collected without the individual consent of each member.

A debt-free Alberta 

The PCs greatest claim to fame is the image of Ralph Klein holding a “Paid in Full” sign over his head in 2005, proclaiming that Alberta’s debt had been slain. This legacy has been thrown away and even ridiculed during Redford’s tenure. Redford and Horner have taken Alberta from “Paid in Full” to a debt projected to reach $21 billion by 2016. This is akin to the NDP attacking Tommy Douglas for universal healthcare.

If the new PC leader wants to win back fiscal conservatives and Albertans who took pride in this uniquely Albertan accomplishment, he or she will promise to do so again.

The PC Party hasn’t lasted 43 years without being able to re-invent itself a few times. The next PC leader will clearly have their work cut out to accomplish this again.