Jason Kenney, former federal cabinet minister and wannabe leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party is an outsider to provincial politics.
He campaigned against the Wildrose Party in recent elections and represents the hard right conservatism that the PCs have rejected, but he aspires to uniting the right.
Kenny is the agent of former insiders who pine for the return of a conservative dynasty but are on the sidelines as the NDP, new PCs and Wildrose reshape politics in 21st century politics.
His inner circle is composed of old generals fighting past political wars.
To win the Progressive Conservative leadership he must bypass the party's rank and file to take over riding associations.
In other words, Kenny must destroy the PC village to save it.
Today Alberta is a gen X province.
The median age is the youngest in Canada at 36 years.
Alberta is also urban with 81 per cent of the population made up of urbanites.
The new demographic Alberta is also its new politics.
Half the population was not born when Premier Peter Lougheed, who defined urban politics for his generation, retired from office in 1986.
Half the population could not yet vote in the halcyon years of the Reform Party.
The demographics of Alberta favour progressive politicians over conservatives, the NDP over its rivals on the right whether they are united or not.
New Democrat policy appeals to young urbanites. Higher minimum wages for instance are more likely to find favour with younger urban dwellers.
Voters who are 36 or younger are more optimistic about taking on a deficit.
The young urbanite demographic is not the property of the New Democrats.
The political differences of left and right have been inherited by a new generation of political leadership on both sides of the political spectrum.
The new executives of the PC Party are young urbanites.
Jason Kenney is a member of generation X and could bridge the generation gap that divides Alberta conservatives.
However, he appears committed to old conservatives and a brand of conservatism that is obsolete in the renovated Alberta public forum.
Frank Dabbs is the editor of the Didsbury Review, a veteran political and energy journalist, the author of four books and editor of several more.
