Oh King Ralph, your subjects are displeased...

C B C . C A N e w s - F u l l S t o r y : Klein 'shocked' at weak party support Last Updated Sat, 01 Apr 2006 08:34:27 EST CBC News Alberta Premier Ralph Klein is mulling over his political future after Conservative party delegates gave him just 55 per cent support in a leadership review late Friday night. The premier was "shocked ... and a little hurt" at hearing the results, said his spokeswoman Marisa Etmanski, adding that he will take a few days to consider his future. Ralph Klein addresses the Alberta Progressive Conservative convention in Calgary on Friday. (CP photo) Klein has led the Tories to four majority governments in the past 13 years and has received approval ratings as high as 97 per cent. The premier has said he wants to remain as leader for the next two years. But now some pundits say he may leave sooner. "Given the results of this vote, I intend to meet with party officials and my staff to discuss my next step," Klein said. "I will do this as quickly as possible and announce a decision about my future shortly." During his speech Friday night to delegates at the party's annual convention in Calgary, Klein seemed to plead for his political future, asking the party faithful to let him retain his job for another two years. "I ask you to give me, one final time, your endorsement to achieve what I have laid out for the duration of this mandate," Klein said. "If you see fit to give me that support, I pledge to you that I will work as hard as I possibly can to bring continued honour to this party and continued prosperity to this province we love." Ty Lund, the government services minister, said Klein deserves to be supported because he has eliminated Alberta's debt and has built the province into an economic powerhouse. One of the hopefuls in the leadership race, former cabinet minister Lyle Oberg, has openly questioned Klein's plans to stay in the job. But Oberg told CBC News that the vote results have nothing to do with a political showdown. "This is purely about the length of the leadership race and I think people saw that in the question, that it was the length of the leadership race, and they've decided that two years would not be good for the party and would not be good for the province, and I agree with that." Copyright ©2006 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved