Canadians say goodbye to Ralph Klein: A “kind of leader conservatives long for”

As small 'c' conservatives watched the memorial service of former Alberta leader Ralph Klein, on Friday, I'm sure there was sense of: where is Canada's next great fiscal conservative leader.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a current Premier who truly falls into that category of a Ralph Klein and even in Ottawa the current Conservative government has been anything but: According to the Toronto Sun, "between 2009 and 2016 the Harper government will have added $170 billion to the federal debt.

[ Related: Ralph Klein memorial: Fans remember the former premier ]

For small 'c' conservatives, Friday's memorial was a stark reminder that 'Ralph' was a rare politician.

"Ralph Klein was one of the few home grown political leaders Canadian conservatives could look upon as a true hero," political analyst Gerry Nicholls told Yahoo! Canada News.

"He tackled deficits, tamed debts and cut government spending, all things fiscal conservatives want in a leader.

"Leaders like that don’t come along too often in Canada. So maybe that’s why there is such an outpouring. He was the kind of leader conservatives long for, but rarely see."

Mark Milke of the Fraser Institute echoed Nicholls comments.

"I think Ralph Klein understood what people wanted: for governments to not bankrupt the public treasury; to stick to its basic knitting; to not overtax; to set the stage for a general prosperity--which is what Klein's policies did. And it showed in the results: post-1993, decreasing unemployment rates that beat every other province, and economic growth that beat every other province most years," Milke told Yahoo!

[ Related: Public a big part of memorial for former Alberta 'people's premier' Ralph Klein ]

"Klein was humble enough to know government and cannot try and do everything. Klein was not the last fiscal conservative politicians, but no other politician since has spoken the plain truth: you cannot borrow and tax you way into prosperity."

Small 'c' conservatives are waiting for the next Ralph Klein.

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