Ted Morton didn’t win the Conservative Party leadership and provincial premiership in Alberta, perhaps because he was "too scary for Alberta".
Not the Ted I know, and not the Alberta I know. But as one article noted, there were lots of "instant Tories" mobilized to vote against him.
I await von Heyking’s take, and note that Ed Stelmach (the first Ukrainian premier of a Canadian province) apparently owes his election to Morton voters, and that some expect him to be offered a fairly significant cabinet post.
Stelmach, as the 3rd place finisher in the 1st ballot, became the Condorecet winner on the 2nd ballot. He won more votes than Morton to knock out Morton (who ended up 3rd) and then picked up votes from Morton’s supporters, who chose Stelmach as their 2nd choice in the preferential ballot. The leadership race showed that the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta, as a brokerage party, is divided largely along the same ideological lines that broke up the PC Party at the federal level in the early 1990s. Jim Dinning, the favorite throughout the race, got the support from so-called Red Tories (the left) as well as from left-wing voters who bought PC memberships to beat Morton; Morton picked up a lot of support from the Reform Party/Alliance side of the party. Stelmach, hated and loved by no one, split the difference. It’s too early to see if he’ll be ineffectual as a result.
I should add that it’s always a good time to pack your bags for Alberta!