Alberta business leaders hope "Steady Eddie" Stelmach lives up to his nickname as he takes over as premier.

"The foot is off the accelerator, and it's not on the brakes," says Greg Stringham, vice-president of the Calgary-based Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP).

"What I think we'll be looking for from the government of Alberta is a commitment to those market-based principles, or a re-commitment. They were there when Eddie was already there as minister."

Stelmach has built a reputation as an honest and accountable politician while serving as a cabinet minister in portfolios ranging from agriculture to transportation under former premier Ralph Klein.

Eddie Stelmach

Now that he has emerged victorious from the Tory leadership race, business groups hope he will stay the course on his commitment to new infrastructure - and tighten the provincial pursestrings as oil and gas revenues, which fund many programs, start to dip.

The Alberta Motor Transport Association (AMTA), which represents the province's trucking industry, has lauded Stelmach's pledge to develop new infrastructure. AMTA president Mayne Root says his group knows Stelmach well from his days as transportation minister.

"We had the opportunity of working with him relatively closely, and certainly found him to be knowledgeable, understanding of the industry, supportive of safety and of making sure that business can get done at a reasonable rate in the province, certainly," says Root.

He adds Stelmach's support for a transportation safety plan is "already good news.”

The new premier was also instrumental in signing Alberta on to the harmonized hours of service agreement for truck drivers across the country. The deal aims to reduce driver fatigue, improve safety and help trucking companies remain competitive.

Root says Stelmach's consultative approach on infrastructure "has been excellent."

But the AMTA wants Stelmach's government to work on putting all provincial fuel-tax dollars into new infrastructure, which includes roads and bridges, and confirm funding commitments for ring roads around Calgary and Edmonton - to which he allocated $150 million while he was transportation minister - in wake of rising construction and labour costs.

"The big challenge that he's got now is that he's gotta balance everything," says Root. "He's not just looking at focusing on some specific areas. He's gotta look at the big picture even more than he did before - and take into account all the other organizational needs and requirements in the province."

CAPP's Stringham says Stelmach, MLA for the Vegreville area, "knows the (oilpatch) very well from his rural roots," and understands oil and gas development issues. Stelmach dealt with the energy industry when he served as the inter-governmental affairs minister, the position he held before he became premier.

"He has been called 'Steady Eddie' and he really has been very solid in his policy outlook as well as very calm in looking forward and understanding the strategic needs as well as the operational needs that need to get addressed right away," says Stringham.

He adds Stelmach is aware of the industry's skilled-labour shortage and the need for more infrastructure and a balanced provincial budget.

After introducing drastic budget cuts in most ministries in the early 1990s, Klein's government was criticized within business circles for what was perceived as excessive spending in his final years in office.

Stelmach was quick to earn praise from CAPP as he set up two cabinet committees designed to help the province deal with infrastructure development. Fort McMurray, the heart of the oilsands, and several northern communities have lamented their shortages of roads, sewers, schools and other basic building necessities.

CAPP president Pierre Alvarez says the Stelmach government has to look "very quickly" at energy from the technology and environmental sides and evaluate land use plans.

"There are a whole bunch of other areas, like education, like municipal development, that are important to the industry in a longer-term point of view," says Alvarez. "He has very clearly signalled ... that community development is an important thing for him.

Dan Kelly, western vice-president for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), says his group is also well acquainted with Stelmach, having met with him several times.

"He's a very decent and honest politician - and hard-working guy - and those are very positive qualities in any elected official," says Kelly.

The CFIB is optimistic that Stelmach's "positive personality traits" will pay off in the form of good policies.

"He seems to very much get the labour-shortage issue in Alberta," says Kelly. "That seems to be a very common plank in his plan - and that's great news for us. We've been talking about this issue a lot over the last number of years."

Kelly also credits Stelmach with spearheading the widely praised Trade Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) between Alberta and B.C., which is designed to remove barriers to business between the provinces.

But he wants Stelmach to show more fiscal discipline after Klein's Tories constantly re-wrote their budget "on the back of a napkin."

"(The Tories) write a budget every time, but they routinely over-spend the budget," says Kelly.

The CFIB would also like to see Stelmach set up a major campaign to address the skilled-labour shortage and launch "a comprehensive regulatory reform" similar to one in B.C.

Kevin Evans, western vice-president for the Retail Council of Canada, says his group is looking forward to working with Stelmach on ways to offset the province's labour-supply shortage.

"From our perspective, that's Job 1," says Evans. "Then attendant to that are some of the infrastructure issues, transportation, housing, the ability to accommodate the additional workers that the Alberta economy now requires."

Training, research and development are challenges often cited by business operators in several sectors. Business groups have repeatedly called for the province to boost post-secondary funding.

University of Calgary president Harvey Weingarten says universities are willing to give Stelmach time to settle in.

"I think he understands the importance of post-secondary education in the advancement of the province, in terms of the economic prosperity of the province," says Weingarten. "It's early times, so we're going to have to see what gets done in terms of the ministry (and) the minister."

Stelmach appointed failed leadership candidate Ted Morton, a former U of C professor, as advanced education minister.

"I'm looking for not only a continuation of the increased support that the Alberta government has put into universities, but I'm looking for an enhancement of that," says Weingarten.

"And the reason is not because we're greedy or just want more. It's because, with every investment dollar that we get, we give a many-fold return back to the province," he says.

One of the best investments any province can make is in the public post-secondary system, says Weingarten, because it "pays back handsomely in terms of the prosperity and the quality of life of the province."

Many educators and business groups have described post-secondary funding as inadequate.

But Weingarten says he "wouldn't single out Alberta" when it comes to assessing provinces' track records.

"I would say we, as a country, have a lot more to do," says Weingarten.

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)