and Calgary, with staff in each, but Mr. Smith says that setup can't continue. The party still has bills and donations arriving in the mail after a month-long election campaign, and its financial picture won't be clear until the end of the month.

On Thursday night, many of the well-heeled at the Calgary convention centre were trying to figure out where the party had stumbled.

It may have been the instability of four premiers in five years, or the party's inability to balance the budget in good economic times. It could have been former premier Alison Redford's scandals over office and travel expenses, or the mass floor crossing of Wildrose MLAs last December that decapitated the Official Opposition. Or maybe it was Mr. Prentice's bad-news budget and his willingness tohike taxes on everyone except corporations.

Thursday's turnout was an

improvement from election night, where only a few dozen supporters made their way to PC headquarters to watch as the party's ministers and MLAs fell one by one.

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After a 28-day campaign in which the long-governing party struggled to gain any traction in polls, the mood was grim on May 5 as an Orange Wave rolled over Alberta. For decades the hall would have been packed with agenda-setters. But as Mr. Prentice worked in a backroom on his concession speech, packs of electoral posters remained wrapped in plastic and bags of balloons sat unopened – there just weren't enough supporters around.

As Mr. Prentice took to the stage to concede, he saw rows of unoccupied seats. Those in the