Alberta Alliance Party
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Template:Infobox Canada Political Party
The Alberta Alliance is a right wing political party in Alberta, Canada. Its membership is primarily supporters of the now-defunct Canadian Alliance federal political party and its predecessor, the Reform Party of Canada. Alliance supporters tend to view themselves as "true conservatives", and believe the Progressive Conservative government of Premier Ralph Klein is out of touch with the needs of Albertans. Its founding leader, Randy Thorsteinson, has resigned. A leadership convention is to be held on November 19, 2005.
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Early history
The party was registered in October 2002, and its Founding Convention was held on February 14-15, 2003, in Red Deer.
Former Social Credit Party of Alberta leader Randy Thorsteinson was selected as the first leader of the party. Thorsteinson, a devout Latter-day Saint, had quit the Social Credit Party in April 1999 in protest of an internal party proposal to limit the involvement of Mormons.
The Canadian Alliance never formed provincial wings or forged formal links with existing provincial parties. In the case of the Canadian Alliance's predecessor, the Reform Party of Canada, an inactive Reform Party of Alberta had been formed by members of the federal party to keep the Reform name out of provincial politics. The provincial Reform Party was deregistered along with The Equity Party after the 26th Alberta general election. In this case, however, the founders of the Alberta Alliance intended to form a very active party, and many members of the Alberta Alliance undoubtedly hoped the new party would be seen as the unofficial provincial wing of the Canadian Alliance.
The new party never sought a formal link with the CA, and had it done so, the overture would likely have been rebuffed, since many Albertan CA members continued to support the Alberta Progressive Conservatives. However, the Alberta Alliance used the same blue-and-green colours used by the CA, and its logo bears a striking resemblance to that of the federal party. The Alberta Alliance continued to grow following the Canadian Alliance's merger with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to form the new Conservative Party of Canada.
The Alliance gained its first Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta (MLA) on June 29, 2004, when Gary Masyk crossed the floor. Masyk quit the PC Party to protest Klein's handling of health care issues during the 2004 federal election. Masyk had represented Edmonton Norwood since 2001.
2004 election
The Alliance nominated candidates in all 83 electoral divisions and 3 Candidates for the Senator in waiting, for the 2004 Alberta election, which was held on November 22, 2004. The party was excluded from Global Television's leaders debate because it had not elected any members in the 2001 election, which was held before the party was founded. Some Alliance members noted that in the 1997 election, the Alberta New Democrats leader was allowed in the debate, even though the NDs had no MLAs at the time. They also noted that the NDs did not even have a full slate of candidates in the 1997 election.
The Alliance hired an American firm, Campaign Secrets, to help run its campaign. Campaign Secrets, which has extensive experience working on Republican campaigns, produced advertisements that were criticized by some Albertans for employing "U.S.-style" negative campaign tactics. The Alliance leadership defended their use of American strategists, claiming that most right-leaning Albertan consultants were already hired by the well-heeled Tories.
Results
On election day, results for the party could be described as mixed. Most analysts did not expect the two-year-old party to seriously challenge what was still a popular PC government, and it did not.
The party's lone incumbent MLA, Gary Masyk, was defeated in his Edmonton seat in the election, placing a distant fourth. Masyk's electoral district had been merged in Edmonton-Highlands, the district represented by New Deomcrat leader Brian Mason. To avoid running against Mason, Masyk sought election in a differnet riding.
The party on the whole did very poorly in Edmonton. In Calgary, the party managed a few respectable showings, but failed to win any seats. The Alliance appears to have played spoiler in some urban seats, siphoning off enough votes from the Tories that Liberals or New Democrats were elected.
As expected by commentators, it was in a handful of rural seats where the party proved to be truly competitive. Thorsteinson placed a disappointing distant second in Innisfail-Sylvan Lake. The party managed a narrow victory in Cardston-Taber-Warner, where Paul Hinman became the first MLA elected under the Alliance banner. The party also placed a close second in Dunvegan-Central Peace. Although the party had other respectable second place finishes, it was badly defeated in other rural districts.
However, mathematically, if the party managed to take 84,174 more votes in its top 42 ridings, it would have formed the government.
- 7 seats were lost by less then 1,500 votes
- 13 more seats were lost by between 1,501 - 2,000 votes
- 11 more seats were lost by between 2,001 - 2,500 votes
- 11 more seats were lost by between 2,501 - 3,000 votes
Aftermath of the 2004 election
On March 7, 2005, Thorsteinson announced his resignation as leader of the Alberta Alliance, citing that he would not be able to devote the time and energy into the party. He stepped down on April 15, 2005. A leadership convention will be held on November 19, 2005. Even though Thorsteinson stepped down as leader, he still plays an semi-active role in the party. He is the president of the Innisfail-Sylvan Lake riding association. It is unclear, however, if he will run for the legislature in the next provincial election.
Eleanor Maroes was appointed interim leader by the Provincial Council until the membership elects a new leader.
Leadership convention
A leadership convention will be held on November 19, 2005. The location has not been announced.
Four candidates have announced their intentions to seek the leadership so far:
Current Provincial Council
The party's "Provincial Council" was elected on May 28, 2005:
- Eleanor Maroes, Interim Leader
- Paul Hinman, Deputy Leader and MLA Cardston-Taber-Warner
- John Murdoch, President
- Gary Horan, Past President
- Colin Presizniuk, Chief Financial Officer
- Dorothy Leuken, Secretary
- Kathy Rayner, Chief Administrator
- Marilyn Burns, Vice President - Communications
- Robert Ewart, Vice President - Constitution
- Greg Nickelson, Vice President - Election Readyness
- James Istvanffy, Vice President - Fundraising
- Mark Scholz, Vice President - Membership
- Garth Toone, Vice President - Policy
- John Murdoch, Vice President - Calgary Region
- Phil Gamache, Vice President - Edmonton Region
- Patti Argent, Vice President - Central Region
- Byron King, Vice President - North East Region
- Dale Leuken, Vice President - North West Region
- Don Wiesbeck, Vice President - South Region
See also
External links
- Alberta Alliance Party (http://www.AlbertaAlliance.com)
- Alberta Alliance Caucus Website (http://www.allianceopposition.ca/)
- Paul Hinman's website (http://www.paulhinman.ca/)
- Alberta Alliance Blog (http://allianceopposition.blogspot.com/)