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EspañolALBERTA ALLIANCE PARTY
The 'Alberta Alliance' is a right wing political party in Alberta, Canada. Many of its members are former supporters of the now-defunct Canadian Alliance federal political party and its predecessor, the Reform Party of Canada. Members also joined from such other provincial fringe parties as the Alberta First Party, the Alberta Party and Social Credit. Alliance supporters tend to view themselves as "true conservatives", and believe the Progressive Conservative government of Premier Ed Stelmach is out of touch with the needs of Albertans. Critics view the party as a far-right party unduly influenced by members of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, such as the current leader Paul Hinman and others such as co-founder, former leader, and current President Randy Thorsteinson.
Paul Hinman was elected the party's leader at a leadership convention held on November 19, 2005.
Early history
The party was registered on October 25, 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 old logo 2002 to 2006
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 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 campaign
The Alliance nominated candidates in all 83 electoral divisions and three 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 Democratic Party leader was allowed in the debate (as was then Social Credit leader Thorsteinson), even though the NDP had no MLAs at the time. They also noted that the NDP 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.
"I Blame Ralph"
The Alberta Alliance Party devised a campaign strategy in September 2004 prior to election called "I Blame Ralph", the purpose of which was to drive a wedge between voters who were uncomfortable with Ralph Klein's behaviour, and highlight his tight controls over the governments decision making.
The party kicked off the "I Blame Ralph" tour holding pre-election campaign events in numerous cities including opening its Campaign Headquarters in Red Deer. Part of the promotional package used by the party was bumper stickers a variety of fliers for different problems and a television ad, as well as t-shirts and a website. "I Blame Ralph" received significant attention, but did not include any of the standard Alberta Alliance logo's or colours, instead using red and white leading many to believe the Liberals were responsible.
Senate campaign
The Alberta Alliance party ran three Senator-in-waiting candidates selected at a nomination meeting in Red Deer. The Alliance was the only party besides the Progressive Conservatives to nominate candidates. The Social Credit Party failed to get the signatures required to field a candidate.
Legislature 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 the Edmonton Decore electoral district, placing a distant fourth. Masyk's old electoral district Edmonton Norwood had been merged in Edmonton Highlands, the district represented by popular New Democrat leader Brian Mason. To avoid running against Mason, Masyk sought election in a neighbouring riding.
The party on the whole did very poorly in Edmonton and Calgary. 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. But many are quick to point out the Alliance simply put the Conservative at par with the Liberals, for the Liberals were having their votes siphoned of by the NDP in previous elections.
As expected by commentators, it was in a handful of rural seats where the party proved to be truly competitive. Thorsteinson placed a distant second in Innisfail-Sylvan Lake. The party managed a narrow victory in Progressive Conservative strong hold of 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.
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 was scheduled for November 19, 2005. Even though Thorsteinson stepped down as leader, he still plays a semi-active role in the party; 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.
2005 leadership convention
Main articles: Alberta Alliance Party leadership election, 2005
The party replaced former leader Randy Thorsteinson in a two day leadership convention held on November 18, and November 19, 2005 in Red Deer.
The Nominations closed on September 20, 2005. Candidates were eligible if had been a party member for at least 90 days prior to the convention, obtain 100 signatures from party members in good standing, and provide a $5,000 deposit.
The Alberta Alliance had four candidates were officially nominated.
★ Paul Hinman
★ Marilyn Burns
★ David Crutcher
★ Ed Klop
Paul Hinman was elected as the party's new leader on November 19, 2005, after a bitter leadership campaign. He was elected on the third ballot defeating Marilyn Burns.
Merger talks
Following the leadership convention, the party entered discussion about merging with the Social Credit Party of Alberta and re-entered merger talks with the Alberta Party in order to unite the political right in Alberta.
Merger talks with the Social Credit collapsed after a motion was put forward at the 2006 Social Credit policy convention to break off merger talks and focus on electing members in the next provincial election.[1]
The Alberta Alliance Party and Alberta Party held their Annual General Meetings on March 23, 2007 and March 24, 2007, in Edmonton and Red Deer, respectively, to vote on a new party constitution that would have merged the parties.[2][3] The new party would have kept the Alberta Alliance Party name and Paul Hinman as leader. Talks between the two parties had been on-going prior to the election in 2004. The Alberta Alliance party membership voted to withhold a potential merger until after the Alberta Party deals with its current legal troubles.[4]
2006 Progressive Conservative leadership election
In an unorthodox political move, on October 11, 2006, Alliance leader Paul Hinman encouraged his party members to buy memberships in the rival Progressive Conservative Party and vote for candidate Ted Morton in the PC Party's upcoming leadership race, as Morton is considered the candidate that is ideologically most in sync with Alliance philosophies.[5]
The idea wasn't well received by the provincial council and voted down.
It has been argued by some that parties such as Social Credit and Alberta Alliance could, with sufficient support, possibly threaten the now-traditional Progressive Conservative dominance in the province despite the much greater levels of support currently attained by parties such as the Liberal and New Democratic parties. The basis for such an argument is that both Social Credit and Alberta Alliance would most likely to compete for the "rural vote"- traditionally PC heartland. However, this has so far failed to materialize despite the promising showings by both parties in a number of ridings in recent elections.
References
1. Social Credit suspends merger talks
2. Alberta Alliance enters merger talks
3. Alberta Party enters merger talks with the Alberta Alliance
4. Alberta Alliance Annual General Meeting Report, Saturday, March 24, 2007
5. Edmonton Journal story
Current provincial council
The Alliance Provincial Council as of January 2007:
★ Paul Hinman, Leader MLA, Cardston-Taber-Warner
★ Randy Thorsteinson, President
★ John Murdoch, Past President
★ Jane Morgan, Chief Financial Officer
★ Kathy Rayner, Party Secretary
★ Ed Klop, Vice President - Communications
★ Kelly Swerid, Vice President - Election Readiness
★ Rand Sisson, Vice President - Fundraising
★ Bob Whyte, Vice President - Membership
★ Cory Morgan, Vice President - Policy
★ Vacant, Vice President - Calgary Region
★ Phil Gamache, Vice President - Edmonton Region
★ Patti Argent, Vice President - Central Region
★ Vacant, Vice President - North East Region
★ Dale Leuken, Vice President - North West Region
★ Vacant, Vice President - South Region
:'Alberta Alliance Opposition'
★ David Strong, Executive Assistant and Constituency Manager (Cardston-Taber-Warner)
★ Steve Ellingson, Communications and Research - Edmonton
See also
★ Alberta political parties
External links
★ Alberta Alliance Party
★ Alberta Alliance caucus website
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