Wildrose Alliance Party of Alberta
Wildrose Alliance
Active Provincial Party
Leader
Danielle Smith
President
Jeff Callaway
Founded
2008
Headquarters
#3, 1303 - 44 Ave NECalgary, ABT2E 6L5#401 Legislature Annex9718-107 StEdmonton, ABT5K 1E4
Ideology
ConservatismLibertarianism[1]
International affiliation
None
Official colours
Blue & Green
Website
http://www.wildrosealliance.ca
Politics of CanadaPolitical partiesElections
The Wildrose Alliance Party of Alberta is a fiscally conservative provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. It includes both libertarian and socially conservative factions,[1] and has been led by the libertarian Danielle Smith since October 2009.[2]
Though it won no seats in the 2008 election, winning its only seat in the Legislative Assembly in a 2009 by-election, a November 2009 poll found the party leading province-wide with 39% support, 14 points ahead of both the governing Progressive Conservatives and opposition Liberals.[3]
Contents[hide]
1 History
2 Elections
2.1 2008
2.1.1 Election results
3 Leadership election 2009
4 Danielle Smith era
5 References
6 External links
//
[edit] History
The Wildrose Alliance was named after the Wildrose Party of Alberta and the Alberta Alliance Party. The new party was named for the flower Rosa acicularis commonly known as the Alberta Wild Rose, which grows in Alberta and other areas in North America. The Alliance portion of the name comes from the former Alberta Alliance Party that existed from 2002 to 2008.
The party was created by merger at a special convention on January 19, 2008. The Alberta Alliance Party changed its name to the "Wildrose Alliance Party of Alberta", and accepted the members, assets and liabilities of the Wildrose Party.[4] By-laws were adopted that were substantially similar to those of the Wildrose Party, and a new executive committee was elected.
Alberta Alliance leader and Member of the Legislative Assembly Paul Hinman was selected by an agreement of the executive councils to lead the new party into the 27th Alberta general election.
On February 1, 2008, the President of the new party, Rob James, resigned.[5] John Hilton-O'Brien was selected to serve as interim President of the Party. Hilton-O'Brien was the Alberta Alliance candidate for Grande Prairie Wapiti in the 2004 election. He was elected to the party executive at the merger meeting.
At the Wildrose Alliance's first AGM on June 21, 2008 in Red Deer, Alberta, Jeff Callaway was elected president of the party. He ran un-contested again at the AGM on June 5 and 6 2009 in Calgary, Alberta and was re-elected as a result.
[edit] Elections
[edit] 2008
Main article: Alberta general election, 2008
The party kicked off its 2008 pre-writ election campaign with a tour of towns and small cities across Alberta.
The party ran on a platform of:
minimal taxes (raising the basic exemption to $20,000, eliminating health care premiums, reducing corporate taxes, and building the Alberta Heritage Trust Fund with the object of eventually being able to replace personal tax revenue with investment revenue)
smaller, efficient government (allowing governance and service delivery at the municipal and community level as much as possible, reducing government bureaucracy and unnecessary programs, and reducing government spending to a per capita rate comparable to other Canadian provinces)
free market economics (recognizing existing signed oil sands agreements, enacting a market-based royalty framework that protects the ability of energy companies to grow the Alberta economy, establishing a maximum royalty rate on a per well basis at no higher than 37%, and recognizing that higher royalties in the conventional sector are inappropriate if gas prices are below $7.50/mcf and oil is below $75/barrel)
democratic reform (establishing set election dates every four years, allowing for citizen initiatives via referendums, and enacting the right to recall elected officials)
reclaiming provincial responsibilities from Ottawa
[edit] Election results
On election night, Hinman lost his seat and no other Alliance candidate won a seat. The result in Hinman's riding was close and a recount was held which confirmed Hinman's loss to PC challenger Broyce Jacobs.[6] The Wildrose Alliance received 6.8% of the popular vote across the province, performing on par with the Green Party (4.6%) and the NDP (9.8%).
On election night the Alliance's website was attacked by five computer addresses which blitzed it 100,000 times in 24 hours, making the website difficult to access. The Liberals' website was also experiencing downtime from a possible attack.[7]
[edit] Leadership election 2009
For more details on this topic, see Wildrose Alliance Party of Alberta leadership election, 2009.
On April 20, 2009, Paul Hinman announced his intent to step down as Wildrose Alliance leader at the 2009 Annual General Meeting on June 6, 2009 in Calgary, triggering the party's first leadership election under the Wildrose Alliance banner. On June 7, 2009, the party had attracted two candidates to the race, former Canadian Federation of Independent Business provincial director Danielle Smith and Calgary chiropractor Mark Dyrholm. On July 24, 2009, Jeff Willerton became the third candidate. Following the Calgary leadership debate on September 16, 2009, Willerton dropped out of the race.
On October 17, Danielle Smith was elected leader of the party, which subsequently shifted its focus to fundraising and selecting candidates for a future election.[8]
Although standing down as leader, Paul Hinman managed to win a by-election in Calgary-Glenmore, a Progressive Conservative riding for over 35 years,[8] in the midst of the party's leadership election. Hinman's election returned Wildrose to the legislature, and was said to have earned the party a shot of credibility.[8] The by-election result was arguably the first strong showing by the Alliance in an urban seat.
[edit] Danielle Smith era
After Smith was elected she appointed Stephen Carter as the party's first interim Chief of Staff.[9] On November 25, 2009 Carter resigned the position after it came to light in the public his business Carter McRae was collapsing financially.[10] He notified Smith and the party about the failure of his business interests before accepting the job.[11] Carter had been involved in a controversy over twitter a week earlier to which Premier Ed Stelmach's communication director Tom Olsen accused him of insulting Ukrainian heritage.[12]
Smith announced in her first month of leadership to set up a task force to develop a detailed energy policy for the party[13] and a second task force to independently determine elected Members wages and benefits.[14]
[edit] References
^ a b Andrew Steele (19 October 2009). "Safe change". The Globe and Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/andrew-steele/safe-change/article1329485/.
^ "Wildrose party leader to run for Calgary seat". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 19 October 2009. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2009/10/19/alberta-wildrose-alliance-smith-party-leader-calgary.html. Retrieved 21 November 2009.
^ "Poll gives Wildrose big lead". National Post. 2009-11-29. http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2327477. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
^ Party website
^ "Wildrose President resigns". Calgary Herald. February 1, 2008. http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=a8a2b04f-c7fc-4d12-8180-c3190f312512&k=21324/. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
^ http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=3fd28602-4834-4d2a-8deb-16cbc2cd6015
^ Voter confusion, website controversies unsettles Alberta election
^ a b c "Smith elected Wildrose Party leader". CBC News. 2009-10-17. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2009/10/17/edmonton-wildrose-alliance-leader.html. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
^ Trish Audette (November 21, 2009). "140 characters = 1 day of bad press". Edmonton Journal. http://communities.canada.com/edmontonjournal/blogs/electionnotebook/archive/2009/11/21/140-characters-1-day-of-bad-press.aspx.
^ Nathan VanderKlippe (November 24, 2009). "High-profile member of Wildrose party resigns". Globe and Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/high-profile-member-of-wildrose-party-resigns/article1376291/.
^ "Wildrose aide quits over Twitter post mocking Stelmach". National Post. November 25, 2009. http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2265808.
^ "Tweet about premier a 'lapse in judgment'". CBC News. November 20, 2009. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2009/11/20/edmonton-carter-twitter-stelmach.html.
^ "Wildrose Alliance drafts two critics for energy task force". Calgary Herald. November 11, 2009. http://www.calgaryherald.com/technology/Wildrose+Alliance+drafts+critics+energy+task+force/2209807/story.html.
^ "Wildrose Alliance scrutinizes MLA pay". CBC News. November 19, 2009. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2009/11/19/edmonton-wildrose-alliance-mla-pay.html.
[edit] External links
Wildrose Alliance homepage
