The Independence Party (TIP), known as the Alberta Independence Party from 2001 to 2019, is an

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

n provincial

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

. It was originally dedicated to increasing the

autonomy In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ...

of Alberta within

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

, partly as a response to the failure of the

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (french: Alliance canadienne), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (french: Alliance réformiste-conservatrice canadienne), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed u ...

to make strides outside of

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

in the 2000 Canadian election. It put forward an explicitly

separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seeking greate ...

political platform for the

2019 Alberta general election The 2019 Alberta general election was held on April 16, 2019, to elect 87 members to the 30th Alberta Legislature. In its first general election contest, the Jason Kenney-led United Conservative Party (UCP) won 54.88% of the popular vote and 63 ...

. The party's January 2001 founding convention garnered both media and political attention, including from the

and MPs

Myron Thompson Myron D. Thompson (April 23, 1936 – January 5, 2019) was a Conservative Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada. He represented the riding of Wild Rose in Alberta. Early life and education A dual citizen of Canada and the Un ...

and

Darrel Stinson Darrel Stinson (born June 5, 1945) is a retired politician and businessman in British Columbia, Canada. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Okanagan—Shuswap from 1993 until the dissolution of the House of Commons of Canada for the 2006 f ...

, and Alberta senators-in-waiting

Ted Morton Frederick Lee Morton (born 1949), known commonly as Ted Morton, is an American-Canadian politician and former cabinet minister in the Alberta government. As a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, he represented the constituency of Fo ...

and

Bert Brown Bert Brown (March 22, 1938 – February 3, 2018) was a Canadian senator and retired farmer and development consultant who resided in Balzac, Alberta. Early life Brown farmed in Kathyrn, Alberta, from 1969 to 1999, after which they sold their fa ...

. Twenty-nine year old geological surveyor Cory Morgan was elected leader at the convention. Cory Morgan. One of the party's first challenges was to gather enough signatures to qualify as an official party in

, which it failed to do. In light of this development, in the

2001 Alberta general election The 2001 Alberta general election was held on March 12, 2001 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The incumbent Alberta Progressive Conservative Party, led by Ralph Klein, won a strong majority for its tenth consecutive term i ...

, its fourteen candidates were forced to stand as independents.

History

The AIP disbanded sometime in 2001, before reforming in 2017 and fielding candidates in the 2019 general election. The party changed its name with Elections Alberta, becoming known as The Independence Party (TIP), under the leadership of Dave Campbell.

2017–2019 revival

The Independence Party is experiencing a revival. It ran 63 candidates in the 2019 provincial election and gained party status. Dave Bjorkman, a welder and businessman, became the interim leader early in 2018 and remained so through the May 2019 election until his resignation in July 2019. The next leader, elected in the spring of 2020, was Dave Campbell. A press release at 4:00 pm shows 46 candidates assembled across Alberta, Canada. Edmonton Legislature steps, Red Deer City Hall and Calgary City Hall all host a press release covered by CTV, Global News and several rural papers. Included in the press release is First Nations Self Government. By March 21, 2019, the Alberta Independence Party fields 51 candidates. Thursday March 21, 2019, at 6 pm, CTV Calgary holds a poll including the then Alberta Independence Party among "Fringe parties". The results are 24% of 1,187 Calgarians who participated voted Fringe Party. The results of all other (Alberta Advantage Party, Freedom Conservative Party and the Communist Party) is 3.4%. In November 2017, Bjorkman opposed Alberta's proposed Bill 24. Bjorkman noted fears pertaining to Alberta's Bill 24 legislation that would encourage secrets and a lack of parental involvement. Bjorkman also stated that he supports rights of parental involvement in the Alberta school system and supports the LGBT+ community. "It's not about being gay or not gay, or transgender; it's about the fact that all parents should be fully aware of any extracurricular activity their children are in," Bjorkman said in a Grandin interview.

Similar parties

The Alberta Independence Party's 2019 election platform shares several major planks with other conservative political parties in Alberta, such as the

Freedom Conservative Party The Freedom Conservative Party of Alberta (french: Parti de la liberté conservatrice de l'Alberta) was an Albertan Autonomism (political doctrine), autonomist, libertarian and conservative political party in Alberta, Canada. The party was named ...

and the

United Conservative Party The United Conservative Party of Alberta (UCP) is a conservative political party in the province of Alberta, Canada. It was established in July 2017 as a merger between the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta and the Wildrose Party. ...

– including opposition to

carbon taxes A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon emissions required to produce goods and services. Carbon taxes are intended to make visible the "hidden" social costs of carbon emissions, which are otherwise felt only in indirect ways like more sev ...

, lowering business and income taxes, and disenfranchisement with federal equalization payments. However, unlike the FCP or

Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, which was formed through the merger of Wexit Alberta and the Freedom Conservative Party of Alberta in 2020. Views According to its constitution, We ...

(WIPA), which promotes

autonomism Autonomism, also known as autonomist Marxism is an anti-capitalist left-wing political and social movement and theory. As a theoretical system, it first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerism (). Later, post-Marxist and anarchist tendenc ...

, and the UCP, whose leadership continues to support

federalism Federalism is a combined or compound mode of government that combines a general government (the central or "federal" government) with regional governments (Province, provincial, State (sub-national), state, Canton (administrative division), can ...

, TIP promotes a referendum and full independence for Alberta as the primary solution to what it perceives as ills for the province. In this way, it shares more similarities to older western separatist parties, such as the

Western Canada Concept The Western Canada Concept was a Western Canada, Western Canadian federal political party founded in 1980 to promote the separation of the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, and the Yukon and Northwest Territories ...

or the

Western Independence Party The Western Independence Party (WIP) was a Canadian political party that advocated the separation of Western Canada from Canada to form a new country from the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and the Yukon and N ...

, than it does with contemporary parties. The 2021 "Party Program" states: "Alberta's political history has been defined by our willingness to sacrifice convention to take the road less traveled. From the United Farmers of Alberta to Social Credit to Klein, Albertans have never been afraid of change. Independence is a natural extension of our spirit and will provide Albertans with an opportunity to abandon convention and embrace a better future once again." The document outlines three major policy areas: Economic Revival (1.1 Taxation; 1.2 Financial Assistance; 1.3 Business); Social Health (2.1 Healthcare; 2.2 Education; 2.3 Justice; 2.4 Environmental Stewardship; 2.5 Responsible Gun Ownership; 2.6 Immigration; 2.7 Policing; 2.8 Pre-separation Municipal Accountability); and Total Independence (3.1 Separation Process; 3.2 Trade Agreements; 3.3 Foreign Relations; 3.4 Government; 3.5 Military; 3.6 Currency).

Elections results

The party's candidates garnered a total of 7,521 votes in the 2001 election. Below is a list of their candidates, votes, and percentages. #Bradley R. Lang ( Calgary-Egmont) 399 (2.90%) #Tom Humble (Airdrie-Rocky View) 683 (4.10%) # Cory Morgan (

Banff-Cochrane Banff-Cochrane was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1940 to 1975, and again from 1979 to 2019. The Banff-Cochrane electoral district is home to t ...

) 538 (4.00%) #Darren Popik (

Calgary Shaw Calgary-Shaw is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 current districts mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. This urba ...

) 151 (0.60%) #Douglas R. Chitwood (Lacombe-Stettler) 554 (4.70%) #Eileen Walker (Drumheller-Chinook) 819 (8.90%) #Ron (Earl) Miller (

Dunvegan Dunvegan ( gd, Dùn Bheagain) is a village on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. It is famous for Dunvegan Castle, seat of the chief of Clan MacLeod. Dunvegan is within the parish of Duirinish, and Duirinish Parish Church is at Dunvegan. In 2011 i ...

) 248 (2.80%) #Dennis Young (Grande Prairie-Smoky) 380 (4.10%) #Jon Koch (

Little Bow Little Bow was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1913 to 2019. Throughout its history, this district has been dominated by agricultural activities ...

) 885 (8.30%) #Charles Park (Ponoka-Rimbey) 764 (8.10%) #Ryan Lamarche (Red Deer-South) 203 (1.60%) #Christopher Sutherland (Strathmore-Brooks) 511 (4.50%) #Jeff Newland (Wainwright) 868 (8.00%) #Ben Lussier** (Wetaskiwin-Camrose) 382 (3.00%) (**Lussier began his candidacy with an AIP endorsement which was withdrawn during the course of the campaign)

Official results

References