The Alberta First Party french: Alberta d'abord) was an
Albertan separatist political party in
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 ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. It went through several iterations before becoming its current incarnation 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 ...
.
History (1999–2018)
Early history (1999–2004)
The Alberta First Party emerged from a conflict regarding religious freedom (
Mormonism
Mormonism is the religious tradition and theology of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to various aspects of t ...
in this case) within the
Alberta Social Credit Party
Alberta Social Credit was a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, that was founded on social credit monetary policy put forward by Clifford Hugh Douglas and on conservative Christian social values. The Canadian social credit movement wa ...
.
Randy Thorsteinson
Randy Thorsteinson (born November 8, 1956) is a politician and businessman in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada.
Early years
Thorsteinson was born in Gimli, Manitoba and spent his youth living in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Edmonton, Alberta; Calgary, Alberta; ...
resigned as leader of the Social Credit Party and helped found a new conservative provincial party. With about 120 supporters, including federal Member of Parliament
Rob Anders
Robert J. "Rob" Anders (born April 1, 1972) is a Canadian former politician. He represented the riding of Calgary West from 1997 until 2015 and was a founding member of the Conservative Party of Canada.
On April 12, 2014, Anders was defeated by ...
, they held their first meeting in June 1999 where they selected the name ''Alberta First Party'' and adopted
fiscally conservative
Fiscal conservatism is a political and economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, limited government, and ''laissez-faire'' economics.M. O. Dickerson et al., ''An ...
policies similar to the governing
Progressive Conservatives but with more
socially conservative
Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institution ...
policies. The party adopted a position to support the creation of a provincial senate as a means of balancing the power held by the existing provincial legislature. The party was incorporated under the society act under the legal name The Society for the Advancement of the Alberta First Party on July 13, 1999. It gained registration with Elections Alberta on November 2, 1999. With more than 500 members now, the party held a convention in Edmonton on January 22, 2000, where it elected its first permanent party leader,
John Reil
John Reil (born 1949) is a former Canadian provincial level politician. He served as leader of the Alberta First Party.
Political career
Reil ran as a candidate for the Social Credit Party of Alberta in the 1997 Alberta general election. He ran i ...
who defeated Neil Wiltzen from Calgary.
At the convention, the party adopted policies promoting free votes in the legislature, regular provincial referendums on contentious social issues, and privatizing Alberta health care.
In its first attempt gain a seat in the provincial legislature, the party nominated candidates in two by-elections in 2000. In Edmonton-Highlands, party leader John Reil placed fourth with 3.30% of the vote
while, several months later, its candidate in
Red Deer-North placed third with 8.15%.
In the
2001 provincial election, Alberta First nominated 16 candidates, who won a total of 8,851 votes, or 0.87% of the provincial total. No candidates were elected. The party's best result came in
Cardston-Taber-Warner
Cardston-Taber-Warner was a provinces and territories of Canada, provincial electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-pos ...
, where leader John Riel picked up 2,500 votes, to the 5,000 won by the incumbent,
Broyce Jacobs
Broyce G. Jacobs (born July 29, 1940) is a Canadian politician and was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the constituency of Cardston-Taber-Warner as a Progressive Conservative.
Early life
Jacobs was born in Cardsto ...
.
The party contested its last election under the Alberta First name in the electoral district of
Wainwright on April 8, 2002, when Jerry Barber won 1,659 votes, 25.9% of the total, for a strong second-place finish in the by-election.
Reil vacated the leadership and ran for leadership of the
Alberta Liberal Party
The Alberta Liberal Party (french: Parti libéral de l'Alberta) is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1905, it is the oldest active political party in Alberta and was the dominant political party until the 1921 election ...
on
March 27, 2004. He was defeated, finishing a distant second to
Kevin Taft
Kevin Taft (born September 9, 1955) is an author, consultant, speaker, and former provincial politician in Alberta, Canada. Prior to his election, he worked in various public policy roles (1973-2000) in the Government of Alberta, private and no ...
.
His departure left the leadership of the party vacant. It was temporarily de-registered by
Elections Alberta
Elections Alberta is an independent, non-partisan office of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta responsible for administering provincial elections, by-elections, referendums within the province. This is in accordance with the Alberta Election Act ...
after the party failed to file its 2003 financial statements by the March 31, 2004 deadline.
It filed past the deadline and the registration was reactivated by Elections Alberta. Shortly after, the party was granted a name change to the
Separation Party of Alberta
The Alberta First Party french: Alberta d'abord) was an Albertan separatist political party in Alberta, Canada. It went through several iterations before becoming its current incarnation as the Freedom Conservative Party.
History (1999–2018) ...
on May 1, 2004.
Separation Party (2004–2018)
The Separation Party started independently from the Alberta First party and held its founding convention on October 31, 2003 in
Red Deer, Alberta
Red Deer is a city in Alberta, Canada, located midway on the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. Red Deer serves central Alberta, and key industries include health care, retail trade, construction, oil and gas, hospitality, manufacturing and education. ...
. They were unable to gain the signatures required to register their own party and took over the leaderless Alberta First Party sometime in early 2004.
![Spafulllogo-newsmaller](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Spafulllogo-newsmaller.jpg)
The party renamed itself in May 2004 with Elections Alberta and rebranded with a new logo adding Green to the yellow and black color scheme and ran 12 candidates in the
provincial election, held on November 22, 2004. Under the leadership of Bruce Hutton, it had some success in rural constituencies. These candidates won a total of 4,680 votes, or 0.5% of the popular vote in the province. Here are the candidates, their ridings, votes and percentages:
*
Calgary-Fort
Calgary-Fort was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting from 1997 to 2019.
History
The Riding covers some of t ...
, Leo Ollenberger, 212 (2.7%)
*
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 ...
, Daniel Doher, 171 (1.6%)
*
Airdrie-Chestermere
Airdrie-Chestermere was a provinces and territories of Canada, provincial electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-post ...
, Bob Lefurgey, 394 (3.3%)
*
Drumheller-Stettler
Drumheller-Stettler is a provinces and territories of Canada, provincial electoral district (Canada), electoral district (riding) in Alberta, Canada. The electoral district is mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alb ...
, David Carnegie, 465 (4.5%)
*
Highwood,
Cory Morgan, 299 (2.8%)
*
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 ...
, Grant Shaw, 432 (4.8%)
*
Livingstone-Macleod
Livingstone-Macleod is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 current districts in the province mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post metho ...
, Jim Walker, 339 (3.4%)
*
Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills
Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 districts mandated to return a single member (MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. ...
, Brian Vasseur, 746 (6.1%)
*
Red Deer-South
Red Deer-South is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada.
The district was created from Red Deer in 1986.
Under the Alberta electoral boundary re-distribution of 2004, the constituency borders Red Deer ...
, Judy Milne, 261 (2.2%)
*
Rocky Mountain House
Rocky Mountain House is a town in west-central Alberta, Canada. It is approximately west of Red Deer at the confluence of the Clearwater and North Saskatchewan Rivers, and at the crossroads of Highway 22 (Cowboy Trail) and Highway 11 (David Th ...
,
Bruce Hutton, 505 (4.9%)
*
Strathcona County
Strathcona County is a specialized municipality in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region within Alberta, Canada between Edmonton and Elk Island National Park. It forms part of Census Division No. 11.
Strathcona County is both urban and rural in n ...
, Roberta McDonald, 297 (2.1%)
*
Strathmore-Brooks
Strathmore-Brooks was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-post method of voting from 1997 to 2019.
History
The electoral district ...
, Jay Kolody, 559 (6.1%)
After the election, the party stagnated and only nominated one candidate, which was Hutton, in the 2008 election. He received only 119 votes, or 0.01% of the popular vote in the province. This was fewer votes than any of the Separation Party candidates in the 2004 general election.
Sometime in 2012, the party changed its leader when Bart Hampton took over the party. The party's president, Glen Dundas, was the party's only candidate in the
2012 provincial election. He received only 68 votes, or 0.006% of the popular vote in the province.
The party changed its name back to the Alberta First Party on May 13, 2013.
[Elections Alberta](_blank)
/ref> Dundas was again the party's only candidate in the 2015 provincial election. The party changed its name again on April 23, 2018 to the Western Freedom Party under new president Bob Lefurgey. Elections Alberta lists no leader for the party.
The party was again renamed 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 ...
in June 2018.
General elections
By-elections
Leadership history
References
{{reflist
Provincial political parties in Alberta
Conservative parties in Canada
Secessionist organizations in Canada
Political parties established in 1999
1999 establishments in Alberta
Freedom Conservative Party of Alberta