Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta is a provincial 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, which was formed through the merger of Wexit Alberta and the

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

in 2020.

Views

According to its constitution, Wexit Alberta's plans included abolishing the provincial branch of the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

and the establishment of an "Alberta National Police" and a "Provincial Sheriff Program". It also called for the adoption of a currency to replace the

Canadian dollar The Canadian dollar ( symbol: $; code: CAD; french: dollar canadien) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, there is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviation Can$ is often suggested by notable style ...

History

Wexit Alberta movement

The Wexit movement gained traction in October 2019, shortly after the

2019 Canadian federal election The 2019 Canadian federal election was held on October 21, 2019. Member of Parliament (Canada), Members of the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons were elected to the 43rd Canadian Parliament. In keeping with the Fixed election dates in ...

, when the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

under

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

was re-elected to form government. In August 2019, Wexit Alberta held several meetings including a small summer meeting in Calgary’s beltline. A few months later another meeting in Calgary drew about 1700 attendees. On January 11, 2020, a Wexit rally was held at the Alberta legislature grounds with the goal of collecting the 8,400 signatures required for official party status. Wexit reserved the name "Wexit Alberta" with

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 ...

for use by a provincial party. On April 27, 2020, Wexit Alberta and the Freedom Conservative Party of Alberta announced plans to merge into the Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta. Members of those parties voted to approve the merger on June 29, 2020. The parties needed to finalize a unification agreement before the new party could be registered with

. The name was reserved with Elections Alberta. On July 23, 2020, the party was officially registered with Elections Alberta. On July 17, 2020, the party announced that

Paul Hinman Paul Hinman (born 1959) is a Canadian politician and businessman. He is the former leader of the Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta since 2020 and was formerly the leader of the Wildrose Alliance (2008–2009) and Alberta Alliance Party (20 ...

would serve as its interim leader, until the party's founding convention and leadership contest. Hinman has confirmed his intention to run in the first leadership contest. The party held its founding convention on January 23, 2021 virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions. According to the party, 478 members were registered to attend and vote on policy, approve a constitution, and elected a new Board of Governors. The party announced that the leadership election would run from June 5 to August 27, concluding with a vote on August 28, 2021, but on July 20, 2021,

was declared to have been elected leader of the party. In October 2020, the board of the People's Party of Alberta voted to dissolve the party in favour of supporting the efforts of the Wildrose Independence Party.

Leadership dispute with Hinman

ran in the 2022

Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche is a current provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district will be one of 87 districts mandated to return a single member (MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post me ...

by-election. Hinman was not a resident of the

Fort McMurray Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significant ...

or Lac La Biche regions, but denied he was an opportunist or ignorant of local issues facing the riding. He told

Fort McMurray Today The ''Fort McMurray Today'' is a publication based in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. It is considered the paper of record for Fort McMurray and covers a number of topics affecting the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. The daily newspaper was ...

he was running as a candidate because he felt it was “the most important election in Alberta’s near-term history." He said he had stopped supporting Kenney and the UCP because he felt "Jason Kenney and the UCP have betrayed us by not standing up to Ottawa." Hinman finished third in the by-election, finishing behind NDP candidate Ariana Mancini and UCP MLA

Brian Jean Brian Michael Jean (born February 3, 1963) is a Canadian politician who has served as the minister of Jobs, Economy and Northern Development since 2022 and the member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche since Mar ...

. After the by-election, the party began a review of Hinman's leadership and his performance in the campaign. After the review concluded, he was removed as party leader on June 28, 2022. The review accused Hinman of paying himself with party money during the by-election. The review also wrote that Hinman was not familiar with the needs and concerns shared by people living in the riding, despite his commentary on community issues at local forums and in interviews with Harvard Media's

CFVR-FM CFVR-FM is a Canadian radio station serving Fort McMurray, Alberta, broadcasting at 103.7 FM with a hot adult contemporary format branded on-air as ''Mix 103.7''. The station is owned & operated by Harvard Media. History The station received a ...

and

. The review was not released publicly, but a copy was leaked to the

Western Standard The ''Western Standard'' is a Canadian political and social commentary media website operated by Western Standard New Media Corp. and its president Derek Fildebrandt. The Standard is based in Calgary, Alberta, where its main offices are located. ...

. Hinman denied all of the party's accusations against him. He told

CTV News CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the national ...

that the party was being taken over by "implants, plants, agents inside our board" who are opposed to an independent Alberta. Hinman was reinstated as leader during the party's annual general meeting in Red Deer on July 23, 2022. The party's board of governors were forced out. A Court of King's Bench justice ruled on October 21, 2022 that Hinman had been legally removed as leader of the party. Jeevan Mangat was named interim party leader. Hinman is appealing the decision. The party's board also accused Hinman and his supporters of disrupting the AGM and pressuring people to either leave or support Hinman. They are suing Hinman for $180,000.

References

External links