The Wildrose Party of Alberta was a

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and m ...

political organization founded 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 tota ...

in 2007. The organization took its name from Alberta's provincial flower. On January 19, 2008, the members merged with the

Alberta Alliance Party The Alberta Alliance was a right wing provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Many of its members were supporters of the defunct Canadian Alliance federal political party and its predecessor, the Reform Party of Canada. Members also joined f ...

to form the

Wildrose Alliance Party The Wildrose Party (legally Wildrose Political Association, formerly the ''Wildrose Alliance Political Association'') was a Conservatism in Canada, conservative provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. The party was formed by the merger i ...

Objectives and philosophy

According to a media advisory issued by the party on June 26, 2007, its main emphasis was to be: *"Reducing by constitutional means the enormous net outflow of wealth from Albertans to the federal government" *"Ensuring that provincial decisions better reflect the mainstream values and priorities of most Albertans" *"Ensuring that the party's Leader and MLAs honour their election promises and commitments" According to Don Weisbeck, Mayor of

Brooks Brooks may refer to: Places ;Antarctica *Cape Brooks ;Canada *Brooks, Alberta ;United States * Brooks, Alabama *Brooks, Arkansas * Brooks, California * Brooks, Georgia *Brooks, Iowa *Brooks, Kentucky *Brooks, Maine *Brooks Township, Michigan * ...

and Vice President (Communications) for the party, "the provincial government has swayed from its conservative roots. They've become one of the fastest spending and highest taxing jurisdictions in the country compared to their original roots where they tried to minimize taxes and government involvement in people's lives". The party constitution emphasized control by the grass-roots.

History

The party was launched on June 23, 2007 at a meeting of 76 Albertans in

Red Deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...

. According to the party, "the initiative began with an earlier Red Deer meeting (May 26) where fifty people from diverse political backgrounds mostly agreed that existing political parties can't or won't challenge the federal system and restrain provincial spending. The initiative was bolstered by two recent by-elections in which support for conservative parties plunged overall, while liberal support did not increase." The poor performance of the

Alberta Alliance The Alberta Alliance was a right wing provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Many of its members were supporters of the defunct Canadian Alliance federal political party and its predecessor, the Reform Party of Canada. Members also joined f ...

in the June by-elections reinforced the view that the

would not be able to effectively challenge the government of

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Ed Stelmach Edward Michael Stelmach (; born May 11, 1951) is a Canadian politician and served as the 13th premier of Alberta, from 2006 to 2011. The grandson of Ukrainian immigrants, Stelmach was born and raised on a farm near Lamont and fluently speaks ...

. Prominent former Alberta Alliance members who have joined the Wildrose Party include

Eleanor Maroes Eleanor Maroes is a former politician and life insurance agent from Alberta, Canada. She served as interim leader of the Alberta Alliance Party in 2005. Political activities Maroes ran for a seat to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1997 Cana ...

. The organization applied to

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 ...

in June 2007, to become a registered political party; however, they were never registered.

Interim Executive Committee

*Rob James, President (Calgary, former southern Alberta campaign chair for the Progressive Conservative party) *Daniel Johnson, Vice-President Membership (Edmonton) *Gordon Lang, Vice-President Fundraising (Calgary) *John Hilton-O'Brien, Vice-President Policy (Calgary) *

Link Byfield Eric Linkord Byfield (December 5, 1951 – January 24, 2015) was a Canadian news columnist, author, and politician. Columnist and writer Byfield was editor and publisher for the now defunct ''Alberta Report'' magazine for eighteen years.

, Vice-President Communications (Riviere Qui Barre) *

, Treasurer (Edmonton) *Rosemary Craig, Secretary (Calgary) Southern Directors: *Ryan Wall, Calgary Zone (Calgary) *Shyla Patten, Southwest Zone (Didsbury) *Don Ebenal, Southeast Zone (Red Deer) Northern Directors: *Phil Gamache, Edmonton Zone (Edmonton) *Dean Schmale, Northeast Zone (Winfield) *Todd Brown, Northwest Zone (Thorsby)

References

{{Wildrose Party Provincial political parties in Alberta Organizations disestablished in 2008 Organizations established in 2007 Political advocacy groups in Canada Wildrose Party

Objectives and philosophy

History

Interim Executive Committee

See also

References