The Alberta Alliance is a right wing political party in Alberta. Its membership is primarily supporters of the now-defunct Canadian Alliance federal political party and its predecssor, the Reform Party of Canada. Alliance supporters tend to view themselves as "true conservatives" and believe the Progressive Conservative government under Premier Ralph Klein is out of touch with the needs of Albertans.

The party was registered in October 2002, with its Founding Convention held February 14-15, 2003, in Red Deer.

Former Social Credit Party of Alberta leader Randy Thorsteinson was selected as leader and remains at this post as of this writing. Thorsteinson, a devout Mormon, had quit the Social Credit Party in April 1999 in protest of an internal party proposal to limit the involvement of the Latter Day Saints within Social Credit.

The Canadian Alliance itself was never interested in forming provincial wings, or even in forging formal links with existing provincial parties. In the case of the Canadian Alliance's predecessor, the Reform Party of Canada, a Reform Party of Alberta had been formed by members of the federal party with the intention of keeping the provincial party inactive and thus keeping Reform out of provincial politics. The provincial Reform party remains registered yet effectively dormant as of the 26th Alberta general election. In this case, however, the founders of the Alberta Alliance intended to form a very active party, and many members of the Alberta Alliance undoubtedly hoped the new party would be seen as the unofficial provincial wing of the Canadian Alliance.

The new party never sought a formal link with the CA, and had it done so the overture would likely have been rebuffed since many Albertan CA members continued to support the Alberta Progressive Conservatives. However, the Alberta Alliance copied the colours of the CA and many of its logos bear a striking resemblance to those of the federal party. Moreover, the Alberta Alliance continued to grow following the federal party's merger to form the new Conservative Party of Canada.

The Alliance gained its first MLA on June 29, 2004 when Gary Masyk crossed the floor after quitting the Tories to protest Klein's handling of health care issues during the 2004 federal election. Masyk had represented Edmonton-Norwood since 2001, but his electoral district was merged with Edmonton-Highlands, forcing him to seek election in Edmonton-Decore to avoid a run against Alberta NDP leader Brian Mason.

Alberta general election, 2004

The Alliance nominated candidates in all 83 electoral divisions for the 2004 Alberta general election, which was held on November 22, 2004. However, much to the annoyance of Thorsteinson it was excluded from Global Television's leaders debate, according to the network this was because it did not elect any members in the 2001 election, which was held before the party was even founded. Some Alliance members also noted that in the 1997 election the NDP was allowed in the debate, even though it had no MLAs at the time and did not even have a full slate of candidates.

The party hired an American firm, Campaign Secrets, to help run its campaign. The American firm, which has extensive experience working on Republican campaigns, produced advertisements which were criticized by some Albertans for employing "U.S.-style" negative campaign tactics. The Alliance leadership defended their use of American strategists, claiming that most right-leaning Albertan consultants were already hired by the well-heeled Tories.

Results

On election day, results for the party could be described as mixed. Most analysts did not expect the two year old party to seriously challenge the majority of what is still a popular Tory government, and it did not. Masyk was defeated in his Edmonton seat in the election, placing a distant fourth. The party on the whole did very poorly in Edmonton. In Calgary, the party managed a few respectable showings but failed to see any members elected. The Alliance does appear to have played spoiler in some urban seats, siphoning off enough votes from the Tories to get Liberals and New Democrats elected.

As expected by commentators, it was in a handful of rural seats where the party proved to be truly competitive. Thorsteinson placed a distant second in Innisfail-Sylvain Lake, much to the disappointment of himself and his party. The party did manage a narrow victory in Cardston-Taber-Warner, where Paul Hinman became the first MLA elected under the Alliance banner. The party also placed a close second in Dunvegan-Central Peace. Although the party had other respectable second place finishes, it was badly defeated in other rural districts.

See also: List of political parties in Canada

External links

• Alberta Alliance Party (http://www.AlbertaAlliance.com)