Alberta First Party

Alberta First Party
Active provincial party
Leader Bart Hampton
Founded July 13, 1999
Ideology Conservatism
Colours Yellow & Black

The Alberta First Party is a minor right-wing political party that has operated in Alberta, Canada since 1999. It used the Alberta First name from 1999 to 2004 and the Separation Party of Alberta name from 2004 to 2013, after which it reverted to the Alberta First name.[1]

Early history

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.[2] It gained registration with Elections Alberta on November 2, 1999. The first permanent party leader was John Reil, who was elected its first leader at a convention in Edmonton on January 22, 2000. in Edmonton.[3] Reil defeated Neil Wiltzen from Calgary. At the time of the convention the party had more than 500 members.[3]

The party initially pushed policies including free votes in the legislature, regular referendums on contentious social issues and privatizing Alberta health care.[3]

After the leadership election, the party contested two by-elections and made a poor showing. Reil ran his first time in Edmonton-Highlands and was soundly defeated.[4] The party contested a second by-election in Red Deer which it fared better.[5]

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, where leader John Riel picked up 2,500 votes, to the 5,000 by then incumbent Broyce Jacobs.

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.[6]

Reil vacated the leadership and ran for leadership of the Alberta Liberal Party on March 27, 2004. He was defeated, finishing a distant second to Kevin Taft.

His departure left the leadership of the party vacant. It was temporarily de-registered by Elections Alberta after the party failed to file its 2003 financial statements by the March 31, 2004 deadline.[7] 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 on May 1, 2004.[7]

Separation Party

The renamed party ran 12 candidates in the 2004 general election under the leadership of Bruce Hutton and had mild electoral success in some rural constituencies. The party fielded 12 candidates in the provincial election, held on November 22, 2004. 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:

After the election the party stagnated and only filed one candidate which was Hutton in 2008, who 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.[8]

Sometime in 2012 the party changed leaders when Bart Hampton took over the party prior to the 2012 general election. The party's president, Glen Dundas, was the party's only candidate in the 2012 provincial election and received only 68 votes, or 0.006% of the popular vote in the province.[8] The party changed its name to the Alberta First Party on May 13, 2013.[1] The party was granted approval to return itself to the Alberta First Party name on May 14, 2013.

Election results

General elections

Election Banner Leader Candidates Votes % Seats +/- Position Government
2001 Alberta First John Reil
16 / 83
 8,851 0.87%
0 / 83
 Steady 0 Increase 4th N/A
2004[9] Separation Bruce Hutton
12 / 83
 4,680 0.52%
0 / 83
 Steady 0 Decrease 7th N/A
2008
1 / 83
 119 0.01%
0 / 83
 Steady 0 Steady 7th N/A
2012 Bart Hampton
1 / 87
 68 0.005%
0 / 87
 Steady 0 Decrease 9th N/A
2015[10] Alberta First
1 / 87
 72 0.005%
0 / 87
 Steady 0 Decrease 10th N/A

By-elections

Date Banner Candidate Constituency Votes % Place Leader
[4] June 12, 2000 Alberta First John Reil Edmonton-Highlands 270 3.30% 4th John Reil
[5] September 25, 2000 Patti Argent Red Deer-North 338 8.15% 3rd
[6] April 8, 2002 Jerry Barber Wainwright 1,695 25.9% 2nd

Leaders

Name Banner Date Notes
Mladen Djekic Alberta First 1999-2000 Interim leader
John Reil 2000-2004 Elected at convention in Edmonton
Bruce Hutton 2004-2012 Changed party name to Separation Party
Separation
Bart Hampton 2012–present
Alberta First

Relationship to other separation movements

The Separation Party was not the first separatist party to make a foray into Albertan politics. The Western Canada Concept (WCC) achieved success in the early 1980s, winning a by-election in 1982. The WCC's popularity declined before the end of the decade. The Alberta Independence Party ran 14 candidates in the 2001 general election, but these candidates were designated as independents because the party had not been registered with Elections Alberta. The AIP eventually disbanded.

The Separation Party had informal ties with the Western Independence Party of Saskatchewan and its website included links to the website of that party. The Separation Party was not affiliated to the Western Canada Concept Party of British Columbia or the British Columbia-based Western Block Party and has distanced itself from Doug Christie, the controversial leader of those parties.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Elections Alberta
  2. ↑ "Part 1. Proclamation". Alberta Gazette. August 14, 1999.
  3. 1 2 3 "Reil chosen to lead Alberta First Party". CBC News. January 22, 2000.
  4. 1 2 "Edmonton-Highlands By-election". Elections Alberta.
  5. 1 2 "Red Deer-North By-election". Elections Alberta. Archived from the original on 2013-10-20.
  6. 1 2 "Wainwright By-election". Elections Alberta.
  7. 1 2 "28th Annual Report of the Chief Electoral Officer" (PDF). Elections Alberta. 2004. p. 2.
  8. 1 2 . Elections Alberta http://www.elections.ab.ca/public%20website/746.htm#2012. Retrieved 2014-12-19. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. ↑ "2004 General election report". Elections Alberta. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
  10. ↑ Elections Alberta 2015 General Election unofficial results

External links

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