Alberta Alliance Party Alberta General Election 2004

Former Social Credit Party of Alberta leader Randy ThorsteinsonRandy Thorsteinson is an Alberta politician. Thorsteinson graduated from Brigham Young University in 1980 with a major in business management. Following various business ventures he entered politics as an activist for the Reform Party of Canada in 1988. was selected as leader and remains at this post as of this writing. Thorsteinson, a devout MormonThe term Mormon technically refers to all followers of Mormonism or the Latter Day Saint movement, although colloquially the term usually refers to members of the most prominent Mormon group, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)., had quit the Social Credit Party in April 1999 in protest of an internal party proposal to limit the involvement of the Latter Day SaintA Latter Day Saint (LDS) is a person who identifies with the Latter Day Saint movement and is a follower of Mormonism. The name "Latter Day Saint" should not to be confused with the different but misleadingly similar term " Latter-day Saint. The hyphenates 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 AlbertaThe Reform Party of Alberta is a dormant provincial political party that is registered with Elections Alberta. Its leader is David Salmon. The party was registered by members of the former Reform Party of Canada in the early 1990s not to contest elections 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 CanadaAlternative meaning: Conservative Party of Canada (pre-1942 Conservative Party of Canada Current Leader Stephen Harper Founded December 7, 2003 Headquarters Suite 1720130 Albert Street Ottawa, OntarioK1P 5G4 Colours Blue Political ideology conservative In.

1 Alberta general election, 2004

The Alliance nominated candidates in all 83 electoral divisions for the 2004 Alberta general election, to be 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, has produced advertisements which some have criticized for employing "U.S.-style" negative campaign tactics. The Alliance leadership has defended their use of American strategists, claiming that most right-leaning Albertan consultants were already hired by the well-heeled Tories.

1.1 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 tha 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. Unofficial results did show a gain for the party in Cardston-Taber-Warner, where Paul Hinman would become 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.

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1 Alberta general election, 2004

1.1 Results

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