Let’s face it –  Alberta still needs a viable political alternative to the PC government.

The last election showed that we still live in a political environment that is more about distrust and fear than it is about doing what’s right for Alberta and Albertans. Now, almost a year later, the more established parties continue to use fear and divisiveness to drive their support. They have failed to provide a better vision for Alberta.

The past year caused many in our fledgling party a great deal of reflection. For most of 2011, we were on a roll. Our membership was growing by leaps and bounds. We were the hot topic of Alberta politics. We were poised for an amazing breakthrough. 

Then Alison Redford won the PC leadership race, and many of the moderate, progressive people who had fled the PCs under premiers Stelmach and Klein, saw her as a beacon of hope that party would become fresher, more open and accountable. On one hand, I was glad to see an articulate, strong leader talking about openness and inclusion. On the other hand, it knocked the Alberta-Party wind out of me. Going into an election against such a leader was going to be more difficult.

Dear Alberta Partiers,

It's been a while since the last newsletter, but we have a lot to tell you in this one. As you all know, a new board was elected in Calgary at our AGM on September 21. We went right to work that very weekend with an organizational restructuring of the board to recommend VP roles in communications, strategy, and development and fundraising.

We're now pleased to be able to introduce the rest of the executive and tell you about the special committees being organized to move the Alberta Party into our next phase of development. Here is a list of the Alberta Party 2012-13 board of directors along with our new roles:

It was with shock and utter disbelief that I learned that Dianne Blahun had been killed in a car crash on Oct. 5, the victim of a drunk driver. It is a senseless and tragic loss. Dianne was one of the “super volunteers” on my campaign; my campaign was shaped by her ideas and fuelled by her energy and determination. She also found the time to help out on John Hudson’s campaign in Edmonton-McClung and contribute policy suggestions to the Alberta Party at the provincial level.

Someone asked me the other day whether supporting more local processing of beef and other food products would be wise public policy. What would that do the cost of food for consumers, especially those who can barely make ends meet, she wondered.

The massive recall of beef from XL Foods in southern Alberta, a plant that processes one-third of all the beef produced in Canada, and the resulting fallout – illness and damage to Alberta’s reputation as a beef producer – illustrates precisely why it would be wise to shift the balance in this province back to a system that includes smaller processors.

At our September 22^nd annual general meeting in Calgary it was clear that for many, the appetite for a fresher take on Alberta politics was not satisfied by the April 23^rd election. Over 120 people came out to talk about the future of the Alberta Party, and to have a say in how we move forward.

In keeping with our desire for more transparency in public life, we released the results of an internal survey about our future. The results showed that just over 67% of respondents want to remain as a political party in order to provide electors with a strong, viable choice in Alberta politics. The other one-third was split between those believing we have already achieved our goal of changing the political conversation and those who believe we would have more influence by becoming a political think tank.

It is with much sadness that the Alberta Party learned of the sudden passing of fellow Alberta Party member Pamela Crosby on September 4^th, 2012.

We did an amazing job in the recent election with the exceptional team of volunteers, candidates and leader. Now we have the time to complete that building process so we can compete in 2016.

We need EVERYONE to come to the AGM on September 22 in Calgary. We need your ideas, thoughts, energy,clarity, enthusiasm and participation. We need to make decisions about what we are going to do in the future, what our actions will be and ensure representation for the 17,000 people who voted for what we believe in.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Alberta Party, and all of the amazing Alberta Party candidates, I want to express our sincere gratitude to all of our volunteers and supporters across the province. Your dedication, perseverance, hard work and innovative thinking were second to none during the recent election.  We made significant strides forward on Monday and we are determined to continue moving forward to our ultimate goal of forming government in Alberta and working with all Albertans to make our province the best place to live.

Please watch for more details over the coming weeks as we continue our building process. We are already hard at work on planning an event in May to celebrate all of our candidates and volunteers. At this event, we hope to share campaign stories, lessons learned and some thoughts on initial next steps as we plan for 2016.  Please keep May 26th open as we have tentatively booked that date for the Alberta Party "Big Thank You" event.

In the meantime, please consider taking a moment to fill in our volunteer form and participate in the next phase of our party's growth in your area.

Finally, in case you missed it, please check out the message from our leader Glenn Taylor that was posted on our website yesterday. 

Kind regards,

Brian Thiessen
President, Alberta Party

Building a citizen’s movement into a successful political party is a long journey, and last night the Alberta Party brought a close to the first chapter of our story. Two years ago we didn’t exist as a provincial organization, and last night 38 Albertans completed their first campaigns as Alberta Party candidates.

In our first election we set out to do two things. First, we worked to introduce ourselves and our vision for a prosperous, sustainable, transparent and engaged government to as many Albertans as possible. Second, we wanted to run a positive, constructive and forward-looking campaign. We have accomplished both goals.

While not winning a seat is disappointing we are extremely proud that over 17,000 Albertans cast their ballots for our candidates.

Many thousands more were introduced to the Party, and we have a much higher profile than we did before the writ was dropped. We are building for the future, and the past month has seen us taking significant steps toward the general election in 2016. The challenge of building a successful grassroots organization into a provincial contender doesn’t get any smaller, but we have laid a solid foundation for the future. We will continue to work hard and model the change we wish to see in Alberta.

I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to all of our candidates and volunteers, and my appreciation to all the Albertans of every political stripe who worked and voted in this election. Our province is richer for your engagement.

Glenn Taylor 
Leader, Alberta Party