University of Calgary political science professor Dr. Barry Cooper said the Alberta Greens beat out the Alberta Party because their supporters are more committed to their ideology. .“In the Alberta Party's respects, their supporters were simply parking their vote because they were not particularly happy with the outcome of Jason [Kenney] winning the leadership,” said Cooper in a Wednesday interview. .“Their support was already conditional, whereas the support for the Greens is pretty much unconditional.” .While not winning any seats in the Alberta Legislature, the Greens came in third place with .8% of the vote. The Alberta Party — that was regarded as the unofficial third party — finished in fourth place with .7%. .Cooper said the Greens became the third party because enough environmentalists went out and voted for them. He added Alberta is “not immune from the craziness of environmentalism.” .As a response, he said the Greens are able to appeal to innocent, uninformed people. Those people might vote for them to add meaning to their lives. .The professor went on to say the election is the beginning of the end for the Alberta Party. There is no longer a reason for it to exist. .His advice to the party is to disappear and become part of the Alberta United Conservative Party. If it wants to have its ideas and policies listened to, its members would have to join another coalition, because the Alberta UCP will not come into it. .The Alberta Party began in the early 1980s as an alliance of small independence parties. The right side of the political spectrum had been fragmented by parties spawned from the National Energy Program and feelings former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed had done little to prevent economic collapse. .What prompted its shift to the centre was the formation of the Alberta Wildrose Party. Many right-wing Alberta Party members left to join Wildrose, leaving a group of centrists in control. .Its breakthrough happened in the 2015 election, when former Alberta Party leader Greg Clark was elected in Calgary-Elbow. A few floor crossings led to it having three seats, forming the third party. .Clark stepped down as Alberta Party leader in 2017. Former Alberta Progressive Conservative MLA Stephen Mandel (Edmonton-Whitemud) was chosen to replace him. .The 2019 election saw it run a full slate of candidates, but it did not maintain any seats. Clark finished in second place in Calgary-Elbow (30.5%), and Mandel came in third place in Edmonton-McClung (19.5%). .Former Brooks mayor Barry Morishita became the current leader in 2021. Morishita was unable to recruit a full slate for the 2023 election. .Morishita said on May 1 he was ready for the election. .READ MORE: The Alberta Party girds for election battle.The Alberta Party predicted it was gaining momentum, having high hopes in candidate Kevin Todd (Livingstone-Macleod).."I have met many people around Livingstone-Macleod over the last eight weeks and found myself having the same conversation over and over again: Many people are saying they are politically homeless," said Todd. .Cooper acknowledged he was not paying attention to the Solidarity Movement of Alberta (SMA). He said there was not much appetite for independence parties because the UCP made similar appeals. .The SMA received .3% of the vote. The Independence Party of Alberta had a similar percentage, and the Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta earned .1%. .He said the appeal the UCP took from the independence parties was telling people to resist the incursions of the Canadian government. Premier Danielle Smith made that clear in her victory speech. .He joked about the independence party votes coming from candidates’ families. If people had a cousin who was president of a party, they might lend him or her their votes. .To keep the independence parties from succeeding, he encouraged her to stay the course. She should have a phone call with Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe to talk about how they can join forces and resist together. .Street Church pastor Artur Pawlowski teamed up with former Conservative MP Rob Anders (Calgary-West) to form the SMA on May 1. .“The snakes, the scorpions, and the vipers are already at each other’s throat,” said Pawlowski. .“But we are going to focus on Albertans, on you.” .The SMA picked up 92 votes in Calgary-Acadia. UCP candidate Tyler Shandro lost to his NDP rival Diana Batten by seven votes. .Cooper said he thinks it led to the NDP winning in Calgary-Acadia. Since its voters hate the NDP and would be not as irritated with the UCP, he asked where they would go. .He said the UCP has “taken over that sort of policy space that third parties had traditionally occupied.” Kenney took a managerial approach when it came to leadership, but Smith has not copied him. .Cooper concluded by saying people should care about Alberta politics because of oil and gas. .“Because of the contributions that those exports make to the Canadian economy,” he said. .Albertans re-elected Smith on Monday. .READ MORE: UCP WINS: Smith set to lead province for next four years .The UCP was elected in 49 ridings compared to 38 for the NDP. .“To paraphrase our old friend Ralph Klein, welcome to another Miracle on the Prairies,” she said.
