A former top Alberta cabinet minister has publicly thrown his support to the fledgling Wildrose Independence Party..Lloyd Snelgrove, who served as Treasurer in the Ed Stelmach government, told the Western Standard in an exclusive interview Tuesday, the time has come for Alberta to look at independence..“I don’t think I’m any different than other Albertans, that having watched federal and provincial governments over the last 25 years, coming to the conclusion the system doesn’t work,” said Snelgrove..“We are thousand of miles away from the people making the decisions and they just don’t get it. Something has to change.”.Snelgrove said the independence movement was also growing in Saskatchewan and he hopes the province’s look at independence together..Snelgrove was elected as a Tory in the riding of Vermillion-Lloydminster in the 2001, 2004 and 2008 provincial elections..He left the Tory party in 2012 after becoming disillusioned with the government of Premier Alison Redford..Snelgrove said his move to the WIP has had “Zero to do with Premier Jason Kenney..“It’s clear the system doesn’t work anymore. Just look at Quebec, stamping their feet more and more to get what they want,” he said..“It’s so easy to be against (Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau, but even with Tory governments in Ottawa nothing as changed.”.Snelgrove said the early proponents of a Triple-E Senate were on the right track..“But there’s no way Quebec and Ontario would ever put up with that,” he said..Snelgrove, 64, said his role in the new party would be strictly as an adviser – he ruled out running in the next election..“It’s like JFK said about going the the moon, ‘We’re not doing this because it’s easy, we’re doing it because it’s hard.’.“If we can get 100,000 members by the next election, the provincial and federal government will have to look as us seriously.”.In July, WIP named Paul Hinman as its interim leader. The new leader was appointed by the party’s Interim Joint Board of Governors made up of representatives of the now defunct Freedom Conservative Party and Wexit Alberta..Members of the two parties voted on June 29th to unify their two groups into the WIP..The party is expected to elect its first leader in late 2020 or early 2021. In the interim, Hinman committed to building the party into fighting form and guiding it through its founding convention, likely to be scheduled for the fall..A poll conducted a month before the WIP merger for the Western Standard saw the then-pending party in third place at 10 per cent of voter support, behind the UCP at 40 and the NDP and 34..The same poll found between 45 and 48 per cent of Albertans backing independence, providing the new sovereigntist party with a potentially fertile base of voters to tap into. Mount Royal University political scientist Lori Williams told the Western Standard that support for independence could see the new Wildrose reclaim much of the first Wildrose’s support..“Some of us warned of the dangers of stoking such inclinations [independence]in the lead up to the 2019 election. Such anger can turn against leaders/governments who fail to meet the expectations raised. And indeed, the new Wildrose Independence Party appears to be capitalizing on the growing legitimacy of anti-federalist [and pro] independence rhetoric.”.“I would not be surprised to see the highest support [for the WIP] in former Wildrose and Social Credit strongholds [i.e. central and southern Alberta]. As the poll also seems to suggest, there may be enduring challenges for opponents of the UCP and Kenney, splitting their vote for alternatives.”.Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com.Twitter.com/nobby7694
A former top Alberta cabinet minister has publicly thrown his support to the fledgling Wildrose Independence Party..Lloyd Snelgrove, who served as Treasurer in the Ed Stelmach government, told the Western Standard in an exclusive interview Tuesday, the time has come for Alberta to look at independence..“I don’t think I’m any different than other Albertans, that having watched federal and provincial governments over the last 25 years, coming to the conclusion the system doesn’t work,” said Snelgrove..“We are thousand of miles away from the people making the decisions and they just don’t get it. Something has to change.”.Snelgrove said the independence movement was also growing in Saskatchewan and he hopes the province’s look at independence together..Snelgrove was elected as a Tory in the riding of Vermillion-Lloydminster in the 2001, 2004 and 2008 provincial elections..He left the Tory party in 2012 after becoming disillusioned with the government of Premier Alison Redford..Snelgrove said his move to the WIP has had “Zero to do with Premier Jason Kenney..“It’s clear the system doesn’t work anymore. Just look at Quebec, stamping their feet more and more to get what they want,” he said..“It’s so easy to be against (Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau, but even with Tory governments in Ottawa nothing as changed.”.Snelgrove said the early proponents of a Triple-E Senate were on the right track..“But there’s no way Quebec and Ontario would ever put up with that,” he said..Snelgrove, 64, said his role in the new party would be strictly as an adviser – he ruled out running in the next election..“It’s like JFK said about going the the moon, ‘We’re not doing this because it’s easy, we’re doing it because it’s hard.’.“If we can get 100,000 members by the next election, the provincial and federal government will have to look as us seriously.”.In July, WIP named Paul Hinman as its interim leader. The new leader was appointed by the party’s Interim Joint Board of Governors made up of representatives of the now defunct Freedom Conservative Party and Wexit Alberta..Members of the two parties voted on June 29th to unify their two groups into the WIP..The party is expected to elect its first leader in late 2020 or early 2021. In the interim, Hinman committed to building the party into fighting form and guiding it through its founding convention, likely to be scheduled for the fall..A poll conducted a month before the WIP merger for the Western Standard saw the then-pending party in third place at 10 per cent of voter support, behind the UCP at 40 and the NDP and 34..The same poll found between 45 and 48 per cent of Albertans backing independence, providing the new sovereigntist party with a potentially fertile base of voters to tap into. Mount Royal University political scientist Lori Williams told the Western Standard that support for independence could see the new Wildrose reclaim much of the first Wildrose’s support..“Some of us warned of the dangers of stoking such inclinations [independence]in the lead up to the 2019 election. Such anger can turn against leaders/governments who fail to meet the expectations raised. And indeed, the new Wildrose Independence Party appears to be capitalizing on the growing legitimacy of anti-federalist [and pro] independence rhetoric.”.“I would not be surprised to see the highest support [for the WIP] in former Wildrose and Social Credit strongholds [i.e. central and southern Alberta]. As the poll also seems to suggest, there may be enduring challenges for opponents of the UCP and Kenney, splitting their vote for alternatives.”.Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com.Twitter.com/nobby7694
