EXCLUSIVE: New Alberta-first party eyes support in Poilievre’s riding as it seeks federal status

CALGARY — Alberta Now is hoping to build support in Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's riding of Battle River-Crowfoot as it moves to register as a federal party.Former UCP and Wildrose MLA Drew Barnes told the Western Standard in an interview that the fledgling Alberta-first party has collected 620 signatures and plans to submit its application to Elections Canada on Remembrance Day. Federal party registration requires at least 250 verified signatures.“The real refreshing news is we've had 40 or 50 Albertans in that group that have signed memberships that have offered to help considerably,” Barnes said.“So we've got a lot of good volunteers going forward.”.EXCLUSIVE: Former MLA criticizes Smith as Alberta Now gains post-referendum support.The former Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA, who helped to establish Alberta Now, added that the party expects to be registered by mid-January following a verification process that will take several weeks.“Once they verify 250 of the members, we should be good to go,” he said.Full federal registration also requires the party to choose at least one confirmed candidate in a federal election or by-election, with the final application having to be submitted at least 60 days before the election call.Alberta Now intends to run candidates in all of Alberta’s 37 federal ridings and follow a model similar to the Bloc Québécois.Barnes describes the party’s organizers as Albertans who have grown frustrated with their representation in Ottawa, with many of those involved bringing experience from a multitude of parties such as the UCP, the Conservative Party of Canada, and the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta.He added that co-founder Zach Sawatzky would be listed as party leader for now, ahead of a leadership contest planned for late spring.Others whom Barnes named as members of Alberta Now’s founding committee included C.W. Alexander, Hayden Beck, and Al Kiesman..Sawatzky told the Western Standard he had first met Barnes during the latter’s Medicine Hat mayoral campaign last year and became involved after the former MLA introduced him to the idea of an Alberta-only federal party.“It was very appealing to me,” he said.“Somebody needed to be listed on these roles and I said, I'm the man for the job until we find somebody else... Working on [Alberta Now] is my pleasure and honour. I’m thrilled to be involved as we help to establish the party.”Alberta Now represents Sawatzky’s first involvement with a political party, and he emphasized that the organization is not intended to be an independence party, despite growing interest from communities and electoral ridings where support for independence was strong during the October referendum.“It's going to be Alberta first. Albertans and Alberta priorities are our priorities. I wouldn't say that we're going to be hunting down the independent strong ridings,” Sawatzky said.“The Alberta Now party is filling a hole for a lot of those folks on a federal level. We're basically going to run where we feel we've got good support, and I think we're going to be able to gauge that just from our interactions with our membership base.”.MACLEOD: The Alberta Now Party — a bold new idea or Maverick 2.0.Sawatzky also confirmed that the party’s 620 signatures came from communities across Alberta, including Calgary and Edmonton, but did not know the exact numbers by city or riding.Barnes says the party is paying particular attention to the Drumheller, Stettler, and Hanna areas as it looks to continue building support.The Drumheller-Stettler provincial riding (where all three communities are located) had 48.4% support for independence (9,713 votes) on the referendum ballot.All of those communities also sit in the federal riding of Battle River-Crowfoot, which is currently held by CPC leader Pierre Poilievre.“Pierre is the leader of the King's loyal opposition. So we found it interesting that such a high percentage of Albertans want to challenge the status quo from Drumheller-Stettler and Hanna,” he said."We're paying close attention to that one.".Beyond its federal ambitions, Barnes states that Alberta Now is also seeking a provincial political partner.“We absolutely believe that we need a provincial party partner like Quebec. They has been so good politically with the Bloc Québécois and the Parti Québécois,” he said.“We've been reaching out to some of the smaller parties at this point about working together. Once we pull our strategy together, I am hoping that we ask Danielle Smith if the UCP party will work with us. Our vision in Alberta Now is that Alberta should be the most free and most prosperous place in North America. If that's within Canada, that's fine. And if that's without Canada, that's fine too.”Barnes said organizers have contacted elected officials but declined to identify anyone or confirm any commitments to join.“We’ve reached out to lots. We’ve had some conversations,” he said.“We’ve talked to thousands of Albertans at this point, and a few of them are elected officials.”An annual general meeting (AGM) is set for March in Medicine Hat, with Alberta Now members able to attend in person or through Zoom.An exact date has not yet been confirmed.

EXCLUSIVE: New Alberta-first party eyes support in Poilievre’s riding as it seeks federal status

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