Most by-elections are not particularly important. They usually occur to fill a seat in the legislature or parliament between general elections, often due to the resignation of the sitting member. Frequently, the opposition party will pick up the seat, indicating dissatisfaction with the governing party, but rarely does the outcome have much effect..In certain cases, however, a by-election can create a shockwave. This was the case in 1982, when Gordon Kesler won a by-election in the Olds-Didsbury riding for the Western Canada Concept Party of Alberta (Alberta WCC). Kesler’s victory was like a shot heard around the country. It was the first time a member of an independence party was ever elected in Western Canada. Clearly, many Albertans were extremely concerned about the threat posed by Pierre Trudeau’s federal government and were willing to consider radical options..Although there had been organizations advocating Alberta independence during the 1970s, support for that option did not become widely popular until Pierre Trudeau was re-elected in February 1980, after the short-lived Joe Clark minority government. Support for independence subsequently exploded when the Trudeau government announced its devastating National Energy Program (NEP) in October 1980. Several large independence meetings were held in the aftermath of that announcement – at least one with over two thousand people. .At this time the movement was dominated by two rival organizations: a non-party association called West-Fed, and a brand-new political party, the aforementioned Alberta WCC. However, during 1981, support for both groups began to cool off and some observers believed that the independence movement had already peaked. .In his 1984 article, “Western Separatism: Counter-elite of the marginalized”, University of Calgary political scientist Don Ray wrote about the apparent demise of the independence movement during 1981. As he put it, “At times it seemed that the movement was dying.”.During 1981, major internal problems became evident within the independence movement, especially involving leadership squabbles. As Ray explains, “This issue of leadership credibility bedevilled both organizations. The West-Fed of Calgary had three changes in leadership between September 1980 and December 1981. The fourth group of leaders went over to the WCC in December, which had also been having its own problems.”.As a result, the independence movement essentially discredited itself in the eyes of the public. The mass support evident in late 1980 seemed to fade away, and both organizations lost much of their public profile. It looked like excitement over independence had been just a flash-in-the-pan. .According to Ray, because the movement was at such a low point, “Commentators dismissed western separatism as being dead, burnt-out.” But they were in for a surprise. For as Ray goes on to explain, “On Wednesday, February 17, 1982, Gordon Kesler took western separatism out of the museum of Canadian oddities and planted the WCC banner on the ramparts of a shocked Canada.”.On November 30, 1981, former Alberta Social Credit Party leader and MLA for Olds-Didsbury, Bob Clark, resigned his seat in the legislature. This created a vacancy requiring a by-election. The territory within that riding had been held by the Social Credit Party for most of the 46 years since William Aberhart’s stunning election victory of 1935. However, Social Credit had been in decline for at least ten years, and Peter Lougheed’s Progressive Conservatives dominated Alberta politics..The WCC chose Gordon Kesler as its candidate for the impending by-election. As Ray writes, “Kesler owned his own oil scouting firm, was involved in farming and had been a rodeo cowboy since the age of eight. The WCC used his background shrewdly, showing Kesler as having his feet planted in both agriculture and oil. They also displayed him as a religious man.” .The upstart WCC was not expected to win. In contrast to that party, both the Tories and Socreds had strong organizations in the riding. As Ray explains, the WCC’s by-election victory was especially remarkable because the party “had been registered in Alberta for only eight months. Its organized constituency association in Olds-Didsbury was less than seven months old at the time of the election call. In only four weeks the Olds-Didsbury WCC grew from barely forty-five members to be the winning party. Kesler was given 4,015 votes, representing 42.16 per cent of the vote.”.The impact of Kesler’s victory was significant. For one, it led to a consolidation of the independence movement behind the WCC. West-Fed disbanded and recommended that its members join the WCC. .Furthermore, as Ray explains, “after Olds-Didsbury the separatist movement in Alberta emerged for a short while as a consolidated force, with a sense of vitality and an expectation that perhaps it could win the provincial government. In the month after the WCC victory, even Tory sources were conceding as many as twenty seats to the WCC in the next election. Before Olds-Didsbury, voting for a separatist party was not publicly acceptable behaviour.” But due to the by-election win, the “WCC had been catapulted to national prominence.”.After the by-election, membership in the party grew rapidly. However, it once again descended into leadership conflicts and in-house squabbling. Faced with a party that was both growing as a threat but also mired by internal strife, Premier Lougheed smartly called an early provincial election for November. The Tories won 75 of 79 seats, with the NDP picking up two, and the remaining two going to independents who previously had been Social Credit MLAs..The WCC was shut-out despite receiving 11.8 per cent of the provincial vote. This was a heavy loss. .The subsequent history of the Alberta WCC is largely one of decline, and most of its supporters would later be absorbed by the Reform Party of Canada. However, its brief moment in the sun is worth remembering as the time an Alberta riding sent Pierre Trudeau a resounding message he would never forget. The Olds-Didsbury by-election had a national impact..A future by-election in Alberta could potentially have the same kind of impact. What if a UCP MLA in a rural riding decided to resign in 2021 to “spend more time with his (or her) family”? No doubt the Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta (WIPA) would run a candidate in the ensuing by-election. .If the WIPA candidate won, Alberta’s concerns would immediately be front-page national news. Perhaps Ottawa would suddenly understand the need for more pipelines. Whatever the case, the effect would rock the country and give both Premier Kenney and Justin Trudeau a wake-up call about the need for immediate change. .Michael Wagner is a columnist for the Western Standard
