Wildrose Alliance Watch

Alberta’s newest right-wing political party is stumping for support and candidates in Grande Prairie as an election looms large. Taber-area MLA Paul Hinman, leader of the newly-created Wildrose Alliance, was in the city Thursday to host an open house at the Quality Inn.

“The latest numbers I’ve heard out is they’re going to have a shortfall of $3.4 billion projected dollars out this year because of what they’ve done to damage our economy. We’ve got to stop this craziness of bigger government, more taxes because who are they going to go after next, after the oil companies?”

In his first appearance as leader of the newly minted Wildrose Alliance of Alberta Party Monday, Paul Hinman was joined by two industry insiders to discuss the need for change and his concerns about the proposed shifts in the oil and gas royalty system. “The premier and this whole Tory Stale-mach government is out of touch,” Hinman, the MLA for Cardston-Taber-Warner, told a group of 22 people at Red Deer’s North Hill Inn Monday night. “We’re a true, small ‘c’ conservative party.”

Hinman said his solution to the royalty issue involved leaving the oil and gas royalty system as is, consulting with industry insiders before making any changes and phasing in a 1 per cent increase in oil sands royalties.

Before the meeting, he spoke briefly about the merger of the Wildrose Party and the Alberta Alliance on Saturday. “Any time groups come together, especially when they’re small, there’s strength in numbers.” Hinman wants to run a full slate — all 83 ridings — of candidates in the next election, a race some speculate might begin next month.

Aided by oil industry frustration over the Premier's handling of the royalty file, the Wildrose Alliance Party of Alberta was formed on Saturday in Calgary from the union of two right-wing parties -- the Alberta Alliance and the upstart Wildrose Party. Paul Hinman, the new party's leader and its only elected MLA, said he would "throw the whole thing out" and restore a free-enterprise, conservative-minded provincial government in Edmonton. "We have three socialist parties who are all saying that if we tax and take away from the most successful industries, we are going to make our communities better," Mr. Hinman, 49, said in an interview. "We are for a free-market economy. We are for smaller government, not bigger government." That's music to the ears of the province's oilmen, some of whom are aiding the party financially.

Mr. Hinman said he hopes to win seats in Calgary and rural Alberta, where he believes his message about returning to a smaller government will resonate. He plans to run a full slate of candidates, some of whom will be announced this week. Alberta Alliance was founded in 2002, while the Wildrose Party surfaced last spring.