The United Conservative’s Right-Flank
Since Justin Trudeau traded his majority government in for a minority government last year, Alberta has been a hotspot of political activity. Most of this activity has been described as right wing, populist, or separatist. While Wexit and the gaggle of Alberta’s independent political movements are treated as a novelty by observers, this apparent dog’s breakfast is nothing new.
Alberta’s alienated right wing never disappears; it just expands and contracts with the political currents. When the United Conservative Party married the Progressive Conservative and Wildrose parties, many assumed that the right wing would disappear. It may have gone quiet, but did not disappear. There is a menu of choices for right-wingers in Alberta now including the Alberta Advantage Party, Reform Party, Independence Party, Pro-Life Alberta Political Association, and the newly merged Wildrose Independence Party. With former Alberta Alliance Party and Wildrose Party MLA Paul Hinman returning to lead the Wildrose Independence Party and Danielle Smith writing in the Calgary Herald, there is some déjà vu in Alberta’s politics.
We’ve been here before and no one knows that more than former Reform Party MP and current Alberta Premier Jason Kenney. The former Progressive Conservative Party of Canada came undone for many reasons, but one of them was an alienated right wing in the Prairies. By 1993, Brian Mulroney’s 1988 majority government had split into three parties and folded from 156 seats in Parliament to 2. Having led the merger of the Wildrose and PC Party of Alberta, Premier Kenney is more than familiar with what happens when the right wing is ignored. Six years after Paul Hinman was elected as the first Wildrose MLA in a Calgary-Glenmore by-election, the 40-plus year PC dynasty had fallen and NDP leader Rachel Notley was Premier.
The right wing is issue-driven. For the Wildrose, they were driven by anger over the 2007 royalty review that put a damper on capital investment in Alberta’s energy sector. They were also driven by opposition to government bills that weakened private property rights and created large-scale electricity transmission lines. Federally, the right wing was motivated by policies that hurt the prairie economy such as the National Energy Program, government procurement that favoured central Canada, and equalization payments. Most importantly, these issues were harnessed into a powerful political force that destabilized the status quo.
Like the American Tea Party movement, the strength of the right wing’s political power is leaderless. Its leaders must listen because they are not its driver. When Danielle Smith and her Wildrose MLAs crossed the floor to join the Prentice Progressive Conservatives, many thought the Wildrose Party was done and dusted. The initial polling seemed to confirm it. Smith urged Wildrose supporters to join ranks with the PCs to face challenges ahead, claiming the mission was accomplished after the resignations of Ed Stelmach and Alison Redford. Few followed Smith and she lost her local nomination. The only original of the 17 Wildrose MLAs from 2012 to win again in 2015 were the MLAs that remained Wildrose. And the PC Party was reduced to single digits for the first time since the 1960s.
Premier Kenney is handling the resurgent right wing better than previous leaders. Previous leaders went through the stages of grief including denial, anger, and bargaining. Steps taken to appease the right wing were often too little, too late. In terms of property rights and the Wildrose, the PCs waited years before creating a Property Rights Advocate just prior to the 2012 election. Weeks after the 2019 federal election, and the independence backlash that it created, Premier Kenney created a Fair Deal Panel assisted by none other than former Reform Party Leader Preston Manning. Premier Kenney rapidly provided an outlet for the anger that Prime Minister Trudeau’s election victory created.
What happens next in Alberta’s right wing is in Premier Kenney’s hands. He is in the driver’s seat and leaders, like governments, defeat themselves. So far, he is managing the right wing well. The goalposts have shifted so much that Premier Kenney is considering policies dropped by the Wildrose before the 2012 election, including a provincial police force and pension plan. Only time will tell if the Premier has done enough or gone too far to manage Alberta’s right wing.
