The Wildrose Party announced its interim leader yesterday (Dec. 22) at its Calgary office.
The new leader, Heather Forsyth, will take over for former party leader Danielle Smith, who shocked the province with her decision early last week to cross the floor to the governing Progressive Conservatives, accompanied by eight MLAs.
“At this point, nothing has changed in our Banff-Cochrane riding, as far as our resolve,” said Wildrose Constituency Association president, Ian Cook, adding that the two local nominees for the riding are ‘two great candidates’ who will battle it out Jan. 14, 2015 in the nomination race.
Paul McLean and Scott Wagner are the two Cochrane and area candidates who will be in the running for the local nomination.
Cook acknowledged that while the recent crossing of the nine MLAs was ‘a bit of a hit’, the party is continuing to move forward and is ‘invigorated and more united than before’.
He also said that he doesn’t think Albertans are ready to go back to a ‘one party dictatorship’ and that the province needs unification from the Wildrose Party now more than ever.
The eight MLAs who joined Smith included Rob Anderson (Airdrie), Gary Bikman (Cardston-Taber-Warner), Rod Fox (Lacombe-Ponoka), Jason Hale (Strathmore-Brooks), Bruce McAllister (Chestermere-Rocky View), Blake Pedersen (Medicine Hat), Bruce Rowe (Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills) and Jeff Wilson (Calgary-Shaw).
Former Wildrose member, Joe Anglin, left the party in November to sit as an independent.
Five MLAs remain, including Shayne Saskiw (Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills), Rick Strankman (Drumheller-Stettler), Drew Barnes (Cypress-Medicine Hat), Heather Forsyth (Calgary-Fish Creek) and Pat Stier (Livingstone-Macleod).
Smith resigned from her post as leader of the Wildrose Party Dec. 17 and has been under considerable fire ever since. She maintains that losing four byelections was a setback.
She also maintains that she was fighting backlash from social conservatives in her own party — members who wished to ‘teach her a lesson’ for marching in a gay pride parade and for being vocal about equal rights.
