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Wildrose ‘army’ gets its marching orders

Wildrose has its Red Deer army, grey-haired and balding though it might be.As conservative commentator Link Byfield suggested at the organizational meeting for the Red Deer North and South constituency associations for the Wildrose Alliance Party on Monday night, there’s no way pull “the big Alberta switcheroo” — upsetting a long-governing political party — without “a small volunteer army” in the community.
A02-Local-Wildrose
Link Byfield speaks with Wildrose Alliance supporter Kathy Kashuba at the North Hill Inn on Tuesday.

Wildrose has its Red Deer army, grey-haired and balding though it might be.

As conservative commentator Link Byfield suggested at the organizational meeting for the Red Deer North and South constituency associations for the Wildrose Alliance Party on Monday night, there’s no way pull “the big Alberta switcheroo” — upsetting a long-governing political party — without “a small volunteer army” in the community.

Policy doesn’t win elections, Byfield said. The people knocking on doors and putting up signs do.

“If we do our part, we will probably govern Alberta very soon,” Byfield prognosticated in a pre-meeting pep talk to a tightly squeezed crowd of about 60 at the North Hill Inn.

One of the few attendees to not appear near retirement age was Johnny Honaizer, a 25-year-old accountant recently moved to Red Deer from Saskatchewan.

He hopes and expects Wildrose to follow in the footsteps of his homegrown Saskatchewan Party, another original centre-right party that swept to power with big plans for economic development.

Honaizer has been a Wildrose party member for about two months, and came out to gauge its local popularity, adding he thought it was a great turnout.

“I think (Wildrose) is a more true conservative party,” Honaizer said, adding that the party’s economic focus drew him in. “The (Progressive Conservatives) went ahead and issued a bunch of liquor laws. I thought that was a big government move, not a small government move. My hope is that the Wildrose Alliance respects small government, and keeps it small.”

Other attendees were former provincial Conservative party members drawn over because of what they deem poorly handled files.

Bert Bystrom, a farmer from south of Sylvan Lake, said the one issue that really got his attention was the proposal for two high-voltage transmission lines between Edmonton and Calgary. A line goes across his land, he said, and the Wildrose’s position on the issue brought him to the meeting.

“We’re paying high (utility) costs under a system that was supposed to be competitive. When this came to light, I heard an interview . . . (Danielle Smith) had a lot of good answers that said ‘this isn’t needed.’ “

Bystrom said the Conservatives governed well in their first years in power, but that spending is now out of control and something needs to change.

Not all attendees were potential footsoldiers in the Wildrose army. Eunice Munro, a Red Deer woman, has been a card-carrying Progressive Conservative for 30 years, she said.

With a smile, she denied being a “spy.”

“I’m curious,” Munro said by way of explaining her attendance at the meeting. “I don’t think that the Wild Rose and the Tories are so far apart, but somehow they can’t quite meet in the middle.”

Munro said she saw the similarities between the two parties, but said she didn’t like the “Tory slamming” going on, casting it as counterproductive.

“The philosophies are all on the same page, we just wear different colours and different hats,” she said.

mgauk@www.reddeeradvocate.com