A landowner rights candidate and former leader of the now-defunct Green Party of Alberta is staking his claim with right-wing party Wildrose.
Rimbey’s Joe Anglin won the Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre nomination after defeating Rocky Mountain House town councillor Sheila Mizera and former constituency association president Ed Wicks.
Anglin was elected to Rimbey town council last October. He ran for the Green Party in the Lacombe-Ponoka riding in the 2008 provincial election, but came in a distant second to Ray Prins.
Anglin said his political views haven’t changed since being a part of the Greens.
“The Green Party was not left-wing. That was probably one of the biggest battles in the Green Party,” said Anglin on Thursday. “A lot of Green members would have accused me of being too far right-wing and I suppose there would be people in the Wildrose who would accuse me of being too left wing. I am not any wing.”
The 56-year-old, who was born in Vermont and has dual American-Canadian citizenship, said he’s always been a strong advocate of landowner rights. He moved to Alberta from Vancouver in 2004.
Anglin said his political record is all about taking on the Alberta government over major electricity transmission line projects proposed to cut through rural Alberta, as well as changing property rights. He’s been a staunch opponent of the Bill 19 (Land Assembly Project Area Act), Bill 36 (Alberta Land Stewardship Act), and Bill 50 (Electric Statutes Amendment Act).
“These things are still close to my heart. They’re not my only concern, but they are what drew me to the Wildrose.”
Anglin said he met Wildrose leader Danielle Smith a little over two years ago and she listened to him about his concerns regarding transmission lines. He exposed the former Energy and Utilities Board for spying on people who opposed power lines being put through their land.
Anglin is married to wife Deborah and they have two children.
Wildrose must still seek nominations for Red Deer North and Red Deer South. Nominations were sought for Drumheller-Stettler, but a candidate hasn’t been announced. Kerry Towle, whose background includes administration and real estate, won the nomination for Innisfail-Sylvan Lake while Bruce Rowe, mayor of Beiseker, received the nod for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.
Rod Fox won the Lacombe-Ponoka nomination. He’s the sale manager for Western Canada for an Insurance Premium Finance company. ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com