Dear editor:
To fully understand why former Wildrose leader Danielle Smith did what she did we need to review what has happened in Alberta politics over the last number of years.
• Prior to Smith becoming leader, the Wildrose was an extreme right-wing fringe party with some very radical right-wing views.
• The Progressive Conservative party was moving to the centre-left under its prior leaders. The leaders were clearly being influenced by the ‘old boys’ in the party; two things that many, including Smith, condemned.
• When Smith became leader she moved the Wildrose more to the left, firmly in the region where the PC party used to be. This was when I joined the Wildrose party.
• Wildrose lost the last election solely due to a last-minute appearance of radical extreme right-wing comments, which showed that the Wildrose party had not moved as far to the left as most of us thought.
• Wildrose defeated the equal rights for all bill at their AGM, once again showing that the base of the Wildrose was still an extreme right-wing party with some very extreme views. This was when I wrote to Smith expressing my disappointment and quit the party.
• With Jim Prentice joining the PC party as leader, he has brought that party back to the right, where it used to be.
The end result is that Danielle Smith has brought a strong, moderately-right conservative party back to power in Alberta, just not how everyone expected. I believe Smith has been true to her beliefs, it is the parties that have been moving all over the place.
Welcome to politics in Alberta…like nowhere else in the world!
Roger Harman
