Mandel easily captures Alberta Party leadership

The new leader of the Alberta Party, former Edmonton mayor Stephen Mandel, has his sight set firmly on the premier’s chair come 2019.

“I wouldn’t do this to be second place; this is about winning,” he said Tuesday night.

Mandel emerged from the party’s two-month leadership campaign with 66 per cent of the vote.

The 72-year-old defeated Calgary lawyer Kara Levis (18 per cent) and Calgary- South East MLA Rick Fraser (16 per cent) to take the top job. Just over 70 per cent of the party ’s 6,443 eligible members cast a vote.

The former Progressive Conservative health minister is confident the party can build its membership base to 50,000 over the next year, and is eyeing cultural groups as a potential opportunity.

But he will have to work fast. The party he leads will be pitted against the governing NDP and 100,000-member United Conservative Party.

To have more than a snowball’s hope in hell, the third-place party will need more members, more money and more name recognition. That’s quite the daunting task, but Mandel said he is up for the challenge.

He won’t pursue a seat in the house right away unless his home turf — Edmonton-McClung, currently held by New Democrat Lorne Dach — opens up.

Instead, he plans to travel the province, getting the word out about the party and its policies based on fiscal and social responsibility, sustainability, democracy and quality of life.

“There’s a lot of people around Alberta looking for a different view, a different vision — a vision of inclusiveness and diversity, of diversifying the economy — and the Alberta Party will bring that,” Mandel said.

Former leader Greg Clark insisted Tuesday night he’s not at all disappointed to be on the outside looking in. Instead, he said, the “calculated risk” of the race had paid off. “Sometimes you have to take a step back to take a leap forward, and that’s what we did as a party,” he said.

Clark is one of three Alberta Party MLAs who will occupy a corner of the legislative floor when spring session begins March 8. He will be joined by Fraser and CalgaryMackay-Nose Hill MLA Karen McPherson. McPherson was a New Democrat until mid-2017, and crossed to her new home in October.

Clark said he’s looking forward to working with Mandel.

“We’ve captured the attention and — I hope — the imagination of Albertans,” Clark said.

“We’ve shown there is a viable option in the middle of the political spectrum. The good news is, that’s where most Albertans are.”