Fildebrandt is learning how hard it is to build a political party
Freedom Conservative Party interim leader is on a one-man crusade to attract members
One month into building a new political party and MLA Derek Fildebrandt is discovering it’s not as easy at it looks.
Not that constructing a party has ever looked easy. Except perhaps to Fildebrandt, who announced last month he was interim leader of the Freedom Conservative Party. I’m not sure if he expected thankful voters to stampede to his door, hoist him up in their thankful arms and parade him around the town square.
Or maybe he at least expected some press coverage that didn’t in some way mock his checkered political past. He got neither.
“We’re a few hundred (members) at this point,” said Fildebrandt in an interview. “A lot of what we’re doing is setting up the machinery of a party, which I’m finding out quickly is no easy task. In politics, I’ve been involved in campaigning and policy, but I’ve not had as much to do with the nuts and bolts construction of a party from the ground up, so we’ve quickly found out that it’s easier said than done.”
That might be the understatement of the year in Alberta politics. But if nothing else, Fildebrandt is not boring. He is smart, articulate and, perhaps most importantly considering all he has been through, has a sense of humour. And he refuses to be kept down, even when he’s the one that keeps cutting himself off at the knees through misadventures and bad choices.
The FCP might be the start of something bigger, or it could be just what it seems: an attempt by Fildebrandt to remain relevant.
It might not be the end of his political career, but you get the feeling you can see it from here.
Fildebrandt is on a one-man crusade (and when you think of the tiny size of the party’s membership, that’s almost literally true) to give right-leaning voters an alternative to the United Conservative Party. In Fildebrandt’s world, that means an alternative to Jason Kenney, someone Fildebrandt pretty much calls a dictator.
“We are committed to living up to our principles of true member-driven grassroots democracy, where the leader does not get to be a dictator of a party,” said Fildebrandt.
The FCP is a free-thinking, free-enterprise, free-range party: “If you’re not hurting anybody else, it’s none of the government’s business.”
Fildebrandt has many obstacles in his path, not the least of which is another right-of-Kenney party: the Alberta Advantage Party, founded by former Wildrose stalwart Marilyn Burns.
Last month, she delivered 8,600 signatures to Elections Alberta to become an official party (the names are being checked by officials now).
“As a founder of the former Wildrose Party, I believe that Albertans deserve an honest and practical grassroots alternative to Jason Kenney and the UCP,” said Burns in a statement.
Burns and Fildebrandt should probably join forces. Come to think of it, so should the Liberals and the Alberta Party. They like to think of themselves as the Goldilocks of Alberta parties: not too far left and not too far right.
They’ll both be fishing for progressive votes in the same electoral pond in the 2019 election.
Then again, these days, the once-mighty Liberal party looks like a splinter party, too. So does the never-mighty Alberta Party.
They are in danger of being irrelevant next election, even if they were to combine forces.
But it’s worth pointing out the Alberta Party is led by someone who just might be the hardest working politician in Alberta — at least for the month of August.
Most politicians are on vacation and have fallen so far under the radar they should be flying missions for the U.S. air force.
Not Stephen Mandel. His schedule this month includes visits to Mundare, Vegreville, Lac La Biche, Red Deer and Grande Prairie.
Mandel is a seasoned politician — more than twice the age of Fildebrandt. The former Edmonton mayor is on a difficult journey. But at least he knows just how much work it takes to build a party and a political movement from the ground up.