New party now registered with Elections Alberta

Ex-Wildrose members who founded group collected about 8,600 signatures

EDMONTON The province’s newest political party launched by former Wildrose members is officially registered with Elections Alberta.

The Alberta Advantage Party (AAP) was founded in 2017 by about 50 former Wildrose members who were against merging with the Progressive Conservatives to become the UCP.

The AAP was officially registered last week after about 8,600 signatures were reviewed by Elections Alberta, said a Monday news release from the party.

Marilyn Burns, a former president of the Wildrose’s Edmonton-Southwest constituency association board, was acclaimed AAP leader in February during a founding convention in Red Deer.

“Albertans have clearly indicated that they want another party on the ballot in the spring 2019 election,” she said in a statement.

“We are the only truly democratic and grassroots party in Alberta.”

In July, Strathmore-Brooks MLA Derek Fildebrandt launched the Freedom Conservative Party of Alberta after levying criticisms against the UCP, including that it trampled on the rights of its membership.

The Alberta Advantage Party is not to be confused with the Alberta Party, which has three sitting MLAs in the legislature and is led by Stephen Mandel.

Burns was previously a member of the Alberta Alliance Party, which was founded in 2002 and later absorbed by the Wildrose Party. She ran under the Alberta Alliance banner in 2004 in Stony Plain, where she came in third, losing to PC candidate Fred Lindsay.

The AAP is holding an annual general meeting on Nov. 17 in Lacombe.