FREEDOM PARTY
Fildebrandt confident in Medicine Hat chances
Derek Fildebrandt says two ridings around Medicine Hat will be fertile soil for his fledgling Freedom Conservative Party in the 2019 provincial election, and he’s actively seeking candidates to run in both.
“Brooks-Medicine Hat is at the very top of our list of constituencies that we believe we can win,” said Fildebrandt on Friday, one day ahead of the conclusion of the FCP leadership contest in which the current Brooks-Strathmore MLA will be acclaimed.
“I’ve spoken to several men and women who are interested in running in both BrooksMedicine Hat and CypressMedicine Hat.
“It’s solid conservative territory. The vast majority of the constituency boundary redraws, it favoured the New Democrats, but that’s not the case in Medicine Hat area.
“It become almost mathematically impossible for the NDP to ever win again.”
Fildebrandt, who split with the United Conservative Party in the spring, this summer announced he would help form the new party named the Freedom Conservative Party.
It seeks to give an “unapologetic” voice, according to its website, to conservatives who feel left behind by the merger of the Wildrose and Progressive Conservative parties.
He said the controversy in the UCP nomination contest in Brooks-Medicine hat, in which candidate Todd Beasley was taken off a ballot after disparaging Muslims on social media, is a heavy handed party practice that some conservatives disagree with.
He also quashed the idea that Beasley will be the FCP candidate, saying the two have talked but agreed “it’s not a good fit,” said Fildebrandt.
“After this leadership process, we’ll turn our focus to recruiting and nominating good candidates in every riding where we plan to run.”
The party has said it doesn’t intend to split votes with UCP candidates in ridings that show a possibility of going to the NDP on a ballot with three main-party choices.
That leaves one-third the seats in the 87-seat legislature, said Fildebrandt, including “rural, small urban” seats and some areas of Calgary.
Fildebrandt, who is expected to run in the newly drawn riding of ChestermereStrathmore, also recently announced former MLA Joe Anglin will seek a seat under the FCP banner in 2019.
Eventually in BrooksMedicine Hat UCP contest, Michaela Glasgo won the nomination over Dinah Hebert.
In the region’s other riding, current MLA and UCP finance critic Drew Barnes was acclaimed as the candidate for Cypress-Medicine Hat, which will lose the County of 40 Mile from the 2015 boundaries, but gained a large portion of the south end of Medicine Hat.
In 2015, NDP candidate Bob Wanner won the race in Medicine Hat by about 300 votes over Wildrose candidate Val Olson and third-place finisher, PC incumbent Blake Pedersen.
Right-wing analysis of that result, and others throughout the province, was that a split in conservative voters ushered in the NDP majority government.
Wanner hasn’t announced his plans for the next election.