The Wildrose Alliance Party is in the market for a new name and leader.
Jeff Callaway, president of the fledging party, told Alberta Watch that people have complained about the moniker and suggested a name change might be in order.
"We're working on it," he said with a smile, declining to reveal the new brand yet.
As the party prepares for its annual general meeting in Calgary in June, Callaway said party faithful can also expect an upcoming leadership race.
There must be something in the air in wild rose country.
The Alberta Liberal Party is also considering a name change as part of its party renewal process. Dumping the historic handle is controversial, but the Liberal name goes over like a case of cooties in a province where the love affair with hating the federal Liberals for the National Energy Program shows no signs of abating.
The Wildrose Alliance is still a toddler in Alberta politics. Created shortly before the March, 2008 provincial election, it is the product of a shotgun marriage between the Alberta Alliance and the Wildrose Party. The new party took only seven per cent of the embarrassing low turnout and its lone MLA, Paul Hinman, also party leader, lost his seat. But if it was any comfort, the Liberals and New Democrats were crushed too as Ed Stelmach's Progressive Conservatives sleepwalked to power with a huge majority.
But there's dissatisfaction in Tory land.
"They're not the PC party you know anymore. They're the liberal party," Callaway said, citing uncontrolled spending and now an era of deficits and taking on debt.
Membership numbers are confidential, he said, quickly adding that it's in the "four digits." The party no longer has a predominantly rural base as strength in the city grows, he explained. This week, the party attracted 200 people to a fundraiser at the Petroleum Club, a popular Calgary haunt for the oil and gas crowd. It was no no fluke. Fundraising efforts last year saw the party grab $755,000 in revenue, about three times as much as the year before. Oil patch players were among the big money donors including EnCana, Wolf Coulee Resources, West Energy and Crew Energy. EnCana also made large donations to the Tories and Grits.
(The Tories, by contrast raised $3.2-million in revenue and the Liberals collected $1.3-million.)
Many in the energy sector are still unhappy with the Stelmach government's changes to the royalty regime and what they see as regulatory burdens.
"We're becoming that viable option for people," Callaway said.
It was for him.
The 31-year-old grew up on a dairy farm outside Calgary, but now jokes about being the only one in his family who wears a suit to work as he toils downtown as a senior investment adviser. He has long considered himself a Tory. He's sat on boards, worked on campaigns and dutifully voted PC. But fed up with the party machine and seeing no way to change the system, he decided to branch out and look for a right-of-centre alternative. Last year, he was tapped as president of the Wildrose Alliance.
Callaway said his party's message to voters is the same as what was delivered to the Petroleum Club this week.
"It's okay to support another party. We all don't have to be part of the same social club," he said.
