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Independence Party of Alberta

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Not to be confused with Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta.

The Independence Party
Active provincial party
LeaderVacant
PresidentRon Robertson[1]
FounderCory Morgan
FoundedJanuary 2001 (2001-01) (first iteration)
2017 (second iteration)
Dissolved2001 (first iteration)
Headquarters4706 51 Street Olds, AB T4H 1E7
Ideology
Seats in Legislature
0 / 87
Website
www.abindependence.com

The Independence Party (TIP), also known as the Alberta Independence Party from 2001 to 2019[2] and the Independence Party of Alberta after 2019,[3] is an Albertan provincial political party.

History

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First Iteration

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The Alberta Independence Party was founded in 2000 by Cory Morgan,[4][5] who served as the first leader of the party.[6] The party held its founding convention in January 2001, ahead of the general election.[7]

The party was originally dedicated to increasing the autonomy of Alberta within the Canadian confederation, partly as a response to the failure of the Canadian Alliance to gain traction outside Western Canada in the 2000 Canadian election.[8]

One of the party's first challenges was to gather enough signatures to qualify as an official party in Alberta, which it failed to do. In light of this development, its fourteen candidates were forced to stand as independents in the 2001 Alberta general election. All of their candidates were unsuccessful.

In October 2001, at the party's annual general meeting, members voted to make Albertan separation from Canada a primary goal of the party.[9] Ultimately, the party ended up disbanding before the end of that year.[10]

Second Iteration

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The Alberta Independence Party re-formed in late 2017 after Dave Bjorkman contacted the original party founder, Cory Morgan, seeking permission to use the party name.[10][11] Bjorkman became interim party leader in early 2018.[12] Bjorkman opposed Alberta's Bill 24 in November 2017, citing fears that the law would encourage keeping secrets from parents and saying that he supports the LGBT+ community and parental involvement in the Alberta school system.[13]

The AIP officially registered with Elections Alberta as a political party on March 20, 2019.[14] They fielded 63 candidates in the 2019 Alberta general election, winning no seats. After the election, Bjorkman resigned as party leader in July 2019.[15]

On October 29, 2019, the party changed its name to the Independence Party of Alberta[16]

Dave Campbell was elected party leader in the spring of 2020.[17]

On September 12, 2021, Vicky Bayford was voted in as the new leader.[18]

On September 10, 2022, street preacher Artur Pawlowski became the leader of the party, winning a leadership contest.[19][20] He was removed as leader six months later and the party leadership was vacant during the 2023 election.[21][22][23]

On October 3, 2023, lawyer[24] Katherine Kowalchuk was named the interim leader.[25][26] She was briefly nominated as the Liberal Party of Canada candidate for Calgary Signal Hill in 2015 before withdrawing as the candidate three months before the election.[27] In the 2023 election, she was the best-performing candidate for the party, receiving 4.71% of the vote in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.[28] On January 31, 2024, Kowalchuk resigned as interim leader.[29]

Leaders

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Leader Term of office Notes
Cory Morgan 2000 2001
Dave Bjorkman 2018 July 2019 Interim
Dave Campbell 2020 2021
Vicky Bayford September 12, 2021 September 10, 2022
Artur Pawlowski September 10, 2022 March 28, 2023
Katherine Kowalchuk October 3, 2023 January 31, 2024 Interim

Election results

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Party candidates received a total of 7,521 votes in the 2001 election:[30]

  1. Bradley R. Lang (Calgary-Egmont) 399 (2.90 percent)
  2. Tom Humble (Airdrie-Rocky View) 683 (4.10 percent)
  3. Cory Morgan (Banff-Cochrane) 538 (four percent)
  4. Darren Popik (Calgary Shaw) 151 (0.60 percent)
  5. Douglas R. Chitwood (Lacombe-Stettler) 554 (4.70 percent)
  6. Eileen Walker (Drumheller-Chinook) 819 (8.90 percent)
  7. Ron (Earl) Miller (Dunvegan) 248 (2.8 percent)
  8. Dennis Young (Grande Prairie-Smoky) 380 (4.1 percent)
  9. Jon Koch (Little Bow) 885 (8.3 percent)
  10. Charles Park (Ponoka-Rimbey) 764 (8.1 percent)
  11. Ryan Lamarche (Red Deer-South) 203 (1.6 percent)
  12. Christopher Sutherland (Strathmore-Brooks) 511 (4.5 percent)
  13. Jeff Newland (Wainwright) 868 (eight percent)
  14. Ben Lussier (Wetaskiwin-Camrose) 382 (three percent)

Lussier began his candidacy with an AIP endorsement, which was withdrawn during the campaign.

Election Leader Candidates Votes % Seats +/- Place Position
2001 Cory Morgan
0 / 83
 7,521 0.74%
0 / 83
 No seats
2019 Dave Bjorkman
63 / 87
 13,481 0.72%
0 / 87
 Steady 0 Increase 5th No seats
2023 Vacant
14 / 87
 5,045 0.29%
0 / 87
 Steady 0 Decrease 5th No seats

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Board of Directors". Independence Party of Alberta. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  2. ^ "Parties". Elections Alberta. Retrieved April 17, 2020. The Alberta Independence Party made application to the Chief Electoral Officer to change the party name to "Independence Party of Alberta". The request was received and approved, and the change was made effective October 29, 2019.
  3. ^ Bradley, Jonathan (September 14, 2022). "Pawlowski wins Independence Party of Alberta leadership race". Western Standard. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  4. ^ MacEachern, Meagan (April 1, 2019). "Another name joins the ballot". Lakeland Today. Great West Media. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
  5. ^ Morgan, Cory (January 31, 2023). "In 2000, at the age of 29 I formed an independence party & led it into the 2001 Alberta election". Twitter. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
  6. ^ "New separatist party not seen as a threat". CBC News. January 22, 2001. Retrieved April 13, 2024.
  7. ^ "Separatists form new party in Alberta". CBC News. January 22, 2001. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
  8. ^ "Separatists gather in Red Deer to form new party". CBC News. January 20, 2001. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
  9. ^ "New Alberta party pushing for separation". The Globe and Mail. October 23, 2001. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
  10. ^ a b "New Alberta separatist party raises questions about splintering of conservative voters". Toronto Star. March 4, 2019.
  11. ^ Morgan, Cory (August 9, 2019). "The Alberta Independence Party. Where to next?". corymorgan.com. Retrieved April 13, 2024.
  12. ^ "MEET THE ALBERTA INDEPENDENCE PARTY'S OFFICERS TEAM". albertaindependenceparty.net. Archived from the original on August 3, 2018.
  13. ^ "Bill 24: Parents, trustees, superintendents fear harm to parent-school relationships". Grandin Media. November 13, 2017.
  14. ^ Resler, Glen (November 2019). "Elections-Alberta-Annual-Report-2018-19.pdf" (PDF). Elections Alberta. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
  15. ^ "Alberta Elections – Parties".
  16. ^ "Registered Political Parties". Elections Alberta. Retrieved July 24, 2023.
  17. ^ Cournoyer, Dave (July 16, 2020). "Paul Hinman is back, again, maybe! Former Wildrose leader to lead new Wildrose separatist party". Daveberta. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
  18. ^ "2021 Leadership Contest - The Independence Party of Alberta". Elections Alberta. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
  19. ^ "2022 Leadership Contest - The Independence Party of Alberta". Elections Alberta. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
  20. ^ Bradley, Jonathan (September 14, 2022). "Pawlowski wins Independence Party of Alberta leadership race". Western Standard. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  21. ^ Toy, Adam (March 29, 2023). "Pawlowski out as Independence Party leader in Alberta". Global News. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  22. ^ "We appreciate your patience as we push forward toward having representation in our legislature". Facebook. The Independence Party. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  23. ^ Griwkowsky, Catherine (May 1, 2023). "What Alberta's third parties are offering in election 2023". Politics Today. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
  24. ^ "Katherine Kowalchuk". Getz Collins and Associates. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
  25. ^ "Registered Political Parties". Elections Alberta. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  26. ^ "After much discussion and deliberation on how to live forward strategically and intelligently, the board of directors has appointed an interim leader". Instagram. Independence Party of Alberta. October 3, 2023. Retrieved April 28, 2024.
  27. ^ Siekierski, BJ (July 16, 2015). "Calgary Liberal candidate Kowalchuk withdraws". iPolitics. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
  28. ^ "76 - Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
  29. ^ "February 2024 Newsletter" (PDF). Independence Party of Alberta. Retrieved April 28, 2024.
  30. ^ "2001 General Election". Elections Alberta. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
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