Local Wildrose rank and file party members will be asked choose from two men who’ll represent their party in the Barrhead-Morinville-Westock riding at the next provincial election.
It’s a choice they will make on March 14 at the Westlock Memorial Hall and they’ll be joined by the three prospective leaders of the Wildrose Party.
Former Morinville town councillor Joe Gosselin will go up against grain farmer and Dapp local Glenn van Dijken in Saturday’s vote.
“It’s been a process, over the last six years, of evaluating the options we have in Alberta and recognizing that we didn’t have, what I felt, was a conservative option presenting itself and I have decided it’s time for me to get involved,” van Dijken said.
Party members and non-members will be welcomed at the event and Gosselin thinks it will be a good opportunity for undecided voters to get to know the party and what it stands for.
“This event is open to non-card-carrying members as well, if they just wish to have an opportunity to speak to who will eventually be the candidate for this area for Wildrose,” he said.
“Although they may not be able to vote, they’re most welcome to come out and pick up literature from both candidates and speak with them.”
The party is still coping with the high profile defection of 11 members to the ruling PCs and faces a challenge to repeat its 2012 result in the riding, where then Wildrose candidate Link Byfield lost to the now culture and tourism minister Maureen Kubinec.
But Gosselin doesn’t see it that way and thinks that rather than punish Wildrose for the defections, it’s the Progressive Conservatives who will feel the pain at the ballot box.
“I’m not sure there’ll be a backlash against Wildrose, if anything there’ll be a backlash against Progressive Conservatives,” Gosselin said.
“Their move to accept Wildrose members, I think, was a very selfish position to take and it was clearly to eliminate an effective opposition that has done nothing but cause them grief.”
Apart from the pair’s political leanings, the two candidates wouldn’t seem to have that much else in common. Van Dijken is a grain farmer and has worked on a number of agricultural boards and initiatives, including the Neerlandia Co-op. He was also founding member of the Western Hog Exchange.
Gosselin served in the military for over 20 years, is a former two-term Mornville town councillor and currently runs a woodworking business in the Mornville area. Both men are highly critical of the ruling Progressive Conservative party, claiming it’s not longer looking after Albertans. And both have ideas about how to get the province’s budget back in the black.
“We have the highest-paid police, the highest-paid doctors, the highest-paid nurses, the highest-paid everybody, including politicians. In a lot of these categories I don’t see anything wrong with second-highest paid,” said Gosselin.
While van Dijken also advocates for a curb on spending, he would also like to see greater diversification of the economy.
“We can’t rely on an economy that’s essentially tapping into our non-renewables as our cash flow for the future. It’s self-destructive is what it is,” he said.
“Renewables, such as agriculture, forestry or tourism … the people are the resources in our province that have the ability to continue on.”
Both also claim they would never repeat the actions of the former Wildrose members who crossed the floor.
Gosselin said that if push came to shove he would sit as an independent or resign and force a byelection, but is skeptical either would actually happen.
“I can’t see those scenarios unfolding because I am committed to the Wildrose Party,” he said
Van Dijken is also keen to avoid the mistakes of the party’s past and drives home the idea that the party is a grassroots movement.
“The strongest point we have with regards to accountability and government is the fact Wildrose MLAs have free votes. Their hands are not tied to the party at all, they are there to vote the wills and wishes of their constituents,” he said.
Aside from deciding who takes on Kubinec at the next provincial election, attendees will get a chance to hear from and meet with the three people who want to lead the Wildrose.
The three declared candidates, Drew Barnes, Brian Jean and Linda Osinchuk, will all be at the meeting.
The 12-day process to elect a new leader starts on March 16 and runs until March 28.
