Today, I Joined the PCAA

Today I did something that I had pondered in the past, but never truly seriously come close to doing – I joined the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta.

My reasons for joining the party are quite simple, honestly. Although the stench of past corruption still lingers within the party (thanks for that, Sandra Jansen), there is clear change in the air. Some MLA’s have impressed me greatly. Richard Gotfried and Mike Ellis, in particular, have proven themselves to be amongst the most effective members of opposition. Ultimately, however, this is not the reason I joined the party.

We in Alberta are currently in dire straits. We have a destructive socialist party currently in government. This party inherited a $1 billion surplus and turned it into a record deficit, doubling our province’s total debt in just over one year. In that time span, this socialist party has also introduced an enormous $3 billion wealth distribution scheme that they’ve called a “carbon levy”, and they’ve spent over $5 million of our tax dollars to advertise this scheme. These socialists have gone against impact analysis and pushed through a job and small business-killing 50% minimum wage hike. They’ve forced an expensive, misled and hated labour bill onto Albertan farms. They hiked the corporate tax by 20% while creating enormous uncertainty for our oil sector with a long, drawn out royalty review. Of course, this is just a brief summary, but one thing is certain – this government has done an immense amount of damage to Albertans and to the Albertan economy. It will take years to undo this damage. If anything is clear, it’s that Alberta cannot afford another term for the NDP.

Right now, polls show Wildrose holding steady, around the same support numbers they’ve held since before the 2012 provincial election. Wildrose is built on true Albertan principles: responsible fiscal management, property rights, small localized government and a return to the Alberta Advantage – low taxation to encourage investment. With that said, Wildrose has been infiltrated by extreme socons; the kind of people who think that their personal beliefs should overrule the rights of all others. These are the kind of people who follow Ezra Levant and his Rebel like he’s Jesus and his tabloid is the Bible. Wildrose has, of course, brought a lot of this on itself, by spending party donations to advertise on the Rebel, and having MLA’s attend Levant’s events in Alberta. Wildrose has also fallen prey to more “bozo eruptions” within caucus, such as the now-notorious Holodomor blog and Brian Jean’s inexcusable decision to boot Derek Fildebrandt from caucus before reversing his stance only days later. This is evidence of poor leadership – something that has plagued Wildrose since its early days. Brian Jean is a good man. Of that, I have no doubt. However, Jean lacks the ability to rein in and unite his caucus. Come election time, I have no doubt that Wildrose alone will drop in the polls and end up with very similar numbers to what they’ve had in the past two elections. With both Wildrose and the Progressive Conservatives splitting the vote, each ending up with popularity percentages in the 20-25% range, the NDP, behind a united left, will form government once again.

There is only one way to defeat the NDP in 2019. Alberta’s two center-right parties need to unite, and they need to do this soon. The two current leaders of these parties, Brian Jean and the PCAA’s Ric McIver, have shown that they are unwilling to cooperate on this. One man, a man with a strong record, incredible fundraising numbers and a proven ability to win, has stepped forward to finally unite conservatives – Jason Kenney. Jason Kenney isn’t my favorite Conservative MP (My personal choice would have been Rona Ambrose). He’s too socially conservative for my liking. However, despite Kenney’s personal views, he has never once spoken against topics such as abortion or gay marriage in Parliament, and he has never attempted to table bills against these things. As a conservatarian, Kenney embodies my belief that we can all have our own views without enforcing them on each other. This, together with his track record, makes him easy to support. While I still support the basic principles of the Wildrose Party, and still consider myself a Wildroser, I do not feel that remaining a member of Wildrose will lead to defeating the NDP. I believe that I can do more to defeat the NDP as a PCAA member, working with my local Spruce Grove – St Albert constituency board to send pro-Kenney delegates to the PCAA leadership convention next year. Thus, last Wednesday, I sent the following email to Wildrose, and today, upon receiving confirmation from the party that my membership has been terminated, I joined the PCAA.

To Whom It May Concern,

I have been a Wildrose member for nearly 3 years now, and I have been a supporter since the beginning. The principles that this party was founded on, socially libertarian views promoting individual freedom & property rights, along with fiscal conservatism, are the principles that have guided me since the day I left school. I fully and wholeheartedly support the ideals that Wildrose stands for.

Despite the above, regrettably, I am writing to you to formally terminate my membership in the party. This has nothing to do with Wildrose itself (although recent bozo eruptions, between the Holodomor stuff, the Fildebrandt ejection et all have shaken my confidence in leadership). This is because I feel that I, as an Albertan, have a bigger fight  in which I must take up arms. Alberta needs a united Conservative party, and there is a man running for PC leadership to do just that. I feel that I serve more purpose as an Albertan in working with my local PC CA to send pro-Kenney delegates to the PC leadership convention next spring.

I am a Wildroser through and through, but we can’t just continue spinning our tires with the risk of another NDP government less than three years away on the horizon. I do not believe that we can take down the NDP without a united right. The left has unified behind one party, and we on the right must do the same. We need unity, and we need it as soon as possible.

Regards,

Trevor Norris
Spruce Grove – St. Albert

This battle is only beginning. There is strong resistance towards Kenney coming from the more left-leaning side of the PCAA. These are the elitists who are responsible for the end of the PCAA’s 44 year reign. These people will likely rally around Richard Starke and Sandra Jansen for leadership. This may be advantageous for Jason Kenney. Conservatives within the PCAA have one candidate to rally behind. I encourage others with no current party affiliation, as well as those with current Wildrose memberships, to do the same. By rallying behind Kenney, you are not betraying Wildrose, nor are you betraying your past dislike of PCAA indiscretions. On the contrary, you’re fighting for conservative principles against those responsible for the aforementioned indiscretions.

Let’s elect Jason Kenney as PCAA leader and finally unite the right in Alberta. Let’s defeat the NDP. Let’s fight for Alberta, and take our province back from the socialist scourge that will stop at nothing to destroy everything we stand for.