Separation Party of Alberta

Separation Party of Alberta
Active provincial party
Leader	Bruce Hutton
President	Mike Bennison
Founded	2004
Headquarters	Edmonton, Alberta
Ideology	Separatism
Official colours	Green & Gold
Website
Official website
Politics of Alberta Political parties Elections

The Separation Party of Alberta is a political party that advocates the secession of Alberta from Canada. Its leader is Bruce Hutton.

History

The party took over the rights of the inactive Alberta First Party in June 2004 and changed the party name. The party fielded 12 candidates in the provincial election, held on November 22, 2004. These candidates won a total of 4,680 votes, or 0.5% of the popular vote in the province. Here are the candidates, their ridings, votes and percentages:

• Calgary-Fort, Leo Ollenberger, 212 (2.7%)
• Calgary-Shaw, Daniel Doher, 171 (1.6%)
• Airdrie-Chestermere, Bob Lefurgey, 394 (3.3%)
• Drumheller-Stettler, David Carnegie, 465 (4.5%)
• Highwood, Cory Morgan, 299 (2.8%)
• Little Bow, Grant Shaw, 432 (4.8%)
• Livingstone-Macleod, Jim Walker, 339 (3.4%)
• Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, Brian Vasseur, 746 (6.1%)
• Red Deer-South, Judy Milne, 261 (2.2%)
• Rocky Mountain House, Bruce Hutton, 505 (4.9%)
• Strathcona, Roberta McDonald, 297 (2.1%)
• Strathmore-Brooks, Jay Kolody, 559 (6.1%)

The Separation Party is not the first separatist party to make a foray into Albertan politics. The Western Canada Concept achieved modest success in the early 1980s, even winning a by-election in 1982. The WCC's popularity declined before the end of the decade. The Alberta Independence Party ran 14 candidates in the 2001 general election, but these candidates were designated as independents because the party had not been registered with Elections Alberta. The AIP eventually disbanded.

The Separation Party has informal ties with the Western Independence Party of Saskatchewan and its website includes links to the website of that party. The Separation Party is not affiliated to the Western Canada Concept Party of British Columbia or the British Columbia-based Western Block Party and has distanced itself from Doug Christie, the controversial leader of those parties.

Recent challenges

Serious disagreements within the party membership led to a showdown at a party meeting on October 29, 2005. One group voted out the President and the Board of Directors, who in turn refused to recognize the vote, claiming that it was unconstitutional. As a result, the party runs the risk of being de-registered by the province. A party convention was held March 25, 2006 to resolve these issues.

The party managed to field just one candidate, its leader, for the March 3 2008 Alberta general election. Hutton placed last out of a field of seven candidates in Rocky Mountain House, capturing just 1.21% of the vote.

See also

• Alberta separatism
• List of Alberta political parties

External links

• Separation Party of Alberta
• The Formation of the Separation Party of Alberta