Separatist provincial party in Alberta, Canada
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
First Iteration
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
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]
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