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Alberta Politics

wildrose alliance loses its third candidate in six months.

Former Calgary-Fort Wildrose Alliance candidate Bob McInnis
Now former Calgary-Fort Wildrose Alliance candidate Bob McInnis

The conservative Wildrose Alliance has lost its third candidate since it began its nomination process late last year.

Calgary-Fort candidate Bob McInnis will no longer carry his party’s banner against PC MLA Wayne Cao in the next election. When contacted by this blogger, Mr. McInnis said: “I withdrew for personal and career reasons. I still support policies, principles, and leader but couldn’t be in two places at same time.”

Mr. McInnis is the Executive Director of Brown Bagging it for Calgary Kids an organization that provides lunches to homeless children and youth in Calgary. Mr. McInnis’ initiative was frequently mentioned in speeches by party leader Danielle Smith as an example of how charities, rather than publicly-funded programs, are the solution to social problems.

Mr. McInnis’ exit is much quieter than the departure of nominated Medicine Hat candidate Milvia Bauman, who resigned in December 2010 after a very public disagreement with board members of her constituency association. Another candidate, Harpreet Nijjar, nominated in Calgary-Northern Hills in October 2010 quietly dropped off the party’s list in December 2010.

With Mr. McInnis’ departure, the Wildrose Alliance now has at least 29 out of 87 candidates nominated to stand in the next provincial election.

7 replies on “wildrose alliance loses its third candidate in six months.”

I never really understood Bob McInnis as a Wildrose Alliance candidate. It’s not like Bob an I were close but we did partner together on a project and I have had some conversations with him.

I’ve heard Danielle Smith tell the anecdote about Bob’s charity and him joining the party at least three times, I wonder if she’ll still lean on it when she’s trying to paint the WRA with a compassionate conservative brush.

It seems like the WRA has a nasty habit of eating its young what with these nominees dropping out and the recent Jane Morgan fake twitter thing.

http://www.enlightenedsavage.com/2011/05/when-free-speech-crosses-line.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

You really have to wonder, what kind of culture is the Wildrose Alliance creating?

I listened to Danielle on her tour that Southern AB last week to confirm she was as good as advertised. A message to Duncan: she is one of the few individuals I’ve met that is actually better in person than on tv/media clips etc. I found her to be articulate and knowledgeable about the major issues facing Albertans.

Every party has people drop out now and again….these issues will all get ironed out and other capable candidates will be selected soon.

Informative post, Dave. That said, I wouldn’t read too much into this one way or another. Any new party trying to run a full slate of candidates is going to have a few situations like this. Better from the Wildrose Alliance’s perspective that Mr. McInnis reconsider now and step aside than – oh, I don’t know, go off to Vegas or something in the middle of the campaign… There must be lots of small-c conservatives, ranging from moderate and charitable to extreme and uncharitable, who are weighing which conservative party they want to be aligned with, just as many of us on the other side have been considering where best to place our votes and effort to achieve our policy goals these past few months.

I had the pleasure of spending several hours with Bob when we traveled to Edmonton together to visit the Legislature and take in the Leaders Dinner.

He is a terrific guy who has given us, at the Wildrose Party, some great insight into his brand of compassionate conservatism and how it can work to make Alberta better.

Thanks Bob for all your support!

Duncan Kinney is right. Really shows the truth about the Wildrose Alliance – a party with no organization, weak leadership, and candidates who want off the sinking ship. Can’t say as I blame any of them – the party was a one trick pony as the “I hate Ed Stelmach party”. With Ed gone, so is the Wildrose.

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