Former Wildrose Drumheller-Stettler nomination candidate Doug Wade disgrees with actions taken in the local constituency association.
There has been a swift reaction from local residents concerned about the nomination selection in the Wildrose Drumheller–Stettler and the voting off of three members of its board.
The Mail reported in its June 18 edition that Stan Solberg, Chip Aiello and Dale Wilson of the Wildrose Constituency Association (CA) were voted off the board. MLA Rick Strankman indicated that this was the consequence for not signing a new set of bylaws and a confidentiality agreement.
A Wildrose Party official explained the bylaws and confidentiality agreement were approved on May 20 by the party and sent out to all constituency associations.
The confidentiality undertaking states that membership information, contact and financial, is confidential and may only be used for the Party and CA purposes, and that donor information is confidential and only used and or disclosed in accordance authorized by the party.
One clause reads: “I agree to keep strategic and political discussions that take place at CA and Party meetings and events confidential and not to disclose the content of those discussions, except for the purpose of pursuing the objectives that are the subject of the discussions, during or after my term as a member of the CA Board.”
While the turmoil has been swirling, it does not sit well with some prominent members of the party in the Drumheller area, including Doug Wade.
“I am disappointed that our three Drumheller board of directors are now turfed from it, and I have difficulty with anyone that voted in that fashion, of which there were 10,” he said.
He has no use for a confidentiality clause.
“I think it is absolutely wrong for them to have this confidentiality order that you must sign if you want to sit on the board. The Drumheller ones were the only one who didn’t sign it and they are the only one who are gone,” he said.
Lisa Hansen-Zacharuk was in the process of seeking to be included in the nomination race for the party in the area, however with just hours left to file her papers, she stepped out of the race. She needed signatures from one-third of the Constituency Association membership to be considered.
Wade ran to be the Wildrose candidate in the last election, but was defeated by Strankman. He was hoping for another race for the nomination.
“I would support anyone who would want to try. It is a difficult thing to do, and it is a rewarding, challenging and fulfilling thing to do. Anyone who questions whether they should or should not seek the nomination of a political party, after my experience, try it, it is very worthwhile,” he said.
That said, he doesn’t like the rules for running.
“I don’t appreciate it at all that when people want to seek the nomination of the Wildrose Party constituency that they get nine days and sign up one-third of the CA members. When I tried it, I had three days to sign up 75 members. I don’t think they thought I could do it, but I did it, which amazed them.”
“What I think they are doing is unreasonable and they ought to change it and willingly seek any member of any constituency who want to seek that nomination.”
A Wildrose official explained that because there was more than 150 in the Constituency Association, this was the same benchmark for signatures as the previous rules, however he says there was some misunderstanding.
According to the rules approved by the Wildrose Executive Committee:
“The nine (9) calendar day period during which Applications and Nomination Petitions are being accepted and during which individuals may purchase or renew their Party membership and be eligible to vote in a Nomination Event.”
The official says this does not mean that all of the signatures have to be collected during these nine days.
“You could have months to assemble the signatures, the forms have been available since March,” he said. “There is no nine-day requirement for getting your signatures.”
“If a person has doubts or need interpretation on the rules, they can always send an e-mail to nominations@wildrose.ca and we can answer their questions.”
After almost six decades Stanley Schumacher gave up his Progressive Conservative membership card to sign on to the Wildrose Party. Today he considers himself an independent.
“My PC membership which dated back to September 1953 expired on December 31, 2009. Then I was looking around and became interested in Wildrose. I bought a five-year membership, which still has sometime to go. I resigned from the constituency board in late October to express my disgust at what happened at the Annual General Meeting in late October where the party seemed to want to become a PC-lite Party,” he explained. “I considered being an independent for the first time.”
“I respect the political process and try to improve it all the time, but it has been a losing battle.”
Schumacher put himself in the position of waiting for the election and choosing a candidate based on merit. The recent happenings in the Constituency Association have made an impression on him.
For one, he feels the changes to the nomination rules where there is an incumbent, are slanted to favour the incumbent.
“Do you honestly believe this is the best thing for a so called grass roots party that is open and transparent? To have one rule for an incumbent and another rule for someone else? That is just not right,” he said.
He also sees little hope for the PCs under the direction of Jim Prentice. This makes it a tough job for him at the ballot box.
“People who wanted to have a contested nomination, should, at the next election, go to the poll, get the ballot, take it to the booth, look at the ballot and then fold it back up and put it in.
“That is a vote, you do not have to vote for a candidate in order to vote. You are voting to say none of them are worth considering. That is what I am going to do. I think anyone disappointed with the lack of democracy in our constituency should do the same thing,” said Schumacher.
Stan Solberg and Chip Aiello declined to comment for the paper, and Dale Wilson could not be reached as of press time. Calls to MLA Rick Strankman were not answered.
