A man who was incarcerated for his stance on Wheat Board policy will be leading the Wildrose as candidate for the next provincial election for the Drumheller-Stettler riding.
Rick Strankman won the nod from the riding part membership. Of the approximately 700 in the riding who purchased memberships, just over 300 participated in the vote. About 20 votes separated the two candidates.
“I don’t know if it is a blessing or a curse, but I am going to do the best I can to make it the best I can,” said Strankman following his victory.
The race was between Strankman and local candidate Doug Wade. Membership voted in a travelling ballot over the last week.
“I was thrilled and glad I ran,” said Wade following the vote, and encourages supporters to get behind Strankman. "I believed what I was doing was the right thing and still do.”
Strankman first came in to prominence in the mid 1990’s when he took 756 bushels of wheat across the Canadian border into the US and sold it. He was charged under the Customs Act and was jailed in 2002. He admits this notoriety may have helped in the race.
“I don’t know if it was wholly the resonation of what people thought about, but it certainly gave me some traction in some circles,” he said.
Moving beyond the membership of the party and to a wider voter audience, he does not believe his activism would be a factor.
“Some people see it as ‘this guy will stick to his convictions,’ … and that is how we saw it,” he said.
“Coming from the jail house, I realized change is made from a different building, it is called the House of Parliament… so now I am hoping to go forward and make positive change for the people of Alberta under the auspices of Wildrose and the leadership of Danielle Smith.”
His goal is to provide a vision for the province, something he said waned in the final days of Klein’s reign.
“A friend of mine told me there are two kinds of politicians, one is a representative politician and the other is a visionary. I would like to strive, as builder of a farm, and several side enterprises, to be visionary, to grow and develop things. It is simple to be a representative and just take surveys and be on committees, but it is difficult to be visionary and bring positive change forward, and I feel that was the experience I learned with my activism in the Wheat Board.”
He knows he has his work cut out for him running in the riding versus incumbent Jack Hayden.
“He certainly has greater knowledge of the system and experience. He has been a career-oriented politician, but I am going to give it the best shot I can because I believe Albertans deserve a change and want a change. I hope the vision and leadership of Danielle Smith will help all of us as candidates bring forward a better Alberta,” Strankman said.