Portal:Conservatism/Selected article/18
The Wildrose Party is a conservative provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. It includes free market conservative, libertarian and socially conservative factions and was formed in 2008 following a merger of the Wildrose Party of Alberta and the Alberta Alliance.
It first contested Alberta's 2008 provincial election, and was able to capture seven percent of the popular vote but failed to win a seat in the Legislative Assembly. Support for the party rose sharply in 2009 as voters grew increasingly frustrated with the government, resulting in a surprise win by outgoing leader Paul Hinman in an October by-election. The party's popularity continued to increase when in the fall of 2009, Danielle Smith won election as leader, and by December 2009, the Wildrose Alliance was the leading party in opinion polls with 39 percent support, 14 points ahead of both the governing Progressive Conservatives (PCs) and the opposition Liberals. Wildrose's caucus has grown to four members, after two former PC members of the Legislative Assembly defected in January 2010 and an independent MLA joined the party in June 2010.