Parties & Leaders

Randy Thorsteinson Randy Thorsteinson VIDEO PROFILE Randy Thorsteinson's vision of conservative politics is wrapped up in three principles: freedom; limited government; dignity and worth of the individual. Thorsteinson sees his two-year-old Alberta Alliance party as the natural successor to the right-of-centre political movements that have dominated Alberta politics since the 1930s. He started his political career in 1988 as the Red Deer constituency president of the federal Reform Party. He served in that capacity until 1991, when his growing interest in provincial politics contrasted too sharply with Reform's lack of interest. That year, he left the federal scene and joined the Social Credit Party. To Thorsteinson, Reform's Socred roots were clear: Ernest Manning, leader of Alberta's Social Credit party for 25 years, was the father of Reform leader Preston Manning. But the Social Credit party Thorsteinson joined in 1991 was nowhere near the powerhouse it had been. Socred governments ruled Alberta from 1935-71. In that 36-year span there had been only three premiers: party founder William Aberhart (1935-43), Manning (1943-1968) and Harry Strom, who had a short stint as Manning's replacement. Vigorous work and energetic electioneering by the Tories under Peter Lougheed ousted the complacent Social Credit government in 1971. The demoralized Socreds dwindled until they disappeared from the political scene in 1982. When Thorsteinson - a professional motivational planner and marketer of incentives for sales forces - joined the Socreds in 1991, it took him only three months to become president. A year later he was the party's leader. In the 1993 provincial election the party made its first respectable showing in a decade, although it didn't win any seats; in 1997 many of its 70 candidates finished second. By 1999 Thorsteinson's Social Credit Party was showing enough potential that many thought it was finally about to elect MLAs. That year, however, Thorsteinson, a Mormon, quit the party when officials suggested limiting what some saw as overt religious influences on party policy. In 2001, Thorsteinson worked as an organizer for Stephen Harper's Canadian Alliance leadership campaign. Following Harper's successful election, Thorsteinson used his campaign and motivational skills to create the new Alberta Alliance party. He became its leader in 2003.