Wildrose moves up date to select new leader

With the Progressive Conservatives ramping up for an early election, the Wildrose Party has moved its leadership selection to March 28. After receiving feedback from members, constituency associations, and candidates, the Wildrose Party executive council voted unanimously to accelerate the leadership process. “We’re a grassroots party and members have been clear they want a new leader in place before Premier Jim Prentice breaks his own fixed election law. Our job as a party is to make sure the Wildrose is ready for an election, whenever it may be called, and that includes getting a leader in place,” said party president Jeff Callaway, in a news release. Vying for the position vacated when Danielle Smith crossed the floor to join the PCs in December, along with more than half her sitting members, are former Fort McMurray-Athabasca MP Brian Jean, former Strathcona County mayor Linda Osinchuk and Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes.