Derek Fildebrandt brands new Freedom Conservative Party as a political vehicle for ‘Alberta patriots’

“We will take back direct control over the CPP, EI, tax collection, the Firearms Act and immigration,” said the Strathmore-Brooks MLA.

“We will demand a referendum to renegotiate Alberta’s constitutional relationship with the federal government to keep more of our money and decision-making here in Alberta and away from Ottawa.”

Lefurgey kicked off the press conference quoting Alwyn Bramley-Moore, a Liberal MLA with separatist leanings who served a single term in the Alberta legislature from 1909 to 1913.

“Alberta first, last, and forever,” Lefurgey said, later clarifying he views himself less as a separatist and more as an “Alberta patriot” — a term mentioned at least a dozen times during the 39-minute news conference.

Fildebrandt broadly defined an “Alberta patriot” as someone who wants a “stronger Alberta, with less Ottawa.”

He said the party would only run candidates where the NDP is not competitive — namely the “vast majority of rural and small-town constituencies” — to avoid vote-splitting with the United Conservative Party in the 2019 election.

“I think the best possible outcome is the complete obliteration of the NDP,” he said, hinting the FCP would be willing to work with a UCP minority government to “create the most conservative and Alberta-first government possible.”

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Fildebrandt left the UCP last year after he was accused of renting his taxpayer-funded apartment on Airbnb. He was later barred from returning to the party after he was found guilty in a hit-and-run incident and, separately, pleaded guilty to illegally shooting a deer on private land.

He took aim at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over his “failed” handling of an influx of asylum seekers crossing into Canada from the United States. More than 30,000 people have crossed the Canada-U.S. border to seek refugee status since January 2017.

“I want us to take refugees. I want us to take immigrants, but I’ve got problems with how that system is being run,” Fildebrandt said.

“Inviting people to come here illegally is not what we should be doing,” he said. “The (federal) government should pay for that on their own. We shouldn’t be putting a dime into it, and we should do everything we can to restrict any illegal migration to Alberta.”

Duane Bratt, a political science professor at Mount Royal University, said the FCP’s mandate bears a striking resemblance to the infamous 2001 Firewall Letter, in which the likes of Stephen Harper and Ted Morton urged then-Alberta premier Ralph Klein to opt out of national programs.

Bratt questioned Fildebrandt’s — and the federal Conservative party’s — stance on immigration as the number of people crossing the U.S.-Canada border spiked after Donald Trump’s presidential victory in late 2016.

“Does (Fildebrandt) plan on a separate Alberta border security (force) to monitor other provinces, as well? Or is this just shifting topics to ‘Let’s bash Trudeau’?

“I don’t think anyone is flowing across the border,” said Bratt. “It’s pretty tough. There’s not a whole lot of people in Montana and there aren’t a whole lot of minorities that feel threatened by the Trump administration in Montana that are fleeing.

“I don’t know how that fits into an Alberta agenda.”

Alberta Environment and Parks Minister Shannon Phillips said it’s essential to ensure Alberta has enough workers as the province’s economy grows.

“We’re an open, diverse, and inclusive society where we don’t stoke fear and fan the flames of racism and xenophobia for political ends,” said Phillips.

She described the FCP’s “quasi-separatist agenda” as outdated and one most Albertans would reject.

“Albertans are the youngest, best-educated population in Canada and we’ve moved on. We’re not in the world of my father’s federalism,” said Phillips. “If he wants to peddle an separatist agenda like the Bloc Québécois, then I guess he’s welcome to do it.”