John Reil (born 1949) is a former

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

provincial level politician. He served as leader of the

Alberta First Party The Alberta First Party ) was an Albertan separatist political party in Alberta, Canada. It went through several iterations before becoming its current incarnation as the Freedom Conservative Party. History (1999–2018) Early history (1999� ...

Political career

Reil ran as a candidate for the

Social Credit Party of Alberta Alberta Social Credit was a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, that was founded on social credit monetary policy put forward by Clifford Hugh Douglas and on conservative Christian social values. The Canadian social credit movement wa ...

in the

1997 Alberta general election The 1997 Alberta general election was held on March 11, 1997, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The Progressive Conservative government led by Premier Ralph Klein won its eighth consecutive mandate going back to 1971, inc ...

. He ran in the electoral district of St. Albert and was defeated by Mary O'Neill who picked up the district for the Progressive Conservatives over incumbent Len Bracko. Reil had been serving as the Social Credit party President until he left in 1999 along with Leader Randy Thorsteinson and helped to found the

. This move came after the Socreds restricted involvement of

Mormons Mormons are a Religious denomination, religious and ethnocultural group, cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's d ...

in running the party. Reil served as Alberta First's founding President until he was elected as the leader for the party at a convention held on January 22, 2000. In June of that year he contested a by-election held after Pam Barrett resigned after her near-death experience in the dentist chair. Reil managed to take 3% of the popular vote, but was soundly defeated by NDP candidate

Brian Mason Brian David Mason (born October 12, 1953) is a Canadian politician who was leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party from 2004 to 2014 and served the Minister of Transportation in Rachel Notley's NDP government. He also served as the Gover ...

. Reil contested the

2001 Alberta general election The 2001 Alberta general election was held on March 12, 2001 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The incumbent Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, Alberta Progressive Conservative Party, led by Ralph Klein, won ...

in the electoral district of

Cardston-Taber-Warner Cardston-Taber-Warner was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-post method of voting from 1996 and 2019. The district was created ...

. He finished second with a respectable showing to

Broyce Jacobs Broyce G. Jacobs (July 29, 1940 – March 14, 2025) was a Canadian politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the constituency of Cardston-Taber-Warner as a Progressive Conservative. Early life Jacobs was ...

. Reil left the

and ran for the leadership of the

Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party () is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1905, it is the oldest active political party in Alberta and was the dominant political party until the 1921 election, with the first three provincial ...

in 2004. He was defeated in a three-way race by

Kevin Taft Kevin Taft (born 9 September 1955) is an author, consultant, speaker, and former provincial politician in Alberta, Canada. Prior to his election, he worked in various public policy roles (1973–2000) in the Government of Alberta, private and n ...

References

1949 births Living people Alberta Social Credit Party candidates in Alberta provincial elections Alberta First Party candidates in Alberta provincial elections {{Alberta-politician-stub