The Independence Party (TIP), also known as the Alberta Independence Party from 2001 to 2019 and the Independence Party of Alberta after 2019, is an

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

provincial Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Canad ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

History

First Iteration

The Alberta Independence Party was founded in 2000 by Cory Morgan, who served as the first leader of the party. The party held its founding convention in January 2001, ahead of the general election. The party was originally dedicated to increasing the

autonomy In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy is the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision. Autonomous organizations or institutions are independent or self-governing. Autonomy can also be ...

of Alberta within the Canadian

confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

, partly as a response to the failure of the

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 2000 to 2003. The Canadian Alliance was the new name of the ...

to gain traction outside

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West, or Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a list of regions of Canada, Canadian region that includes the four western provinces and t ...

in the 2000 Canadian election. One of the party's first challenges was to gather enough signatures to qualify as an official party in

, which it failed to do. In light of this development, its fourteen candidates were forced to stand as independents in 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 ...

. All of their candidates were unsuccessful. In October 2001, at the party's annual general meeting, members voted to make Albertan separation from Canada a primary goal of the party. Ultimately, the party ended up disbanding before the end of that year.

Second Iteration

The Alberta Independence Party re-formed in late 2017 after Dave Bjorkman contacted the original party founder, Cory Morgan, seeking permission to use the party name. Bjorkman became interim party leader in early 2018. Bjorkman opposed Alberta's Bill 24 in November 2017, citing fears that the law would encourage keeping secrets from parents and saying that he supports the LGBT+ community and parental involvement in the Alberta school system. The AIP officially registered with

Elections Alberta Elections Alberta is an independent, non-partisan office of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta responsible for administering provincial elections, by-elections, and referendums within the province. This is in accordance with the Alberta Election ...

as a political party on March 20, 2019. They fielded 63 candidates in the

2019 Alberta general election The 2019 Alberta general election was held on April 16, 2019, to elect 87 members to the 30th Alberta Legislature. In its first general election contest, the Jason Kenney-led United Conservative Party (UCP) won 54.88% of the popular vote and 63 ...

, winning no seats. After the election, Bjorkman resigned as party leader in July 2019. On October 29, 2019, the party changed its name to the Independence Party of Alberta Dave Campbell was elected party leader in the spring of 2020. On September 12, 2021, Vicky Bayford was voted in as the new leader. On September 10, 2022, street preacher

Artur Pawlowski Artur Pawlowski (born March 28, 1973) is a Polish-Canadian evangelical street preacher and political activist. He is pastor of the Cave of Adullam congregation in Calgary and previously led the Kings Glory Fellowship (KGF). Pawlowski is also foun ...

became the leader of the party, winning a leadership contest. He was removed as leader six months later and the party leadership was vacant during the 2023 election. On October 3, 2023, lawyer Katherine Kowalchuk was named the interim leader. She was briefly nominated as the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. and generally sits at the Centrism, ...

candidate for

Calgary Signal Hill Calgary Signal Hill is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2015. Calgary Signal Hill was created by the 2012 federal electoral boundaries redistribution and was le ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

before withdrawing as the candidate three months before the election. In the 2023 election, she was the best-performing candidate for the party, receiving 4.71% of the vote in

Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 districts mandated to return a single member (MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of votin ...

. On January 31, 2024, Kowalchuk resigned as interim leader.

Leaders

Election results

Party candidates received a total of 7,521 votes in the 2001 election: #Bradley R. Lang (

Calgary-Egmont Calgary-Egmont was a provincial electoral district in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting from 1971 to 2012. History Boundary histo ...

) 399 (2.90 percent) #Tom Humble (Airdrie-Rocky View) 683 (4.10 percent) # Cory Morgan (

Banff-Cochrane Banff-Cochrane was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1940 to 1975, and again from 1979 to 2019. The Banff-Cochrane electoral district is home to th ...

) 538 (four percent) #Darren Popik (

Calgary Shaw Calgary-Shaw is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 current districts mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. This urba ...

) 151 (0.60 percent) #Douglas R. Chitwood (Lacombe-Stettler) 554 (4.70 percent) #Eileen Walker (Drumheller-Chinook) 819 (8.90 percent) #Ron (Earl) Miller (

Dunvegan Dunvegan () is a village on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. It is famous for Dunvegan Castle, seat of the chiefs of Clan MacLeod. Dunvegan is within the parish of Duirinish, Skye, Duirinish. In 2011, it had a population of 386. Name In ''The Nors ...

) 248 (2.8 percent) #Dennis Young (Grande Prairie-Smoky) 380 (4.1 percent) #Jon Koch (

Little Bow Little Bow was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1913 to 2019. Throughout its history, this district has been dominated by agricultural activities. ...

) 885 (8.3 percent) #Charles Park (Ponoka-Rimbey) 764 (8.1 percent) #Ryan Lamarche (Red Deer-South) 203 (1.6 percent) #Christopher Sutherland (Strathmore-Brooks) 511 (4.5 percent) #Jeff Newland (Wainwright) 868 (eight percent) #Ben Lussier (Wetaskiwin-Camrose) 382 (three percent) Lussier began his candidacy with an AIP endorsement, which was withdrawn during the campaign.

By-elections

References

{{Alberta provincial political parties Provincial political parties in Alberta Political parties established in 2000 Political parties disestablished in 2001 Political parties established in 2018 Secessionist organizations in Canada Defunct political parties in Canada Conservative parties in Canada 2000 establishments in Alberta 2001 disestablishments in Alberta 2018 establishments in Alberta Separatism in Canada