The Freedom Conservatives, the upstart political party founded by Derek Fildebrandt, has a new interim leader as Fildebrandt steps away from public life.
The former Wildrose and UCP MLA said at a news conference in Edmonton Wednesday that he is finished with elected politics. Fildebrandt says he isn’t planning to run federally this fall nor seek office at the municipal level.
“I’ve got a young family. I’ve got life ahead of me that doesn’t include the colonoscopy of partisan politics and media.
“I’m looking forward to enjoying private life again. Getting back to the private sector.”
David White will lead the party until a new permanent leader is chosen next year. The party says he was chosen by a secret ballot.
White, a paramedic who contracts his services to oil and gas companies, ran as the FCP candidate in Maskwacis-Wetaskiwin in last month’s election.
The FCP received 9,945 of the 1.9 million votes cast by Albertans on April 16. But White thinks there is an interest in his party.
“Albertans simply wanted to get the NDP out,” he said. “And there have been multiple people that had said to all of our candidates, ‘We’re interested in you, we would vote for you but we don’t want to take a chance on splitting the vote.’ “
Fildebrandt founded the party last year after Jason Kenney refused to allow him back in the UCP for “deliberately” misleading him.
Kenney said Fildebrandt had failed to disclose that he had been charged with shooting a deer on private land. Two hours after Fildebrandt pleaded guilty in February 2018, Kenney said he would not be allowed to rejoin the UCP caucus.
Fildebrandt said Alberta has a better government under the UCP and said he is encouraged by some of what he’s seen so far.
But he feels the government has backed away from stronger commitments on changing equalization and revoking the carbon tax.
Fildebrandt says he plans to remain active with the FCP.