Submitted Photo Redcliff's Colin Pacholek is running in the Brooks-Medicine Hat riding for the Alberta Independence Party.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Voters in Brooks-Medicine Hat will have a separatist option on their ballots on April 16 as Collin Pacholek is a registered candidate for the Alberta Independence Party,
Pacholek, a local carpenter, says the platform offers a viable exit strategy and the best outlook for Albertans.
“Alberta would be very good on its own and be self-sufficient,” he told the News.
“We could take care of our own people and be prosperous and free.”
The party, which has 56 candidates registered across the province’s 87 ridings, formed in 2018.
Pacholek (pronounced patch-oh-leck) said he was drawn to learn more about the party, and eventually, make a first run for public office.
“I was out talking to people, hearing how frustrated everyone was, I thought why don’t I run,” he said.
Pacholek, who lives in Redcliff, brings the number of official candidates to five in the redrawn riding that includes portions of Medicine Hat and Cypress County, plus Redcliff, the County of Newell and City of Brooks. The deadline to register to be a candidate is Friday.
On the right side of the political spectrum are United Conservative Michaela Glasgo and Todd Beasley, who sought the UCP nomination and is now running as an “independent conservative.”
The NDP’s Lynn MacWilliam and Alberta Party’s Jim Black are also vying for the seat that has no incumbent.
Pacholek says he feels traditional ‘right, left and centre’ definitions in politics are “archaic.”
“We need to change things back to where they make sense,” he said. “Governments’ agendas are for themselves, not the people. We’ve lost sight of that.”
Several parties are looking to capitalize on a sense of alienation in Alberta, where polls show increasing numbers question the fairness of Confederation.
During the first week of the election UCP Leader Jason Kenney stated his government would hold a referendum on equalization formula during Alberta’s next round of municipal elections in 2021.
It’s unknown what effect such a unilateral vote would would have on a national program.
As well, Freedom Conservative Party Leader Derek Fildebrandt unveiled his party’s policy slate to bring about “More Alberta Less Ottawa.”
Pacholek says that arguments about potential vote splitting is a tactic to ensure voters “conform.”
The Independence Party says on its website that full autonomy could be accomplished within four months of forming government.
Such a move, it says, would end the equalization system that some argue favours “have not” provinces, rather than renegotiate it.
It would also abolish the carbon levy and the GST, ensure Alberta would have the “lowest flat tax in North America” of 8.5 per cent (9 per cent for foreign businesses), and establish tax credit system to bring personal income exemptions to $45,000 per year.
“Right off the bat that’s more money in people’s pockets,” said Pacholek. “(The tax exemption level) would help out students and people that are just getting started get pointed in the right direction.”
The party says it would negotiate for inclusion in Canada’s current treaties and trade deals, including the successor to the North American Free Trade Agreement, establish an Alberta Pension Plan and police force.
