'Like a coup': Concern mounts over growing influence of 'Take Back Alberta'
'Like a coup': Concern mounts over growing influence of 'Take Back Alberta'
Some have speculated it's already "the power behind the throne" of the UCP, but a controversial right wing group appears to be grabbing even more influence ahead of Alberta's May election.
Conservative Lisa Sygutek says a mid-March Livingstone-Macleod meeting was "packed" with people who identified as Take Back Alberta (TBA) members.
It was an event she won't soon forget.
"There was a sense of hostility in the building," she told CTV News. "I've never seen anything like it."
The meetings, according to Sygutek, typically involve some light debate, conversation about issues in the riding, and then a vote for new board members. She says every other similar association event she's attended has had a handful of new candidates and some slight turnover.
March's meeting was different.
"A couple people were saying, 'I'm a member of Take Back Alberta,'" she said, "and that's when it started to tweak on me that things were getting a little bit too aggressive and extremist for my liking."
Livingstone-Macleod's vote ended with a massive overhaul, and Sygutek estimates 80 per cent of the new leadership has TBA connections.
"It actually felt like a coup," she said. "It was a charged meeting."
'TAKING OVER THE ASYLUM'
Registered third party advertiser Take Back Alberta has allegedly inserted members into at least two other conservative constituency associations in Innisfail-Sylvan Lake and Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre.
Nine of the UCP board member candidates the group endorsed now hold leadership positions in the party, and many believe two other ridings have TBA-backed candidates.
Recently-removed Lethbridge-West candidate Torry Tanner is also alleged to have been involved with TBA, according to political scientist Lori Williams.
Tanner left her post this week after blowback from her claims that "kids, even those attending kindergarten, are being exposed to pornographic materials or, worse yet, having teachers help them change their gender identity with absolutely no parental consent or knowledge whatsoever."
Torry Tanner resigned Thursday as a UCP candidate for Lethbridge West
Williams believes there are similar "extreme" views in the group.
"These are the people that Jason Kenney said were the inmates taking over the asylum."
Williams believes TBA is pushing the conservatives towards private health care and education, and eventually, towards Alberta police, pension and separation.
"It's not a one-person-one-vote equal representation in a democracy," she said. "Here's a few people that are very well organized and motivated to try to move the party and the government in the direction that they want it to move."
NO RESPONSE, LIMITED INFORMATION
CTV News reached out to TBA for comment on this story Saturday and another on Friday.
We haven't received a response.
Sygutek believes the lack of information isn't attractive as a voter.
"You can't get anything off their website," she said. "You can't really get what their policies and procedures are, and that should be apparent."
We do know Take Back Alberta is a registered third-party advertiser created last year.
Right-wing activist David Parker is the executive director, and Marco Van Huigenbos is the CFO. The latter is the Fort Macleod town councillor who was charged for participating in the Coutts border blockade.
Fort Macleod town councillor Marco Van Huigenbos
Parker began the group as a way to push back against COVID-19 measures, but it now has a wider scope.
TBA takes credit for removing Jason Kenney from his post as premier and electing Danielle Smith.
Parker wouldn't tell CTV News last week how many members TBA has, but when asked about the group Friday, Innisfail-Sylvan Lake MLA Devin Dreeshen said "there's a lot of them across the province."
Dreeshen didn't deny some of those members now hold the majority of positions within his constituency association.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is pushing for special rapporteur David Johnston to 'step aside' from his role examining the issue of foreign interference before he embarks on public hearings.
New Democrat MP Jenny Kwan said Monday that Canada's spy agency has confirmed her long-held belief she is being targeted by the Chinese government, as the prime minister granted the NDP's wish to allow more party members to review top-secret intelligence.
William Karlsson, William Carrier and Jonathan Marchessault are finally getting another chance in the Stanley Cup Final, after the first one that came so quick for the Vegas Golden Knights.
Eastern Conference finals Most Valuable Player Jimmy Butler scored 28 points, and Caleb Martin had 26 points and 10 rebounds to help the eighth-seeded Miami Heat beat the Celtics 103-84 in Game 7 on Monday night and advance to the NBA Finals for the second time in four seasons.
Canadian political leaders and parliamentarians are denouncing a new law passed in Uganda that imposes harsh penalties, including the death penalty, for certain cases involving homosexuality.
There's a heightened risk of wildfires across the country during what has been one of the earliest fire seasons on record. From British Columbia to Nova Scotia, here's where the risk is highest.
New research from Penn State University found certain factors can contribute to reducing what’s known as the 'urban heat island' effect, and that climate knowledge can contribute to better city planning and design.
Over 170,000 elementary and high school students weighed in on the Alberta election and the NDP had to hope the real voters were listening, because they won the kids' vote.
On Monday, Fraser Health provided two senior leaders to address the latest letter outlining risks to patients, allegations of muzzling, and pleas for help from emergency physicians in the health authority's hospitals.
The president of the BC Trucking Association is issuing renewed calls for safety after a trailer truck smashed into an overhead pass Monday morning in Langley.
Capital Bike is encouraging Greater Victoria residents to choose cycling as a way to get around the region during "Go By Bike Week," which runs from May 29 to June 4.
The union representing the majority of Quebec's daycare workers is criticizing the government's decision to launch a skimpy 90-hour training program for people who want to be daycare workers but have no prior experience.
A Quebec driver who caused the death of another motorist when he swerved his truck to avoid hitting a family of ducks on the road has been sentenced to eight months in jail and a three-year driving ban.
The Sandy Hill Child Care Centre has an extra two weeks to get its new home up to code months after a fire destroyed its original site on Wilbrod Street.
Ottawa police are praising a local dad for quickly calling for help Sunday afternoon when he accidentally locked his keys in his car, and his infant child along with them.
Ontario Provincial Police say a driver from Augusta Township is facing an impaired driving charge after someone on Highway 416 spotted a vehicle moving erratically.
The rural Oxford County intersection where an OPP officer and a school bus driver were killed Monday was less than a month away from becoming a four-way stop when the deadly crash happened.
It was a night of indecision at Waterloo region's catholic school board as trustees went back and forth trying to find the best approach to fill a vacant seat.
In a province where there are vast distances between cities and towns, one local group is hoping to get public support for an idea to bridge those gaps with a rail line.
The body of a Winnipeg boy who fell into Sturgeon Falls on Saturday has been found following a desperate underwater search that lasted more than a day.
A Winnipeg family is asking for help to find their missing teenage son whom they haven't seen since he left for school in the Fort Richmond area last Wednesday morning.
The body of a Winnipeg boy who fell into Sturgeon Falls on Saturday has been found following a desperate underwater search that lasted more than a day.
The first twister of 2023 in the country touched down near Regina over the weekend, according to an analysis from the Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP).
One person from Estevan, Sask. is dead and another is seriously injured following a collision between a pickup truck and a motorcycle on May 28 near Fortuna, North Dakota.
Torry Tanner resigned Thursday as a UCP candidate for Lethbridge West
Fort Macleod town councillor Marco Van Huigenbos 
