Wildrose Alliance Membership Zooms Past 11,000 as Leadership Vote Nears

I think this is a first; posting a press release that I am quoted in. Sort of like speaking of ones' self in the third person.

For Immediate Release

Calgary – October 4, 2009 – The Wildrose Alliance Party announced today its final membership numbers heading into the highly anticipated leadership convention in Edmonton later this month.

Wildrose Alliance Party Executive Director Jane Morgan says the party now has 11,670 paid memberships, a huge increase over the approximately 1,800 members at the time of the party’s annual general meeting in June of this year. For further comparison, the Wildrose Alliance Party membership at this time a year ago stood at approximately 1000.

"I am incredibly pleased with the influx of members, especially the number who want to become active and help us continue to grow," says Morgan. "If we can accomplish this amount of growth in just four months, imagine what we can do with 83 active constituencies and a full time leader touring the province."

Interest in the party has grown spectacularly since its formation in early 2008, not only because of the exciting leadership race between Mark Dyrholm and Danielle Smith, but also because of the party’s by-election victory in Calgary-Glenmore last month. In that race, interim Wildrose Alliance Party leader Paul Hinman defeated a longtime PC activist and Calgary Alderman to earn the party its first seat in the legislature, a seat held for four decades by the PC’s, who finished a distant third this time.

“It appears that Albertans by the thousands are hearing our message of common sense conservatism,” said Calgary-Glenmore MLA-elect Hinman, “And are lining up not only to help build our party but to send Ed Stelmach a message that it’s past time to rebuild the Alberta Advantage.” Hinman says he looks forward to working in partnership with our new leader to grow the party and continue to expand our membership across the province.

The Leadership Convention will be held on Saturday, October 17 at the Holiday Inn Convention Centre, 4520 - 76 Ave., Edmonton.

All Wildrose Alliance Party members in good standing by October 2, 2009 are eligible to vote in the leadership election, either at the convention itself or by mail-in ballots which are now being received by members all across Alberta.

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For more information contact:
Jane Morgan,
Executive Director,
Wildrose Alliance Party
403.680.8683

Clarification of my remarks

Some media outlets today are reporting on the resignation of Paul Hinman. They are taking remarks that I made in respect to feedback from a segment of our members and making it appear as though I shared those thoughts.

They are using phrases like; “despite criticism from the Alliance's executive director” or “... the party's executive director publicly questioned whether Hinman had the "charisma" to attract ....”

I would like to make it clear, I (personally) have never questioned Paul’s ability as a leader nor criticized him. My comments were strictly giving an answer to “What are you hearing from members" and were taken out of context.

I support Paul as our leader and have a great deal of respect for him personally. I look forward to joining Paul on the road this week in Edmonton and Red Deer at our scheduled Town Halls.

Hello and welcome to my blog.

My name is Jane Morgan and in February I became the Executive Director for the Wildrose Alliance Party. In a nutshell I am responsible for the operational side of the party activities. If you want to know anything about the party, I am your first “go to” person.

Through this blog I will share what is happening at the Wildrose Alliance head office. I see this as being a component to our philosophy of being open and accountable.

The blog will be open for comments and feedback. They will be moderated, so please be patient if they do not appear right away. My responsibilities of answering calls and emails from members and constituencies will take precedence over blog moderation.

I will endeavor to publish most comments as I do not want to stifle people’s opinions, nor do I shy away from a good debate. However any which include private details of specific members will not be made public. Also try to keep the language clean, presumably we are all adults and should be able to find words to express our thoughts without resorting to swearing.

Other than leaving a comment here, you can also reach me via phone at 403.769.0992 or outside of Calgary toll free at 1.888.262.1888.

Email:
info@wildrosealliance.ca


Fax:
1.866.620.4791
Mail:
#3, 1303 – 44 Ave. NE
Calgary, AB
T2E 6L5