General

Former Harper advisor to chair Alberta’s Wildrose campaign

Appointment signals deepening rift among Alberta’s right wing

Tom Flanagan, once among Stephen Harper’s most influential advisors, will chair the election campaign for Alberta’s Wildrose Party, an upstart hard-right movement aiming to unseat Alberta’s 40-year-old Progressive Conservative regime. Flanagan, a professor at the University of Calgary, has deep ties to the federal Conservative Party. Many view his prominent role with the Wildrose as a sign that federal party heavyweights are divided over who to support in the upcoming campaign. The PCs elected Alison Redford, a centrist lawyer from Calgary, as their new leader earlier this year. An election call is expected this spring. A poll released on Monday showed the Tories leading the Wildrose 39 per cent to 28 per cent among expected voters.

Globe and Mail

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