Jason Hale, MLA
Changing political parties
“Who is Jason Hale?” my son kept asking. “Who is Jason Hale?” It was hard to explain to an eight-year-old why this man’s name was on so many campaign signs around town. Then a knock on the door. It was Jason Hale, trying to get my family’s vote in the next provincial election. My son was in awe of this celebrity.
Jason was our local candidate for the Wildrose Party, a disaffected right-wing result from the nominally right-wing Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta. The PCs had governed Alberta for 41 years, always attaining a large majority in the legislature, facing an uninspiring opposition.
But in 2012, the voters were giving serious consideration to Danielle Smith, the very charismatic leader of the Wildrose. Even though Jason won my constituency and joined Ms. Smith in the Legislature, the Alberta voters choose the reliable PCs to govern them once again.
But the new PC leader, after securing the victory for her party, somehow developed a sense of entitlement, which even the PC insiders did not see coming. The opposition Wildrose quickly pounced on the entitlements. Ms. Smith got the media and public’s attention. The PCs seemed powerless to make the change internally. But with months of constant drumming by the Wildrose and new entitlements sprouting, the PCs finally forced their premier…
