On Jan. 30 Carstairs Town Councillor Nathan Cooper will submit his nomination package to seek the Wildrose nomination for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.
“I think in many respects I saw what happened on Dec. 17 (2014) and firmly believe there is a stronger need for the Wildrose, now more than ever,” Cooper said.
The candidacy was left vacant after Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills MLA Bruce Rowe crossed the floor with eight other Wildrose MLAs on Dec. 17, 2014 to join the Progressive Conservatives.
“Clearly the voters across the province are frustrated and feel betrayed (by the floor crossing) and I feel that way too,” Cooper said. “Should I be nominated and elected I will remain a Wildrose MLA.”
Cooper said his commitment to remaining with the Party, should he be nominated and elected, is about “sticking to what they’ve said to voters and (sticking) to democracy.”
“The only thing we have is our word and I intend to sign a pledge to the constituency, if selected as the nominee, to not cross the floor,” he said.
Cooper describes himself as a lifelong conservative and in addition to serving on Carstairs Town Council, he’s currently in his second term, he worked as the constituency assistant for Rowe and is currently chief of staff for the Wildrose Official Opposition.
Since crossing the floor Rowe has not issued a statement on his decision to leave the Wildrose and only broke his silence when approached by a reporter at the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills Annual General Meeting on Jan. 17.
Rowe told the Carstairs Courier it would take too long to explain his reasoning for crossing the floor because it’s too complicated.
“Well, as I said at the beginning of our (Jan. 17) meeting here, this isn’t something you can explain to people in five minutes or 10 minutes or whatever,” Rowe told the Carstairs Courier. “There’s a whole litany of things that contributed to the decision that the majority of us made, and we made that for the right reasons.”
“I don’t think it’s appropriate when elected officials have made controversial decisions to not be available to people,” Cooper said. “During my time on (Carstairs) council I have remained open and accessible to the residents of Carstairs. I believe elected officials need to be as accessible and transparent as possible.”
He said he is very active on social media and believes a strong relationship with the media is important for elected officials.
Cooper said he believes in “grassroots organizations just like the Wildrose that really put people first.”
“I’m a principled conservative. I believe strongly in keeping our taxes low,” Cooper said. “The last thing we need is a premier musing about raising our taxes.”
“Albertan’s are a great source and their elected officials at any level need to be consistently reminded of those they represent,” he added.
The Wildrose nomination vote for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills will take place on Feb. 20.
The date of the next election, if an early election isn’t called, is scheduled for 2016.
