Editing Representative Party of Alberta (section)

==History==
===Foundation===
Prior to the [[1982 Alberta general election|1982 Alberta provincial election]], Speaker and another longtime [[Alberta Social Credit Party]] Socred MLA, [[Walt Buck]], left the party and ran as Independents due to a collapse of their party and problems with organisation and leadership. The two MLAs were successfully returned as Independents to the [[Legislative Assembly of Alberta]]. After election they tried to form the official opposition over but were denied by the Speaker of the Assembly who gave the two-member [[Alberta New Democratic Party]] the official opposition status.

After being denied party funding, Speaker and Buck floated the idea for a new political party in 1982.<ref name="convention">{{cite news|title=Alberta's Newest Party Elects Speaker As Leader|date=November 25, 1984|page=A4|publisher=The Lethbridge Herald}}</ref>

The two MLAs set about trying to create a new party which began taking root in the spring of 1984. They began holding meetings across the province which they promoted under the name Alternate Government Movement. The party also hired [[Preston Manning]] as a  political consultant to present draft policies at its founding meetings.<ref name="manning">{{cite news|title=Speaker Optimistic Over AGM |date=October 17, 1984|publisher=The Lethbridge Herald|work=Vol LXXVI 259 | page=A1}}</ref>

The founding convention for the party was held on 23 and 24 November in [[Red Deer]]. The party selected a board of directors and elected Ray Speaker as leader by acclamation. It also selected the name Representative Party of Alberta from four options.<ref name="convention"/> The other three options were United Party, Free Democratic Party and the Free Citizens Alliance Party.<ref name="manning"/> The paperwork submitted to [[Elections Alberta]] and petitions of registration that had started before the convention were under the Political Alternative Association name. The party planned to submit a request to change the name as soon as registration was accepted by [[Elections Alberta]].<ref name="convention"/> On 7 January 1985 Elections Alberta accepted the petition after it collected the signatures of over 4500 Alberta electors.

===Collapse of the Alberta Political Alliance===
In 1985, the Social Credit Party, the [[Western Canada Concept]] and [[the Heritage Party of Alberta]] began a merger movement that resulted in the [[Alberta Party|Alberta Alliance Political Association]].

The merger was short-lived and broke apart, collapsing the parties involved. Many candidates and supporters moved to support the Representative Party which became the primary right-wing alternative party for that election.

===1986 provincial election===
In the [[1986 Alberta general election|1986 provincial election]], the Representative Party ran 46 candidates in Alberta’s 83 [[Electoral district (Canada)|riding]]s, but only its two founding MLAs were elected. The party received 36,656 votes, or 5.1% of the popular vote.

===The final years of the party===
After marginal success of the party in the 1986 election, Walt Buck retired and Raymond Speaker ended up crossing the floor to the [[Alberta Progressive Conservative Party]]. The Representative Party remained registered but did not run candidates in the [[1989 Alberta general election|1989 election]].
It was disbanded a short time later <ref>[http://www.electionsalberta.ab.ca/2004rpt3.pdf Members elected to the 26th Legislative Assembly: Elections Alberta]</ref>