Apparently disillusioned by the “disgusting” stuff said by Take Back Alberta’s founder and éminence grise about the president of the United Conservative Party’s board, TBA’s chief financial officer is splitting with the militant wing of the UCP and taking to mainstream media with his complaints.
Fort Macleod Town Councillor Marco Van Huigenbos recently showed up in, of all places, Postmedia political commentator Don Braid’s column, calling TBA supremo David Parker’s attack on Cynthia Moore “disgusting” and “just so raw.”
Parker took to social media on June 28 to call Moore “a power hungry tyrant” who “must be removed.” He returned to Twitter that evening with an additional rant about Moore, saying she “yelled at, harassed, bullied, and belittled regular party volunteers in her witch hunt to find anyone associated with Take Back Alberta.”
In response to all that, Van Huigenbos told the veteran Calgary Herald columnist: “This is disgusting… There’s no way anybody can support it.”
Turning up in Braid’s column was an interesting strategy for a major figure in a group not known for its high opinion of “liberal mainstream media.” There is nothing liberal about the Calgary Herald, of course, but never mind that for the moment.
I guess when the going gets tough, corporate media is still the place where the most eyes are likely to light on your words – especially if Facebook and Google will help distribute them.
The unexpected advocate for more civility in public discourse is the same Van Huigenbos who faces two criminal mischief charges in connection with his activities during the 2022 convoy blockade of the Canada-U.S. border at Coutts. RCMP say he was a key participant in the blockade. He is scheduled to go to trial on April 2, 2024.
So, is this the beginning of an attempt to take back Take Back Alberta (TBTBA)?
It sounds like it to me, but I guess we will need to see how things play out in this subplot to the main drama of who gets to control the United Conservative Party.
Since TBA can accurately be described both as a movement and a society registered as a third-party election advertiser with Elections Alberta, there are some practical issues about who remains in control, and what their objectives are.
Elections Alberta lists Parker as the primary contact for the Take Back Alberta Society, and Van Huigenbos as CFO. Braid described Parker as TBA’s CEO. Elsewhere, he is described as executive director of TBA.
Whatever his title is, Parker was never one to be shy about what he thinks.
He was back on social media soon after with a sly riposte to Van Huigenbos’s criticism:
“I would like to thank @marco_huigenbos for his service to @takebackalberta and it (sic) inform everyone that I fogive (sic) him for his harsh words in the @DonBraid article.”
“To clarify Don’s article,” Parker continued, “Marco and I agreed that he would resign weeks ago, long before I made any public comments about Cynthia Moore.”
Well, Van Huigenbos’s clarification on that would probably be useful, too.
As for Parker’s assertion in his tweet that “this does not represent any sort of division within Take Back Alberta,” that seems, shall we say, counterintuitive.
Meanwhile, the fight between TBA (or, Parker, at least) and the remaining Jason Kenney loyalists on the UCP Board (including Moore) over who gets to take back the UCP will presumably continue in the lead-up to the governing party’s annual general meeting November 3 and 4 in Calgary. Plus, of course, immediately thereafter on the floor of the AGM.
Pass the popcorn!
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