Quietly and without a lot of fanfare, a third candidate has added his name to those in the running in the new riding of Airdrie-Cochrane in this spring's provincial election in Alberta.  

31-year-old Matthew Morrisey of Airdrie has been nominated by the new Freedom Conservative Party of Alberta (FCP) which was started by Derek Fildebrandt, the MLA for Strathmore-Brooks.

Morrisey's name goes into the hat along with Peter Guthrie of the UCP and Steven Durrell of the NDP.

Morrisey was acclaimed as the FCP candidate for Airdrie-Cochrane earlier this month.  He is married with five children and is a Master Electrician.  Morrisey spent time as a Constituency Association President with the Wildrose Party in Calgary and caught the political bug through that involvement. 

Morrisey says he decided on the FCP because a lot of the framework of the Wildrose Party went into it since it was started by Fildebrandt, a former member of the Wildrose.  He calls them "a truly grassroots party."

"I think it represents the concerns of everyday Albertans.  They want to be free.  They want to have the freedom to live their lives the way they see fit.  Their (the FCP) policies reflect more freedom for them to decide how they want to live their lives and less government control over that."

Morrisey says the other reason he joined the party is because of Fildebrandt.  "Derek is a strong leader.  He stood in the leg (legislature) and stood for what he believed in."

Fildebrandt is a controversial figure in Alberta politics who once considered running for the leadership of the Wildrose Party but instead decided to support Brian Jean.  Once Jean and Jason Kenney announced the merger of the Wildrose and Conservative parties, Fildebrandt mused about running for leader of the new party but decided against it.  He eventually left the UCP caucus to sit as an independent.  A series of ethical and legal concerns have followed Fildebrandt since 2016.  In July 2018 he helped found the Freedom Conservative Party of Alberta and was named the interim leader, a position that became permanent in October.

Morrisey admits that his leader has made mistakes.  "I think the mistakes he made, once they were known, he was contrite and he penitent about it and he didn't try to hide it.  A lot of politicians when you see all the scandals that are coming out now, they try to deflect.  He took his licks, he owned it and he took a step back and he's moving forward.  I think all great leaders have made mistakes, Ralph (Klein) made mistakes, (Ronald) Reagan made mistakes, (Winston) Churchill made mistakes.  I think having the ability to step back, realize you made a mistake, correct course and keep moving forward, that's the importance of a leader to do, keep moving forward."

In the upcoming election, Morrisey believes two issues will be front and centre in Alberta.  Pipelines and equalization payments. 

"We're set on all sides by a provincial government and a federal government that don't seem to want to help our economy out by approving these pipelines to get our economy going and bring those jobs back that have left the province.  Most Albertans just want to be working and provide for their families.  With equalization, our province has been going through a very difficult time with our economic downturn from 2014.  I think the appearance that we're giving our money away to help provinces that are subsidizing their students to go to school and have $7 a day daycare and their utilities are underpriced.  They're having their cake and eating it too and I think that really rubs Albertans the wrong way."

In the Airdrie-Cochrane riding specifically, Morrisey says both communities are growing rapidly.  "I think the big concerns with both are crime, infrastructure and roadways, schooling, and health care.  I think those are the biggest issues when cities are growing at the rate that Airdrie and Cochrane are growing at."

Morrisey says he's looking forward to doing a lot of door knocking during the campaign and reaching as many constituents as he can.  He also sees the benefit of using social media to connect with voters.  "The more people that participate in this process, the better our democracy will be, " he says.

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