Trouble Out West: PGIB Moves To Take Over Wild Rose Alliance?

Writing yesterday, I noted that the Separatist Western Business and Taxpayers Association (WBTA) had thrown its support behind Mark Dyrholm as leader of the Wild Rose Alliance. This prompted an email from Craig Chandler, Mark's Strategy/Coalition Outreach guy, pointing out that there were Western Separatists on all sides of the WRAP leadership race.

And I thought: Chandler, Crutcher, Dyrholm...where have I heard all these names together before? Turns out this gang go way back. For example, when the Wildrose & Alberta Alliance parties first merged, one of the slates for party executive of the new entity consisted of

Craig Chandler - VP Fundraising
Mark Dyrholm - VP Policy
David Crutcher - VP Membership
Harley Shouldice - Southern Regional Director
Don Leonardo - Southern Regional Director

When Crutcher ran for MLA under the banner of the Alberta Alliance, Chandler served as his campaign manager; when Chandler ran as an independent, Shouldice served as his campaign manager.

But the most important link between these gentlemen, and between the WTBA and Wild Rose Alliance, seems to be the The Progressive Group for Independent Business (PGIB). Here is a list of the folks on both the PGIB National Advisory Council and the Dyrholm campaign team:

Mark Dyrholm
Craig Chandler
Sid Helishauer
Harley Shouldice

And, as a bonus, it looks like WTBA policy guy Rob Allen is also A) a Member of PGIB, and B) on the Dyrholm team.

Interestingly enough, there's an Eastern connection here. The PGIB was born in Ontario during Chandler's university days. Its motto is "less government, lower taxes and political ccountability" , and it has at times taken credit for aspects of Mike Harris's Common Sense Revolution.

(Note: Mr. Chandler tells me I've got several things in this next bit wrong. For example, he is no longer associated with CCCI, and it was the CCCI that intended to launch a HR complaint on his behalf. I will leave the wording below as is, but go here for the correct account)

As for Chandler, who seems to be the driving force behind all of this (no matter what his official position in the various campaigns), one of the spin-off groups he founded is Concerned Christians Canada Inc. The infamous Stephen Boisson was once a member of this group (although I believe he was later disowned), and the letter that got Boisson in dutch with the AHRC was also published on the CCCI website, before Chandler settled with the commission and had it removed. He's also been in trouble with the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.

And perhaps most odd: although Chandler has complained vociferously about the HRC persecution of Christians, he himself filed an HRC complaint against the Stelmach Tories for...wait for it... their alleged bias against Christians. Although, to be fair, in his recent email to me Mr. Chandler says he has dropped this complaint on the grounds that it would be hypocritical for him to employ a government body that he does not approve of. Further, the CCCI is participating in Boisson's legal challenge against Alberta's hate speech laws.

Finally, the PGIP has been in the news recently, after Collingwood Ethanol, owned by Craig's father Bruce Chandler, got into trouble for its odoriferous emissions. The PGIP was called in to conduct what appears to have been a campaign of intimidation against anyone criticising the facility..a campaign that apparently backfired:

It's not that Craig Chandler and his buddy David Crutcher were loud and obnoxious: it's that they generally flooded the local airwaves with largely inflammatory and in some cases, grossly inaccurate statements.

However, held against the light of day, it was clear their comments were full more of bluster than fact. The first time I interviewed Crutcher, for instance, he claimed the mayor was "trying to get rid of all industry in Collingwood."When I challenged him on it, he backtracked and tried to put the focus on the mayor's perceived hate-on for the ethanol plant.

Outside of the glare of the media, these two, uh, 'gentlemen' persisted, through two phone messages and a letter to the community. A website, www.collingwoodpgib.ca, still lingers on the Internet (sadly, however, without a peep about the apology.)

Anyway, once again, good luck Mr. Dyrholm. With such allies, you will probably need it.

Its Time To Go...But Not Just Yet

Buckets points out that the founding convention of the Western Business and Taxpayers Association (WTBA), Canada's latest Western Separatist group, was supposed to have been this weekend. However, if you check out their website, you will see that the convention and indeed the organization have been inactive for the past several months.

I fired off a quick email to Executive Director David Crutcher on Thursday, and he responded that the convention had been delayed for "personal reasons", but that the organization is "getting back on track". Once a new date for the convention has been set, you will of course hear about it here.

Tories: "Canadian Heritage" Includes Western Separatism

As D. Atkins notes, the Harper Tories have given $27,000 to Report Magazine to support its contributions to "Canadian Heritage".

Report Magazine? Never heard of it. Let's zip on over and take a gander!

Whoa! Look at that cover story!

David Crutcher – accomplished engineer, proud family man, energetic political activist and happily ensconced Calgary resident speaks with a barely noticeable accent reflecting the land of his birth, Great Britain, as he calmly states that, after 131 years, Canada should no longer exist.

David Crutcher is Executive Director of the Western Business and Taxpayers Association (WBTA), one of the latest manifestations of Western Separatism. I've written about these guys a couple of times, if you remember. They were the gang that wanted to use the Calgary flag for their new Alberta-centered state, and that (briefly) had a B.C. representative that wanted to help American sniper teams target Liberals in the event of a U.S. invasion of our country.

Hey! Look who else gets positive coverage in this same story:

"Our ultimate goal is the union of all four Western provinces into one country," says a resolute Doug Christie, a Victoria, B.C., lawyer who heads the Western Block Party. "It's been shown time and time again that reform is impossible," Christie continues. Recent events in Ottawa have only underlined that fact, he says. "Many of us have come to the conclusion that we don't wish to extend any more futile time and effort trying to reform a system that can't be reformed. We're not interested in wasting any more effort on it."

Yeah, that's this Doug Christie (not this Doug Christie).

Also, a nice piece on the magazine by Paul Wells from a couple of years ago. Apparently, Harper is a subscriber, and Report has been helping "push" the Tory line over the past several years.

And A Trucker Shall Set Them Free

Contra my post from earlier this morning, it looks as through The WBTA is rolling out some of the people on its Executive Council today.

A quick search tells me that B.C. chair Ernie Slump publishes Truckspeaker Magazine: The Voice of The Western Trucker, and was particularly incensed Western Separatist-wise at the appointment of Michaëlle Jean .

Jane Morgan tells me in the comments that:

[Glen] Dundas used to be with the SPA [Separation Party of Alberta]; then he went onto the Republic of Alberta, which seems to have morphed into the Republic of Western Canada.

So, the same old same old separatist crew?

Other names on the list at this moment include Dan Doherty and Sheldon Johnston, who I know nothing about.

Update: Mr. Crutcher tells me that the WTBA will encompass Manitoba.

BCLSB Exclusive: Delays At The WTBA

David Crutcher, Executive Director of the Western Business and Taxpayers Association (WBTA) has been in touch with me via email. I won't reproduce the exact contents, but I am assuming Mr. Crutcher is okay with the gist of his email becoming public. So here goes:

1) Due to website issues, the WTBA Executive Council will not be announced on until late Wednesday (Dec. 17). At that point, at least five of the positions, including Policy Chair, will have been filled.

2) The founding convention has been pushed back until April.

Mr. Crutcher claims almost 200 Members at this point and several $1,000s in funding. He also has invited sceptics like myself to debate the movement in a "serious manner". Once their white paper appears, I shall be happy to do so.

Until that time, there are a few scraps of interesting information in their "six point plan":

1) Create separatist network that will strengthen the businesses of separatists and help them prosper so they can in turn donate to groups like the Separation Party of Alberta and / or any other party that may come along in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.

[...]

3) We will fund any and all who share our vision of a new nation.

[...]

6)Provide training in Campaign Management, Candidate Development, Fundraising, Media Training and more for those that want to organize for elected office or to promote the separation agenda across Western Canada or in their provinces specifically.

So: not a political party, but a network that would fund political parties. And note once again that Manitoba seems to be absent from their plans.

Has Western Separatist Leader Distanced Himself From Only Supporter?

I've written about the Western Business and Taxpayers Association (WBTA) several times here and here. This Western Separatist group consists of, at the moment, one confirmed member: old time Reform Party Stalwart David Crutcher.

Here's a screen cap of the WBTA's Executive Council from a couple of days ago:

Now, Buckets has also been keeping tabs these guys, and recently spied out another possible WTBA Member: Erik Gregson, another long time Reformer and associate of both Crutcher and Craig Chandler. Erik has been tasked with chairing WBTA's January convention and, since his email is policy@itstimetogo.ca, Buckets logically concluded that Mr. Gregson was slated for the position of "Policy Chair" on the WTBA Executive Council (note arrow above).

But wait! At the latest version of the WTBA EC page ,the position of policy chair has been entirely eliminated!!!

So are Crutcher and Gregson already on the outs? Has the nascent WBTA already begun to fragment along ideological lines--like who gets to be Supreme Commander on Tuesdays--or did they merely quarrel over who sits at the head of the official WTBA coffee table?

I'll be following this one closely in the days and weeks ahead.

As an aside, if you've ever wondered why these separatist groups tend to leave Manitoba out of their definition of The West, here is Mr. Crutcher on the topic:

Which division is the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in?

David

And these guys wanted a separate Alberta to have its own fleet of nuclear submarines.

New Western Separatist Organization Consists Of One Guy!

David Crutcher! That's it! And a computer. And maybe a coffee table! Even if you don't agree with the WBTA's politics, give 'em a call. Dave must be terribly lonely.

h/t Buckets.