Alberta’s Wildrose party has nominated Stuart Taylor as its candidate for the West Yellowhead constituency, and the Hinton resident expects the next election – whenever it is held – to be the “most interesting” the province has seen in decades.

“In the 2008 election here voter turnout in this riding was 37 per cent and it’s been going down steadily for at least the last four elections,” Taylor told the Fitzhugh during a visit to Jasper last week.

“I think we’re going to start to see a turnaround in voter turnout and a real interest in the election because there will be better competition than there’s been for quite a while.”

Between the popularity of his own upstart party and the Alberta Party’s selection of Hinton Mayor Glenn Taylor as its new leader earlier this year, Taylor said the race in West Yellowhead will be particularly interesting as there are several alternatives for voters on the right-side of the political spectrum other than the Progressive Conservative Party, which has dominated the riding since 1997.

“A lot of people (in West Yellowhead) like the small-c conservative values: going back to balanced budgets, saving for a rainy day, building up the Heritage Trust Fund, trying to support small businesses by streamlining regulations.”

Taylor said his party’s fiscal and regulatory policies line up with those values. What really got him interested in Wildrose, however, was what he learned about the party’s approach to health care after his own experience with the system.

“The last couple of years I had troubles with my hip so I had my hip fixed,” he said. “I wasn’t pleased with how long it took to get things done. ... And then at the same time I talked to some friends who were interested in the Wildrose party and I started learning what they were doing. They’ve got some good health-care policies that are about fixing the health-care system in a sustainable way.”

The Wildrose party is calling for private, non-profit hospitals to be included within the publicly funded system, describing the “government-run health care monopoly” as a failure. It cites health systems in Western Europe as examples that Alberta should emulate.

The Wildrose health platform encouraged Taylor, who served as the party’s constituency association president previously, to throw his hat in the ring as a first-time candidate. He secured the nomination last week by acclamation.

“The other reason I think Wildrose is relevant is the grassroots nature of the party,” Taylor said. “The policies are brought from the bottom up and developed.”

Born in Edmonton in 1957 and raised in the area, Taylor attended the University of Alberta where he received a degree in forestry and later attended the University of Northern British Columbia to complete a master’s degree in natural resource management. He has worked for more than 30 years as a registered professional forester, including about 20 in British Columbia, before moving back to Alberta about 10 years ago.

“The last five years I’ve been in Hinton, working for the provincial government as a manager with duties that include approvals and regulatory oversight for certain aspects of the coal, forestry, oil and gas, and recreation industries,” he said.

The Wildrose party currently has four MLAs in the Alberta legislature: Paul Hinman, who was elected in a 2009 byelection, as well as Heather Forsyth, Rob Anderson and Guy Boutilier, who were elected as members of the Progressive Conservative Party in the 2008 provincial election but later crossed the floor to join their new party.

Danielle Smith, a former provincial director with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, was elected as party leader in October 2009.