In 2006 Link and Danielle Smith organized an event called the Calgary Congress, a national three-day symposium on the need for federal reform. It drew a roster of noted Canadian speakers on fiscal and constitutional topics, and the keynote speech was delivered by outgoing premier Ralph Klein.

The Calgary Congress concluded that three things must change. Ottawa should be restricted from spending money in provincial jurisdictions, the Senate should be provincially elected, and the courts should be restrained from inventing new laws under the Charter. These three together can position Canada for success in the 21^st century.

However, when Ed Stelmach replaced Mr. Klein as premier, it became obvious that to drive such far-reaching change will need a new governing party in Alberta. For this reason and many others, Link and a handful of dissatisfied conservatives started the Wildrose Party in 2007. An imminent early-election call by Premier Stelmach compelled the Wildrose to merge with an earlier party of like mind, the Alberta Alliance, two weeks before the writ was dropped in February 2008.

Our newly-minted Wildrose Alliance Party performed poorly in that election – it could hardly do otherwise – but we regrouped afterward and moved ahead.

In 2009 our original leader Paul Hinman stepped down, and by a wide margin the party chose to replace him with Danielle Smith. Meanwhile, Paul was elected in a September by-election in Calgary. In a microcosm of what appears to be going on across Alberta, most of the Progressive Conservative vote in Calgary Glenmore moved to us, the PC candidate came third, while the Liberals and NDP remained stuck exactly where they had been before.

In modern Canadian politics, leadership is the absolute key to success. Since Danielle took the helm, our party membership has swollen to 15,000, the caucus has expanded to four MLAs, and we are on track to have candidates in all constituencies by next summer.