Early Political Career
Thorsteinson entered politics as president of the Red Deer riding association of the Reform Party of Canada in 1988 and served in this position for three years.
In 1988 Thorsteinson also served as the campaign manager for Michael Roth, the Reform Party candidate in Red Deer riding. Roth finished a solid second to Doug Fee (PC) with just under 10,000 votes.
Thorsteinson joined the Alberta Social Credit Party in 1991, and became leader the following year.
Under Thorsteinson, Social Credit experienced the beginnings of a rebirth, and in the 1997 general election, the party nominated 70 candidates and collected 64,667 votes (almost seven per cent of the popular vote), but failed to win any seats in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.
By 1999, however, Thorsteinson, a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was at odds with his party after a movement within the party to limit the involvement of Latter-day Saints. Thorsteinson quit the party in April 1999 and was a founder of the Alberta First Party but was not active in the party.
Read more about this topic: Randy Thorsteinson
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