Derek Fildebrandt

Derek Alexander Gerhard Fildebrandt (born October 18, 1985) is a Canadian politician and media executive.

He is the publisher, president and chief executive officer of the Western Standard New Media Corp.

He is a former member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.

Filderbrandt explained that he left the federal Conservative party after the 2009 auto bailout and Bernier's leadership run drew him back into the party.

After working in Ottawa as a National Research Director, Fildebrandt moved to Alberta in 2012 when he was promoted to the post of Alberta Director.

In February 2014, Fildebrandt released the CTF's balanced budget plan calling for $2.4 billion in spending cuts to business subsidies and the bureaucracy.

In May 2014 he spoke out about buyout payments to political appointees.

He was a conservative critic of former PC Premier Jim Prentice, calling him a "tax and spend liberal."

During the Alberta PC leadership race, he filed Freedom of Information requests for Jim Prentice's federal expense records, releasing them in September 2014 which came after controversy about alleged irregularities in the destruction of the records.

Fildebrandt was credited by the Calgary Sun with playing a significant role in the downfall of former Alberta Premier Alison Redford and former Alberta Finance Minister Doug Horner.

His term as Alberta Director of the CTF ended in November 2014.

On January 26, 2015, Fildebrandt announced that he would seek the Wildrose Party nomination in Strathmore-Brooks.

He was named as the candidate on February 6, 2015.

In response to PC challenges to the Wildrose's budget plan, Fildebrandt challenged Finance Minister Robin Campbell to a debate, which Campbell refused.

On May 5, 2015, he was elected as the MLA for Strathmore-Brooks.

On May 11, 2015, Fildebrandt was appointed Shadow Finance Minister in the Wildrose Official Opposition Cabinet by Brian Jean.

He has advocated for healthcare and seniors care infrastructure in his constituency.

Fildebrandt has criticized the NDP for tax increases, deficit spending and its relationship with public sector unions.

He made several public statements throughout 2016, but most notoriously on December 14, 2016, when he broke ranks with Brian Jean and openly called for a merger of the Wildrose and PC Parties.

One month later, Jean released a statement in favour of uniting the parties on the same day that Fildebrandt held a fundraiser at the Calgary Petroleum Club calling for a single united party.

Fildebrandt supported Maxime Bernier for the Conservative Party of Canada leadership in 2017.

On May 18, 2017, Brian Jean and Jason Kenney signed an agreement in principle to create the United Conservative Party (UCP) of Alberta.

Fildebrandt publicly mused about running in the UCP leadership election, but decided against it, announcing he would instead endorse a candidate other than Brian Jean.

In 2017, Fildebrandt launched his PAC called United Liberty which is based on libertarian policies such as lower taxes, and less government control.

In August 2017, Fildebrandt left the UCP caucus after a series of incidents to sit as an independent (see ).

During the UCP leadership election, Jason Kenney implied that Mr. Fildebrandt could be welcomed back to the UCP caucus so long as his legal battles were eventually sorted out stating, "I don't see us dealing with any prospective admission … until all of that's been dealt with."

In February 2018 the leader of the UCP Jason Kenney announced that Fildebrandt was not welcome in the UCP Caucus.

Kenney commented: "I can only conclude that Mr. Fildebrandt deliberately misled us in refusing to disclose this outstanding charge."

Fildebrandt continued in his electoral riding as an independent.

Fildebrandt claimed that he was given an ultimatum by Kenney who wanted to run MLA Leela Aheer in the new combined riding of Chestermere-Strathmore.

Fildebrandt said he was told by Mr. Kenney that "if I wanted to return... I couldn't run in my own constituency."

On July 20, 2018, Derek Fildebrandt formed the Freedom Conservative Party of Alberta.

"We in the FCP are conservatives, libertarians and Alberta patriots," said Fildebrandt.

In his speech Fildebrandt stated that the party was a true grassroots party that would not adhere to backroom political games.

Fildebrandt won the leadership for the party on October 20, 2018.

His bid to remain in the Alberta Legislative Assembly failed, as he was defeated by Leela Aheer whilst running in Chestermere-Strathmore in the 2019 Alberta general election, garnering less than 10% of the vote.

On April 30, 2019, after failing to win any seats in the legislature, Fildebrandt announced his resignation as Freedom Conservative Party Leader.

After his loss, Fildebrandt told the media he was returning to private life to “get a real job, make some money.

Honestly, I’m happy to be done with politics.

I’m happy to have my family back, to have a sense of private life back.”