Derek Fildebrandt is a rogue Alberta MLA, refusing to fade from the political scene after being cast out of the United Conservative Party.
Maxime Bernier is a rogue MP, who set off a few fireworks as he departed the big tent of the federal Conservatives Party.
So naturally the two outsiders have much in common. For instance, they are both thorns in the sides of Conservative establishments on the provincial and federal fronts. How they fare politically will be watched with irritation by Jason Kenney and Andrew Scheer in the months leading up to two key elections next year.
Fildebrandt, the MLA for Strathmore-Brooks, east of Calgary, was barred from the UCP after a series of political scandals, including a charge of illegally hunting on private land.
Now he is forging forward as interim leader of a new party, the Freedom Conservative Party (FCP). The founding convention will be in the fall, says Fildebrandt.
In an oped in the Calgary Sun, Fildebrandt described the Freedom Conservative Party as a "party of grassroots conservatives, libertarians and Alberta patriots."
Although he is a prodigious user of social media, Fildebrandt has, like any solo MLA, had some struggles to keep his profile front and centre. And so, with the Bernier defection now focusing a spotlight on disgruntled conservatives in general, Fildebrandt is happily experiencing a renewed moment as the Alberta media draw parallels with his provincial experience.
Fildebrandt was a big and vocal Bernier supporter during the Quebec MP's run at the federal Tory leadership, finding common cause in a libertarian approach to conservatism.
And in recent days he has been on side with Bernier's sentiments on supply management.
"I've been a federal Conservative since the day the party was founded in 2004, but it's a questionable day when it has time to debate banning porn, but not phasing (out) supply management. Political bondage," tweeted Fildebrandt during the Conservative convention last weekend.
He has also backed Bernier on the diversity/immigration remarks he made earlier in August.
"Most Canadians believe in a welcoming immigration system, but they expect that those coming here accept our basic shared values. The political class is almost universally terrified of representing the silent majority on this issue. The FCP is not," tweeted Fildebrandt.
Fildebrandt says the party wants Alberta to manage its own immigration policy. Oh and also EI, CPP, tax collection and administration of the Firearms Act.
Playing to a largely rural audience, the Freedom Conservative Party is hoping to pick up former Wildrose Party stalwarts who still feel aggrieved by the merger with the Progressive Conservatives that created Kenney's new party. There are parallels with Bernier's hopes to offer a voice to Conservatives aggrieved by the direction Andrew Scheer is taking the federal party.
A quick-off-the-mark Abacus poll last week took a snapshot of how much traction a Bernier-led party might have with voters. The poll showed 18 per cent support in Alberta, not enough to topple the Conservatives' 51 per cent but an indication that there is some rumbling out there.
No doubt Fildebrandt hopes a similar malcontent faction might be available to be picked off by the FCPs. It helps to have aid and comfort from a like-minded leader at another level of power.
For Scheer and Kenney, the eruption of Bernier and Fildebrandt is an annoyance at least. Federally Bernier has no time to organize or promulgate a seriously rounded political agenda before the next election. But if he fields candidates in a few key ridings and splits the right-wing vote, he could damage the Conservatives effort to topple the Liberals.
In Alberta, Fildebrandt is already saying he doesn't intend to field candidates in every riding, planning to provide alternatives in small towns and rural constituencies. Would it be enough to affect the final outcome of the election? Likely not.
But Kenney can't want any obvious alternative for the restive members of the UCP out on the hustings in the next few months. Wrestling two parties into one has already been a struggle. Now having to deal with a potential splinter group will be trying.
Without the FCP distraction, the UCP could have concentrated all its forces on the NDP, fighting in the urban trenches in Calgary and Edmonton while allowing nature to take its course in the usually safe seats of rural Alberta. Now some attention will likely have to be paid to the boonies.
Nobody says politics is a smooth road and Maxime Bernier and Derek Fildebrandt are creating some potholes to prove that point.
Photo Credit: Global News