“Who is Jason Hale?” my son kept asking. “Who is Jason Hale?” It was hard to explain to an eight-year-old why this man’s name was on so many campaign signs around town. Then a knock on the door. It was Jason Hale, trying to get my family’s vote in the next provincial election. My son was in awe of this celebrity.
Jason was our local candidate for the Wildrose Party, a disaffected right-wing result from the nominally right-wing Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta. The PCs had governed Alberta for 41 years, always attaining a large majority in the legislature, facing an uninspiring opposition.