Wildrose MLA Gary Bikman says rural voters have more common sense

CALGARY - The Wildrose party ran smack into a mountain on election day and has hit a few political bumps since their unexpected loss.

Newly elected in Cardston-Taber-Warner, Wildrose's Gary Bikman said in a television interview this week that urban voters did not understand the free speech aspect of the social issues that derailed the party's campaign in its final week when two candidates' comments about race and homosexuality were revealed.

Bikman also told CTV that rural residents who voted for Wildrose had more common sense than urban residents.

Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith was not available to comment Thursday, but spokesman Brock Harrison said: "Danielle obviously does not agree with that assessment.

"The reason we won seats in rural areas is because the lands right issues were resonating still," he added.

Bikman did not return calls to comment Thursday. Harrison said he could not explain Bikman's remarks. Smith had not yet spoken to Bikman about his comments, but it is likely she will, he added.

"We have a lot of rookie MLAs. . . . There's a lot to learn in terms of media interviews and all those things. We'll get our guys some training," Harrison said.

The Wildrose party won 17 seats on election day after being widely expected to dethrone the long-running Tory government. The vast majority of the seats were in rural, southern Alberta.

University of Calgary political scientist Doreen Barrie said the danger of Bikman's comments is they reinforce the image of the party as a "crucible of social conservatism" and heighten a false divide between rural and urban residents.

"For the Wildrose, it might become the trademark of the party and I suspect they wouldn't want that," she said.

The spotlight also shone on Wildrose this week when party stalwart Paul Hinman, who lost his Calgary-Glenmore seat, said he would not pay back money related to the legislature's committee that never met.

The committee became a major issue heading into the election campaign because members were paid $1,000 a month, even though the committee had not met for three years.

Hinman initially said in March he would not pay back any money for his committee membership, then apologized and promised he would.

But Hinman said Thursday he's been informed by the legislative assembly office that he had never been paid for serving on the panel because of his membership on other legislative committees.

Scott Hennig of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the organization that shone a spotlight on the "no-meet" committee, said Hinman was correct because he served on more than three committees at the time he was on the so-called "no meet" committee.

Committee pay tops out at three committees.

Harrison said Smith considers the matter closed if Hinman was not actually paid for his time on the committee.