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Marco Van Huigenbos is quitting his role as CFO of Take Back Alberta, saying he can no longer work with David Parker
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Marco Van Huigenbos is quitting his role as CFO of Take Back Alberta. He says he can no longer work with David Parker, the CEO, because Parker’s bitter personal attacks on perceived enemies are “disgusting.”
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The tipping point for Van Huigenbos was Parker’s tirade this week against Cynthia Moore, the president of the United Conservative Party. Parker called Moore a “power-hungry tyrant” who must be removed.
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“We (TBA) will try to hold people accountable as much as possible, but not like this,” Van Huigenbos told me in an interview.
“I am no fan of Cynthia Moore, but this is personal. And this is disgusting. It’s just so raw, right? There’s no way anybody can support it.”
“The TBA crowd is smaller now than it was last year,” he continued. “A lot of the goals have been achieved and I know there’s still things we need to fight for, but I also know that overall, people aren’t in favour of this infighting.”
If you recognize the name, yes, Van Huigenbos is the guy who faces criminal charges stemming from the Coutts blockade. His trial is scheduled for next April. He’s also a twice-elected councillor in Fort Macleod.
Nothing about Parker’s TBA appeals to me. But when one of the key figures talks about calming things down, maybe that’s a positive.
“I have my personal views on issues in relation to abortion, the trans movement, all of that,” says Van Huigenbos. “But we have to go back to what TBA was built on — and that was accountability, good governance, fiscal responsibility.”
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Technically a third-party advertiser, TBA was influential in organizing the campaign to dump former premier Jason Kenney last year. Many TBA followers then backed Danielle Smith in the UCP leadership campaign. That support continued into the May 29 election.
Fuelled by success and Parker’s frequent tirades, TBA got a lot of media attention. It began to assume almost mythical status, even among UCP activists and MLAs who fear Parker’s thunderous disapproval.
But how big is it really? Van Huigenbos estimates that activists numbered about 30,000 last year. Now, as he says, the following is smaller.
TBA was no fundraising powerhouse in 2022, according to Elections Alberta reports.
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The group collected $22,309 in donations but spent $40,500. It emerged from the fiscal year with a deficit of $18,191.
That’s hardly the sign of a movement on the march, even though Parker still pulls crowds with his cries that modern society is “anti-human,” pleas for women to choose child-bearing over work, and much more.
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Van Huigenbos has been with Parker almost from the start. But no more.
“David is trying really hard to remain relevant,” he says. “I understand that, but not like this. He’s giving us all a bad name.
“We probably agree on almost everything but it’s the approach and the language and his communication style that we should lose. It makes us look like a bunch of rednecks.
“The last thing we need is another civil war, if I can call it that . . . but there are still a few who always have a war axe in their hand. We’re going down that same old warpath, but there’s no war.
“Nobody wants to take on David Parker and, to be honest, I’m not looking for it. But I’m not gonna run away from it either.”
Van Huigenbos stops short of personal insults or name-calling. “I don’t want to do to David Parker what he did to Cynthia Moore,” he says, calling Parker’s attacks on social media a “personal vendetta.”
Whatever happens as a result of the defection, TBA grievances with the government and the party still simmer.
Van Huigenbos is annoyed that Smith seemed to promise nominations could be reopened, but then let Jason Nixon’s candidacy stand. He’s also feels Smith is becoming too centrist.
Will Parker change his tune? It’s doubtful.
Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald.
Twitter: @DonBraid
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