David Parker

[[File:David parker take back alberta x profile pic.jpg|thumb|165px|David angrily ranting about [[Alt-right glossary#Groomer | groomers]] turning the kids gay.]]
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{{hatnote|not to be confused with Alberta Green Party member {{wpl|David J. Parker||.}}}}
{{cquote|I love [[America]]. I love what it stands for and what it has achieved. Without America there would be no [[Canada]]. Most Canadians are like spoiled children who hate their parents for being too good to them. [[Trump]] is like a firm parent who is teaching these spoiled brats discipline.||| David Parker, expressing his daddy issues and strong desire to be an American [[Republican]].<ref>https://x.com/DavidJPba/status/1886793709125296549 David Parker (@DavidJPba) on X. February 4, 2025.</ref>}}

'''David Parker''' is a [[Trumpist]], [[Neoreactionary movement|neoreactionary]]<ref name="MDPI-TBA">[https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/15/10/1250 Taking Alberta Back: Faith, Fuel, and Freedom on the Canadian Far Right] by Jacob McLean et al. (2024) ''Religions'' 15(10):1250. doi:10.3390/rel15101250.</ref><ref name="CBC-TBA">[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/take-back-alberta-david-parker-control-party-board-ucp-1.6834387 'We need to control the party': a look inside Take Back Alberta's UCP insurgency] by Jason Markusoff (May 9, 2023) ''CBC News''.</ref>, and bastard traitor in [[Alberta]], Canada with strong influence on the provincial United Conservative Party (UCP). He was instrumental in ousting former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and getting Trump-demagogue Danielle Smith elected, via his grassroots activist organization of like-minded crazies called '''Take Back Alberta'''.<ref name="CBC-TBA"/><ref name="NP-TBA-DP">[https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/david-parker-takes-centre-stage-in-take-back-alberta Former backroom political staffer takes centre stage in Take Back Alberta movement] by Donna Kennedy-Glans (January 28, 2024) ''National Post''.</ref><ref name="PP-TBA">[https://pressprogress.ca/who-is-take-back-alberta-and-what-do-they-really-want/ Who Is ‘Take Back Alberta’ and What Do They Really Want?] by Stephen Magusiak (April 11, 2023) ''PressProgress''.</ref>

==Early Years==
David Parker was born in a small-town of central Alberta to an [[evangelical]] preacher father and a [[homeschooling]] mother. He's a major fan of fantasy fiction, having read ''Lord of the Rings'' and the [[Bible]] multiple times growing up.<ref name="NP-TBA-DP"/> He attended and graduated from Trinity Western University, an [[elitist]] private [[Christian]] institution with political connections, before getting a job in [[Stephen Harper]]'s government as a regional advisor for the Prairie provinces. Eventually he got involved in Jason Kenny's successful "unite the right" Alberta campaign to merge the mainstream [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative Party]] with the far-right Wildrose Party, forming the United Conservative Party.<ref name="PP-TBA"/>

==Take Back Alberta==
{{cquote|These are the people that Jason Kenney said were the inmates taking over the asylum.… Here's a few people that are very well organized and motivated to try to move the party and the government in the direction that they want it to move.||| Lori Williams, Public Policy Professor at Mount Royal University.<ref name="CTV-TBA">[https://www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/article/like-a-coup-concern-mounts-over-growing-influence-of-take-back-alberta/ 'Like a coup': Concern mounts over growing influence of 'Take Back Alberta'] by Timm Bruch (April 1, 2023) ''CTV News''.</ref>}}

David Parker formed Take Back Alberta in response to Jason Kenney's gathering restrictions and vaccine mandates implemented during the [[Covid-19 pandemic]].<ref name="NP-TBA-DP"/><ref name="PP-TBA"/> Officially the group is just a registered third-party political advertiser; unofficially Take Back Alberta, bankrolled by oil companies hedging on getting returns, has mobilized the worst right-wing whackjobs within the province into accomplishing a hostile takeover of the UCP, with the goal being to get their [[fringe]] beliefs made into actual policy.<ref name="MDPI-TBA"/><ref name="CBC-TBA"/><ref name="CTV-TBA"/> The group succeeded in taking control of the UCP, including its board of directors, simply by getting more explicitly engaged in politics than the average person… depressing really. In Parker's own words: "Low voter turnout is the key to victory. Albertans and Canadians are apathetic and lazy. They never show up."<ref name="CBC-TBA"/><ref name="GM-TBA">[https://web.archive.org/web/20231104182458/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta/article-take-back-alberta-ucp-board/ Take Back Alberta largely controls the UCP board. How will that reshape Danielle Smith’s agenda?] by Carrie Tait (November 4, 2023) ''Globe and Mail''.</ref><ref name="CBC-TBA-SWL">[https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/a-shadow-war-on-libraries A shadow war on libraries] by Grant LaFleche et al. (February 7, 2025) ''CBC News: The Fifth Estate''.</ref>

Despite the groups influence, the specifics of their beliefs are not readily made public. Indeed the group's webshite is stripped of information and private,<ref name="TBA">[https://www.takingbackalberta.ca The webshite itself]</ref> although archived copies from 2022-2024 do give some information. The older websites indicate opposition to Kenney<ref name=about>[https://web.archive.org/web/20240618155033/https://www.takingbackalberta.ca/about About Us] ''Take Back Alberta'' (archived from June 18, 2024).</ref> and Alberta New Democratic Party Premier Rachel Notley<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20240527150551/https://www.takingbackalberta.ca/stop_notley Stop Notley] ''Take Back Alberta'' (archived from May 27, 2024).</ref> as well as being anti-[[tax]]<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20240527144442/https://www.takingbackalberta.ca/support_farmers Support Farmers] ''Take Back Alberta'' (archived from May 27, 2024).</ref> and anti-elitism,<ref name=about/> a rather thin platform. Leadership within the group has even instructed members to not readily identify themselves when at events.<ref name="CBC-TBA"/> Nonetheless, a picture of the group's [[ideology]] can be gleaned by looking at their "regional captains": [[white supremacists]], pro-American separatists, religious extremists, and [[Canada convoy protest]]ers.<ref name="PP-TBA"/><ref name="CBC-RCMP-CBB">[https://www.cbc.ca/news/fifthestate/coutts-conspiracies-1.7382630 RCMP videos show how extremist ideology fuelled armed Coutts protesters] by Rachel Ward et al. (November 15, 2024) ''CBC News: The Fifth Estate''.</ref> Truly a merry band, eh?

Apparently satisfied with the leash that he now has on the UCP, Parker has announced that his group will pursue getting members elected to school boards across Canada.<ref name="PP-TBA-SB">[https://pressprogress.ca/right-wing-take-back-alberta-group-purges-top-organizers-as-it-plans-to-target-school-boards-across-canada/ Right-Wing ‘Take Back Alberta’ Group Purges Top Organizers As It Plans to Target School Boards Across Canada] by Stephen Magusiak. (October 26, 2023) ''PressProgress''.</ref> There is some hope for the future though as Parker in his rabid ravings has bitten allies, having made public insinuations about Poilievre and his wife.<ref name="CH-TBA-DP">[https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/braid-tba-david-parker-insults-pierre-poilievre-premier-danielle-smith-disown Now TBA's Parker insults Poilievre. Will Premier Smith ever disown him?] by Don Braid. (February 25, 2024) ''Calgary Herald''.</ref> Take Back Alberta too has also been fined for election and finance violations.<ref name="CBC-TBA-F">[https://www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/article/3rd-party-advertiser-take-back-alberta-fined-more-than-100k-by-elections-alberta/ Activist group Take Back Alberta and founder fined $120K by elections agency] by Jason Markusoff. (February 4, 2025) ''CBC News''.</ref> Lastly his treasured friend Danielle Smith appears to now be facing a significant corruption scandal with Alberta's healthcare system.<ref name="GN-DS">[https://globalnews.ca/news/11015584/alberta-premier-defends-her-government-amid-corruption-allegations/ Alberta premier defends her government amid corruption allegations] by Ken MacGillivray. (February 12, 2025) ''Global News''.</ref> Will Albertans [[wake up]]? Time will tell.

==External links==
*[https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2023/10/16/Take-Back-Alberta-Increasing-Extremism/ Take Back Alberta Embraces Increasing Extremism] by David Climenhaga (October 16, 2023) ''The Tyee''.

==See also==
*[[Alberta]]
*[[Ezra Levant]]
*[[Stephen Harper]]

==References==
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[[Category:Canadian politicians]]
[[Category:Canadian politics]]
[[Category:Government incompetence]]
[[Category:Living people]]

Categories: Canadian politicians, Canadian politics, Government incompetence, Living people