If the party wasn’t mad, Albertans should be.

On a night that’s supposed to be about renewal, and — hopefully, maybe — the resurrection of the only real opposition threat many Albertans have ever known, the Wildrose Party finds another way to shoot itself in the foot.

“We need lots of brown people in the front,” is the brainless bullet, uttered mere inches from a live microphone.

The words were overheard as Wildrose candidates jostled for space on a crowded stage Saturday night, only minutes before new leader Brian Jean took the podium to promote the party, post-Danielle Smith.

It should have been a photo opportunity for the future, but one clumsy comment about brown people took the party back to the bad old days, when a reputation of homophobia and racism clung to Wildrose like flies to fertilizer.

The foot-in-mouther to blame? Bill Jarvis, candidate for Calgary-South East.

(Mobile users can watch a clip of the comment caught by cameras and a microphone at Saturday's Wildrose convention HERE.)

Jarvis made the quip standing between two Wildrosers of non-European decent, including Calgary Fort candidate Jeevan Mangat, and to be fair, he appeared to be joking around, a grin plastered to his face the whole time.

But others on the stage weren’t laughing at all, realizing Jarvis’ attempt at ethnic humour was carried over the PA and live-streamed online from Calgary’s Sheraton Cavalier hotel, with a lot of Albertans listening.

“You know the mic’s on, right?” asked one cringing colleague, to which Jarvis replied, “Is the mic on? Ah, okay.”

Online footage of the event, since deleted, suggests Jarvis didn’t mean for anyone off stage to hear his off-colour humour.

“I recognize that my comments might have caused offence. That was certainly not my intent,” said Jarvis, in a statement issued Sunday.

“I have apologized to my friend Calgary-Fort candidate Jeevan Mangat and I apologize to Brian Jean and all Wildrose candidates.”

The gaffe is yet another stumble in the quest to offer viable opposition to a Tory dynasty.

No, it’s not the worst thing ever said by a Wildrose candidate in public. Not even close.

That dubious distinction belongs to Edmonton candidate Allan Hunsperger, whose infamous “lake of fire” comment helped lose the 2012 election, as voters balked at a party promoting homophobic preaching straight from the 1920s.

A Wildroser threatening gay Albertans with an eternity in hell was bad enough, but Calgary candidate Ron Leech then upset the moderate majority by claiming his skin colour as an election asset, because “as a Caucasian, I believe that I can speak to all the community.”

And so a party that posed a legitimate threat to the ruling Tories prior to the 2012 vote ceased to be a serious contender — all because the people vying for a seat in the legislature didn’t know when to shut their mouths.

“Bozo eruptions” is what former Wildrose leader Smith called them then, but she refused to take the offending candidates to task, and paid the price at the polls.

Already, the new Wildrose leader is showing himself to be a man who won’t tolerate bozos of any sort.

On Sunday, Jean ordered Jarvis’ immediate resignation.

“Earlier today I was made aware of a comment made by Bill Jarvis at last night’s Wildrose event,” Jean said in a statement.

“The comment was disrespectful and while I accept that Mr. Jarvis did not intend to insult, I will not accept inappropriate statements that fail to show respect for all Albertans. I have asked Mr. Jarvis to step down and he has agreed.”

It’s a harsh outcome, but a necessary signal the Wildrose Party will no longer accept intolerance of any sort.

Albertans need to hear that.

This province is in desperate need of strong opposition, perhaps now more than ever.

It doesn’t even have to be a party that will form the government — just a party that might.

That choice is what keeps the government on a path that respects the voter, and as tenacious as the NDP and Liberals may be, they pose no real threat.

Only the Wildrose has shown itself capable of putting the necessary fear into the Tories, but that was before Smith decimated the party through her floor-crossing betrayal.

Jean’s first major decision as Wildrose leader was swift and severe — and exactly right for a party hoping to provide effective opposition in this province.

michael.platt@sunmedia.ca