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Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, said the great English wordsmith Samuel Johnson.

Which brings us to the case of Alberta’s rogue and roguish MLA, Derek Fildebrandt.

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On Friday, Fildebrandt held a news conference in Calgary to introduce himself as the new interim leader of the Freedom Conservative Party of Alberta.

“I would describe us as an Alberta patriot party, or autonomous party,” Fildebrandt told the Calgary press.

Fildebrandt, you may recall, started his career in the Alberta legislature three years ago as a Wildrose MLA for Strathmore-Brooks.

After a very public falling-out with Wildrose leader Brian Jean, Fildebrandt pushed hard to force Jean out and to merge the Wildrosers with the Progressive Conservatives, under the leadership of Jason Kenney.

In due course, the parties merged and Kenney ousted Jean.

Score one for Fildebrandt. Until, that is, Kenney turned around and ousted him after an embarrassing series of what you might call scandalettes, embarrassing incidents which, taken together, gave Kenney the necessary excuse to bounce his MLA right out of the United Conservative Party caucus.