Randy Thorsteinson (born November 8, 1956) is a politician and businessman in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. Early years Thorsteinson was born in Gimli, Manitoba and spent his youth living in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Edmonton, Alberta; Calgary, Alberta; and Grande Prairie, Alberta. Education He attended St. Paul's High School in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Thorsteinson attended Ricks College (now Brigham Young University-Idaho campus) for two years followed by two years at Brigham Young University (Utah) majoring in business management. Business ventures Following university Thorsteinson spent three years as Retail Sales Manager for Travelaire Trailer Canada Ltd. in Red Deer, Alberta. He was one of the founders of Carlson Tours and Incentive Travel Ltd. in 1984 which subsequently changed its name to Cascadia Motivation Inc. Thorsteinson is the Chief Operating Officer of the company. Cascadia Motivation works with Canadian businesses to improve their performance levels and achieve their objectives. Political career Thorsteinson entered politics as president of the Red Deer riding association of the Reform Party of Canada in 1988 and served in this position for three years. In 1988 Thorsteinson served as the campaign manager for Michael Roth, the Reform Party candidate in Red Deer riding. Roth finished second to Doug Fee (PC) with just under 10,000 votes. Leader of Social Credit Thorsteinson joined the Alberta Social Credit Party in 1991, and became leader the following year. Under Thorsteinson, Social Credit experienced the beginnings of a rebirth, and in the 1997 general election, the party nominated 70 candidates and collected 64,667 votes (almost seven per cent of the popular vote). This was Social Credit's best result since 1979, but it failed to win any seats in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. By 1999, however, Thorsteinson, a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was at odds with his party after a movement within the party to limit the involvement of Latter-day Saints. Thorsteinson quit the party in April 1999 and was a founder of the Alberta First Party but was not active in the party. Leader of the Alberta Alliance In 2002 Thorsteinson was the founder of the Alberta Alliance Party (which changed its name to Wildrose Alliance in 2008). The party met the registration requirements and he became the party's leader at the Party Founding Convention in February 2003. Thorsteinson's new party gained momentum immediately following the 2004 federal election when Edmonton Norwood Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Gary