The leader of the Freedom Conservative Party isn’t only stepping down from his party, but quitting politics entirely.

“I expect that within a week we’ll have an interim leader of the Freedom Conservative Party in place,” Derek Fildebrandt announced on Monday.

“I’m going to do whatever I can to support that new interim leader to see them succeed, because I believe in four years, hopefully, Albertans will be in a position where they’re not just voting against something, but where they’re willing to look at where they want to go for the future of Alberta.”

Fildebrandt launched the FCP last July after quitting the United Conservative Party amid several scandals.

The party nominated 24 candidates for the election, but failed to win a single riding—including Fildebrandt’s home constituency, Chestermere-Strathmore, where he received less than 10 per cent of the vote.

He attributed the FCP’s poor results to its youth, ineligibility to participate in the leader’s debate as a party without an MLA elected to legislature, and to a campaign that seemed to present only two options to voters.

“I think people were primarily voting against one party or the other, and for the smaller parties… that pretty much meant we were squeezed out.”

However, Fildebrandt says the loss has been relatively positive.

“Honestly, I’m happy to be done with politics. It’s a lot of bullsh**.

“I’m happy to have my family back, to have a sense of private life back. This is my first interview I’ve done since the election,” he said on CTV2 Alberta Primetime, “and honestly, it’s pretty nice.”

Fildebrandt denied he’d be making a play in the federal sphere, but promised to remain a voice in Alberta politics as the UCP and Premier-Designate Jason Kenney take over.

“When I see the Tories supporting policies I think are good for Alberta, I’ll give them support for that. But where I see them dropping the ball and doing what I fear is going to happen in many cases, I’ll call them out, too.”

For the most part, Fildebrandt said he’s eager to return to some normalcy.

“I’m going to return to private life here, get a real job, make some money.”