Former PC leadership contender won’t join new party
Values won’t be represented: Starke
Richard Starke, the MLA for Vermilion-Lloydminster, announced Monday that he will not join the newly formed United Conservative Party.
In a phone interview with Postmedia, Starke — who ran unsuccessfully against Jason Kenney for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative party in 2017 — said he was told the people who supported him would be welcomed into the new party, but that has not happened.
“My concern is that the principles and values of progressive conservatism are not going to be represented by the new party,” said Starke.
He pointed to the decision by both Brian Jean and Jason Kenney to skip the Edmonton Pride parade, as well as Kenney’s comments that schools should tell parents if their child joins a Gay Straight Alliance club, as things that prompted him to leave the party.
“When we’re talking about students involved with GSAs, we need to be absolutely clear that there should be no requirement for schools to tell parents if their child attends one of those clubs. We need to be on the side of protecting children,” said Starke.
He also pointed to a number of internal party decisions he claims have been made to marginalize him and his supporters. In particular, Starke raised concerns about an advisory committee he says he was promised would be put in place to provide guidance to a new leader. Starke says he offered to serve on the committee, but the committee was never actually formed.
Starke initially announced he would not join the new party in a Facebook post, where he said it’s been made clear his values and principles are not welcome.
“My experience, and that of many like-minded party members who have left or been driven from the party, is that our views are not welcome, and that the values and principles we believe in will not be part of the new party going forward,” said Starke.
Starke came in second place in the leadership race, earning 323 votes to Kenney’s 1,113. He was well ahead of third place Byron Nelson, who earned 40 votes. Starke ran for the leadership on a platform of keeping the Progressive Conservative party and the Wildrose party separate, but co-ordinating between the two parties in an attempt to drive the Alberta NDP from power in the next election.
On Saturday both the Wildrose and the Progressive Conservatives voted overwhelmingly to form a new party. Those votes appear to have prompted Starke’s decision.
“When I made the decision to seek elected office in 2011, I promised the constituents of Vermilion- Lloyd minster that I would hold to values and principles consistent with Progressive Conservatism — the values espoused by Peter Lougheed that first drew me to the Progressive Conservative party when I was in my teens ,” said Starke.
Starke said he had told the Speaker and the Legislative Assembly Office of his intention to refrain from joining the new United Conservative Party. He said he wanted to make the announcement before a 1 p.m. meeting on Monday when Wildrose and Progressive Conservative MLAs held their first joint caucus meeting.