Rivals for UCP leadership drop gloves over finances
Jason Kenney took the gloves off in the United Conservative Party leadership race Wednesday, blasting rival Brian Jean over the UCP caucus’ budget shortfall.
But Jean fired back, saying there was no deficit and accusing Kenney of “negative mudslinging and innuendo.”
In an interview, Kenney said Jean — as the former leader of Wildrose — has to take the blame for the estimated $337,000 shortfall that resulted when the Wildrose and Progressive Conservative caucuses joined together in the UCP.
Kenney, who served briefly as PC Leader before the UCP’s formation, said the Tory caucus’ contribution to the deficit was about $16,000, while Wildrose brought the vast remainder of the red ink to the UCP caucus.
“Essentially leaving the new united caucus with a big fiscal hole was irresponsible, it was bad management and sends exactly the wrong message,” said Kenney of Jean.
“He was the leader, he was responsible,” Kenney continued.
“He can’t slough off responsibility to anyone else.”
The UCP was created this summer when Wildrose and PC members voted to join together in a new party.
That has resulted in a duplication of staffers combined with a reduction of legislature funding, due to such factors as there being only one leader allowance.
Before the merger, the two caucuses had been receiving a combined $4 million a year in taxpayer dollars for staff and operations.
Kenney accused Jean of overseeing a “massive hiring spree” as Wildrose leader in the run-up to the July unity vote, suggesting the new staff were helping Jean run a “shadow leadership campaign at taxpayers’ expense.”
Wildrose-turned-UCP MLA Scott Cyr said last week he had raised concerns over 11 new staff hired between last summer and the unity vote, saying “we had no idea about what they did.”
Jean’s campaign, however, said the employees included legislative assistants, receptionists, community outreach staff and a part-time adviser to the leader. Three of those employees are now working for Jean’s leadership campaign after taking leave or having their contracts expire.
Jean was not made available for an interview Wednesday.
But in a statement issued by his campaign, he said “there is no deficit.”
“You measure deficits at the end of the year, not after the busiest front third of the year,” said the Fort McMurray-Conklin MLA.
“If I am the leader, there won’t be a deficit this year, we will hit our budget just like we have every year.”
Jean said he was disappointed with the “level of discourse” in the UCP contest.
“When my opponent engages in negative mudslinging and innuendo, the only people it makes happy are the NDP.”
Jean and Kenney, who served together as Conservative MPs, each relinquished their respective party leadership positions when the UCP was formed. They, along with Calgary lawyer Doug Schweitzer and former Wildrose president Jeff Callaway, are seeking the UCP leadership, which will be decided by a vote of party members in October.
A poll from Insights West released Wednesday showed Jean with a 44 per cent approval rating among Albertans, compared with 32 per cent for Kenney.
Similar to other polls, the online survey of 704 Albertans also showed higher support for the UCP in an election with Jean as leader, though the party would have a lead over the governing NDP no matter who held the party’s top job.
Kenney said he’s not concerned about polling numbers. “We feel very confident,” he said. “I have never paid attention to public opinion polls about a leadership election ... they bear no relevance to internal party elections. Our campaign, frankly, couldn’t care less about surveys that aren’t relevant to this internal vote.”
Callaway and Schweitzer have also raised concerns about the UCP caucus budget, with Callaway on Wednesday saying that “this falls entirely at Brian’s feet.”
“It raises a pretty big question mark,” he said.
Meanwhile, the UCP caucus has brought in a veteran federal political operative as its top staffer.
Garry Keller, who was most recently chief of staff to Rona Ambrose when she served as interim federal Conservative leader, has been named senior adviser to the UCP caucus.
Keller is serving on an interim basis, filling in for chief of staff Kevin Weidlich, a reserves officer who is leaving for a military deployment, caucus spokeswoman Samantha Johnston said in an email.
Keller served in a number of positions in Ottawa, including chief of staff to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird.
Most recently, he had considered running to replace Ambrose in the Sturgeon River-Parkland seat she vacated in July, but ultimately chose not to enter the race.