Kenney gets a waiver as his party membership lapses

After letting his United Conservative Party membership lapse, Jason Kenney had to be granted a waiver to run for leader.

Kenney’s membership expired in mid-August.

According to his communications director, Blaise Boehmer, it came to the team’s attention after the merger of Progressive Conservative and Wildrose party membership lists.

Boehmer said Thursday his team notified the leadership election committee immediately and renewed Kenney’s membership.

Committee chairwoman Robyn Henwood told Postmedia her group didn’t find any violation of the rules during a brief discussion about the issue.

“Officially, we did give (Kenney’s campaign team) a waiver, so that if anyone ever came back, they had it in writing there was an official waiver from the chair,” she said.

According to Section 5.1 of the official race rules, candidates must have been a member of the UCP or one of its legacy parties for at least six months prior to filing their application.

However, there was no requirement for that membership to have been immediately prior to a candidate’s leadership application.

Boehmer said Kenney’s membership expiry was not indicative of the former MP’s dedication to the party he has helped create. scene today.

Bettman’s final cut was to say that, despite many hurdles in the Edmonton arena deal, he was always in touch with then-mayor Stephen Mandel and Oilers owner Daryl Katz.

The Calgary situation, he said, “couldn’t be more opposite.”

But wait, once again, isn’t it the Flames who have sworn a vow of silence?

Calgary Sports and Entertainment needs to pause for a public relations reset here. They aren’t getting any closer to an arena and they’re probably helping Nenshi win a third term.

As for Bettman, he could move to Canada and pay some taxes. Otherwise, he should butt out of our election.