UCP votes for parental choice in issues of religion, sex in schools
More than 2,500 members craft blueprint for policy in next election
RED DEER The newly formed United Conservative Party finally has concrete policies, as Leader Jason Kenney eyes the next provincial election with a promise to bring Alberta back into the conservative fold.
More than 2,500 delegates flowed through the Red Deer Sheraton over the weekend. They took in speeches from Kenney and conservative political big-hitters such as former Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall, federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and his predecessor, Rona Ambrose.
Members also approved what they hope will govern the party’s platform in 2019.
Those guiding principles weren’t without controversy.
On Sunday, members passed a motion to reinstate opt-in parental consent for any subjects of a religious or sexual nature in Alberta schools.
It was the closest vote of the day, passing with 57 per cent approval.
Delegates opted to carve the motion — No. 30 in the party ’s lengthy policy booklet comprising 250 resolutions — out of a larger body of education policies to vote on it separately.
Lengthy lines formed at both the yes and no microphones to debate the motion, drawing heated discussions from both sides.
Three UCP MLAs pleaded with their base to vote against the motion.
“This is about outing gay kids,” Calgary-Hays MLA Ric McIver said to applause and boos from the floor.
McIver worried passing the motion would provide political ammunition to opponents of the UCP.
“Don’t be called the Lake of Fire party, I’m begging you,” he said.
House leader Jason Nixon asked members to “stop taking the NDP bait.” Another delegate called the motion “distasteful” and encouraged members to “crumple it up and burn it in a lake of fire.”
The yes side countered with arguments that largely revolved around parental rights.
“We are conservatives, we are not the NDP,” one said.
Another pointed out that UCP MLAs recently voted against Bill 24, an act that made it illegal for teachers to inform parents if their child joins a gay-straight alliance, unless the child consents.
Kenney later told media that the vote doesn’t mean his party is against gay-straight alliances in schools. He called the motion badly worded, and insisted the UCP opposes outing gay kids to their parents.
“We support GSAs as peer groups,” he said.
Alberta co-ordinator of LGBTory, Harrison Fleming, told Postmedia he was disappointed the motion passed, but not surprised.
He said his group had received “an incredible amount of support” over the weekend.
Motion 30 was always going to be a contentious issue, Fleming said, because people are concerned about the erosion of parental rights and seem to be pushing back against rhetoric around Bill 24.
Fleming is confident the motion won’t guide the party’s election platform because candidates will “come from a broad, diverse tent in this province.
“We’re going to make sure LGBT kids and the LGBT community and our party know we’re here to support them,” he said.
Education Minister David Eggen, who spoke to media outside the convention Sunday afternoon, called the vote “disturbing.
“This is like poison for their party and their prospects for the future. People vote based on trust and reliability, and we’ve seen a massive hemorrhaging of both of those here,” he said.
FOCUS ON CARBON TAX, HEALTH CARE
Along with numerous motions about the importance of school choice, UCP members also voted to separate the union and professional bodies of the Alberta Teachers’ Association.
Membership also backed repealing the carbon tax, banning taxpayer dollars being used to lobby government for political purposes, and restoring a flat tax.
In health, the membership passed resolutions to expand the scope of practice for emergency medical services, support publicly funded, privately delivered health services, and require the consent of parent or guardian for all invasive medical procedures performed on a minor.