JEAN IS RUNNING, STARKE IS WALKING
Ex-Wildrose leader seeks UCP’s top job as PC MLA decides to sit as ... a PC MLA
And then there was one …
In what was the worst kept secret of Alberta politics, Brian Jean announced Monday afternoon he was stepping down as Wildrose leader to officially kick off his campaign for leader of the new United Conservative Party.
“We will repeal, undo and replace much of the damage the NDP has done,” Jean said in an advance copy of his prepared speech that mentioned the NDP eight times and the UCP just once.
Jean is the first (former) party leader in the race.
And then there was one less … In what was the second worst kept secret in Alberta politics, Progressive Conservative MLA Richard Starke announced Monday morning he would not be joining the new UCP caucus.
“I’ve got serious doubts the new party will have policies and leadership in keeping with my values and principles,” said Starke, who had run for the PC leadership earlier this year on a platform that rejected unification with the Wildrose.
That unification went ahead on the weekend after an overwhelmingly majority of those casting ballots in both parties supported the formation of the new conservative party.
The vote has shaken up Alberta politics. And the stories just kept coming.
MLAs from both parties held a joint caucus meeting Monday afternoon to choose Wildrose house leader Nathan Cooper as interim party leader.
The fact that Cooper would be chosen might not have been one of those badly kept secrets, but it was hardly a surprise. He has proven himself to be intelligent, decent, competent and bozoeruption free.
Not to mention diplomatic. When asked for his opinion on Starke rejecting the UCP, Cooper said nice things: “I have nothing but respect for Dr. Starke. He’s a wonderful parliamentarian, a great MLA. I think it’s unfortunate that he’s chosen not to come.”
Cooper is holding out hope that once Starke sees how the party evolves, he will come back.
At this point, we don’t know what the party will stand for. We’ll get a sense of that during the leadership race and a much better idea after the party holds a founding convention in early 2018.
But Starke is afraid that, based on his experience leading up to unification, the party will be too extreme for moderate Albertans like himself.
“In the past couple of months — and I guess I shouldn’t put too much credence in this — I’ve been called a communist, a socialist, a liberal and, most
In the past couple of months ... I’ve been called a communist, a socialist, a liberal and, most recently, a cancer.
recently, a cancer,” he said.
“So on the one hand, you are told your voice is welcomed and needed, and then the supporters of the party, some of the most vocal ones on social media, are using labels like that. It’s kind of a mixed message.”
Starke’s complaint sounds similar to that of MLA Sandra Jansen, who said she was bullied out of the PC leadership race last fall by aggressive supporters of Jason Kenney.
He went on to become leader. She went on to become a New Democrat.
Starke’s decision is not just a figurative thorn in the side of the nascent UCP, it poses a very real and practical problem for the party’s interim leadership.
Starke wants to stay on as a Progressive Conservative MLA. He can do that because the party is still a party, even though its members have voted to join the UCP.
The PCs and Wildrose are still registered with Election Alberta, but those registrations are now controlled by the UCP as a way to prevent anyone from running under either banner next election. Electorally speaking, the PCs and Wildrose will be hollow shells.
But right now, Starke is still a PC MLA. The last one in captivity.
The UCP leadership is no doubt afraid that as such, Starke will become a rallying point for nostalgic “progressive” conservatives looking for a way to fight against the new conservative party.
There’s now speculation PC leader Kenney will kick Starke out of the defunct-in-all-butname PC caucus.
Kenney declined to comment Monday.
Kenney is reportedly busy planning to launch his own leadership campaign for the UCP this weekend.
And then there was one more …