Kenney vows fair process in hotly contested nominations
UPC leader suggests review of problems shows complaints being taken seriously
The coming months could bring some heightened emotions amid contested United Conservative Party nominations — but the party will strive to make sure it’s a fair process, party Leader Jason Kenney said Sunday.
At the party’s first Stampede barbecue, Kenney said the fact that hundreds of people are seeking nominations with the United Conservatives ahead of next year’s election is a positive reflection of interest in the party.
His comments follow allegations of ballot stuffing and improper handling of votes at the founding annual general meeting of the UCP’s Calgary-North East constituency association last weekend. The party said it suspended the meeting when potential irregularities came to light and that retired judge Ted Carruthers has been engaged to conduct an independent review.
The event in Calgary-North East came after a tumultuous contest for the UCP nomination in Chestermere-Strathmore, where MLA Leela Aheer was acclaimed after other potential candidates declined to enter the race. One potential candidate in that race, David Campbell, alleged misconduct and accused the party of bias in favour of Aheer.
“We’re very fortunate to have over 65 contested nominations,” Kenney said. “That’s a reflection of the support for and interest in the party, and I think that’s very positive. But, inevitably, when you have hotly contested nominations, here and there there’s going to be some friction, and we’re just trying to do everything we can as a party to make sure rules are fair and applied consistently.”
Kenney said the review of potential irregularities at the Calgary-North East meeting shows how seriously the party takes the allegations. He noted more than 3,000 party members voted as part of the Cardston-Siksika UCP nomination last month, without complaints of any problems.
“We can expect in the future, the next four or five months, that in the remaining 70 nominations, there will be some that have some high emotions and that may have some hiccups procedurally,” he said. “But we’re going to do everything we can to make sure it’s a clean and fair process.”
The party’s first Stampede barbecue took place the day after a joint Conservative caucus meeting between UCP MLAs and federal Conservative MPs from Alberta. Kenney shared photos on Twitter of Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and former prime minister Stephen Harper at the meeting.
Kenney said while the federal and provincial parties don’t agree on everything, they share stances on most issues, including “the urgency of getting a coastal pipeline built,” reforming equalization and opposing carbon taxes.
“We shared strategies on how we can co-operate on those critical issues to defend Alberta and defend taxpayers,” he said.
The party leader said while Premier Rachel Notley kicked off the Calgary Stampede by touting an improving economy, most Albertans aren’t feeling any rebound.
“Unemployment last month in Alberta (was) up by 0.3 per cent, we have 150,000 unemployed Albertans, incomes are down, we’ve just gone through one of the deepest and longest recessions in our history, tens of billions of dollars of capital have fled,” he said. “I hope there (are) some positive signs, but most people aren’t feeling it.”
Notley said last week that the barometer of corporate spending ahead of this year’s Stampede shows “our economic storms are starting to pass.”
Sunday’s downtown event marked the first Calgary Stampede barbecue for the UCP since the Progressive Conservative and Wildrose parties merged to become the United Conservatives last year.