Ex-Alberta Tory leadership hopeful joins ruling NDP
EDMONTON — A one-time candidate for the Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership has crossed the floor to the governing NDP.
Sandra Jansen, a Calgary member of the legislature, quit the Tory race last week. She said personal and online insults aimed at her progressive views had become intolerable.
She said the abuse peaked at a recent PC policy convention, where her nomination forms were vandalized and supporters of another candidate harassed her in the hallways.
Jansen, a two-term MLA, accused leadership candidate Jason Kenney, a cabinet minister under former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, of bringing “Trump-style politics” to Alberta.
“I don’t believe that there has been anything moderate or pragmatic being offered or even being discussed by the people intent on taking over the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta,” Jansen said Thursday.
Seeing the legacy of former Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed being “kicked to the curb by extremists who are taking over the PC party has been heartbreaking to me,” Jansen said.
Donna Kennedy-Glans, a former PC MLA who had been vying for the top Tory job as well, also quit the race last week over concerns the party is moving too far right on social issues.
Kenney has said his campaign has exhibited “a positive and respectful tone since it began.”