Leadership change is coming to the UCP, and multiple names are already in the ring

Premier Jason Kenney shocked much of the province on Wednesday night when he announced he would step down as the leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP). After months of infighting within the cabinet and party, a leadership review was called to allow UCP members to decide if Premier Kenney should remain.

UCP President Cynthia Moore began a livestream shortly after 6 pm and spoke of the process, which was hotly contested leading up. Criticism grew of the process after there was a surge in new party memberships and a last-minute change from in-person voting to mail-in voting. Moore said that the rise in party memberships was due to them being “open and transparent” and responding to all member and media queries.

“As a result, record numbers of our members have participated in this leadership review. More than any other party in Canada. The engagement of our members has been extraordinary. Thank you to everyone who participated. It’s through your commitment that we have such a strong process.” Moore said tens of thousands of Albertans signed up to take part. “Our UCP membership more than doubled. The mail-in ballot allowed every eligible member to choose to have their say,” she said.

Moore added that “we need to focus on being the United Conservative Party” no matter the result. Tomorrow is the start of the 2023 election campaign. We have a lot of work to do, and we need to do that together as a team.” She then handed the mic over to chief returning officer Rick Orman who presented the results. The question on the ballot was, “do you approve of the current leader?” Orman said that there were 34,298 votes cast and that 17,638 said yes and 16,660 said no. “These numbers represent 51.4 percent yes and 48.6 percent no,” he said.

Moore then reappeared and said that since the leader received more than 50 percent of the vote in support of his leadership, a leadership election would not be automatically triggered. The livestream then switched to a Calgary location where Premier Jason Kenney spoke. “Friends, tonight, the members of our party completed a democratic exercise in accountability. The result is not what I hoped for or, frankly, what I expected. But I’ve been clear from day one that I will respect the members’ decision in this leadership review, and I expect all members of our party to do just that.”

Kenney said that while 51 percent passed the constitutional threshold of a majority, it wasn’t adequate support to continue as leader. “That is why tonight, I have informed the President of the party of my intention to step down as leader of the United Conservative Party. I’m sorry, but, friends, I truly believe we need to move forward united. We need to put the past behind us, and a large number of our members have asked for an opportunity to clear the air through a leadership election. I’ve recommended that the provincial board schedule a leadership review in a timely fashion. It is my fervent hope that in the months to come, we all move on past the division of COVID and disappointing as this result is for me, I’m incredibly proud of the work that this team has done.”

Premier Kenney then highlighted some of the work. “Together, we reunited the free enterprise movement in Alberta politics, and we won the largest electoral mandate in our province’s history. We inherited profound fiscal and economic challenges, and then we went through three once-in-a-century crises; the largest public health crisis in a century, the largest collapse of the world economy in nearly a century, and the first time ever we experienced negative oil prices. And yet, despite all of that, we got the job done, delivering on nearly 90 percent of our election commitments.” He spoke about leading Canada in economic job growth, balancing the budget for the first time in fourteen years, and putting parents back in charge of education through the Choice in Education Act.

He asked the crowd if they had heard about the victory won against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s No More Pipelines law during the week prior. He also said he had been in Washington fighting for Alberta energy jobs the day before. “While we have our internal differences, we must remember the shared values that unite us as conservatives. And we must always remember the promise of Alberta. This great land of opportunity where dreams come true, and anyone can achieve their God-given potential. God bless you all, and God bless the province of Alberta.”

One of Premier Kenney’s loudest critics responded very quickly following the announcement. Brian Jean said he intends to put his name forward in the leadership race. In a Facebook post, Jean said he would run on a series of ideas and approaches that would “renew” the UCP. His campaign would “demonstrate how we can do things differently, together, to recapture the enthusiastic support of the over one million Albertans who elected us in 2019.”

Opposition leader Rachel Notley also took to social media and thanked Kenney for his public service. “There are obviously many things about which we don’t agree, but that doesn’t negate the time and sacrifice that goes into taking on the role of Premier.” On Thursday, May 19, one day after the Premier’s announcement, Notley began the 2023 push by introducing NDP candidates in next year’s provincial election. One of the twenty-one individuals on her list was Oneil Carlier for Lac Ste Anne-Parkland.

Another name that popped up within twenty-four hours was Danielle Smith, the past Wildrose Party leader who infamously crossed the floor from the Wildrose Party to the Progressive Conservative Party and eight fellow members in 2014. Since 2015, Smith has worked extensively in media and business, including the President of the Alberta Enterprise Group.

Since handling COVID restrictions was one of the most significant areas of contention in the UCP, leading to the leadership review, Smith spoke out on her thoughts on what should happen going forward. “We never should have come down on pastors the way we did. Every other jurisdiction, it seems we’re able to enforce their measures without putting pastors in jail, and this created so much division in our communities,” she said in a Rebel News interview with Adam Soos. “We should also drop charges against small businesses,” she added. Smith is running for the UCP nomination in Livingstone-Macleod and the leadership race.

Thursday evening, UCP caucus chair Nathan Neudorf released a statement following a six-hour caucus meeting to discuss the party’s future and decide on an interim leader. “We have affirmed Premier Jason Kenney’s continued leadership of our caucus and government until such a time as a new leader is chosen.” A date for a leadership election has not been set as of this writing.