As the day arrived for his leadership review to begin, Alberta premier Jason Kenney told his party members that he was the key to keeping the conservative movement in Alberta united.
While speaking at a special general meeting on Saturday, Kenney warned United Conservative Party (UCP) voters that if he was ousted as leader, the UCP would fall apart.
“I truly fear that if we choose the path of division, it will drive a wedge right down the middle of our party for which we may never again recover and there’s only one person who wins from that, and her name is Rachel Notley,” said Kenney.
“Unity requires constant effort — it can never be taken for granted — but division is easy.”
Kenney also acknowledged criticism of his handling of the pandemic and his implementation of strict public health guidelines, which included a number of lockdowns and the use of a vaccine passport system.
“I ask for your forgiveness if there were decisions that we made which you think were wrong or which offended you,” he said.
Recently elected UCP MLA for Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche and a long-time critic of Kenney, Brian Jean, said the premier’s approach to the party has divided the conservative movement.
“The premier gave a speech that said the choice is between more-of-the-same or Rachel Notley’s NDP — you know someone is losing when they resort to fear,” said Jean.
Mail-in ballots will be sent to approximately 60,000 registered UCP members in the coming days. Ballots will need to be received by May 11th, but results will not be published until a later time. Auditing firm Deloitte will be overseeing the leadership vote.
Kenney will need to get a 50% plus one majority in order to survive the vote. If he doesn’t, a leadership contest will ensue. That new leader will then have approximately one year to prepare for the next election.
While Jean has campaigned openly on removing Kenney, Danielle Smith too has expressed interest in the UCP leadership if Kenney fails the review.
The party received immense criticism after the UCP’s board decided to move the in-person meeting in Red Deer to a mail-in ballot after 15,000 people had already registered to attend – a number more than seven times what the scheduled venue could hold.
