A group of Alberta United Conservative Party members have created the 1905 Committee to try to convince the party to put more effort into fulfilling various campaign promises. 1905 Committee Principal Nadine Wellwood said there are many great Alberta UCP members who want to get involved and have become disenfranchised with various advocacy groups. While it prioritizes the UCP, it is open to anyone, regardless of party affiliation. “And so for that reason, I think there’s a good fit with 1905 to kind of fill some of the gap and for some of those people to find a good, solid, professional, very rational, tempered home to belong and be a part of,” said Wellwood in a Friday interview. Wellwood said she does not want Alberta Premier Danielle Smith removed. However, she said she wants her to be accountable to promises she has kept. Smith has failed to deliver on some proposals from the last election. In response, Wellwood said it is time she deliver on them or offer the members reasons why she has not. One of the policies she said the 1905 Committee will advocate for Smith to adopt is amending the Canada-Alberta Co-operation on Immigration. This is because immigration is causing affordability, healthcare, education, and values issues. The 1905 Committee wants Smith to follow through on enacting the Alberta Pension Plan (APP) to provide more financial security. Wellwood said the APP would offer lower costs and better benefits. The principal went on to say she will convince Smith to adopt these policies by signing up members. As the 1905 Committee grows and rallies people together, she said she will have no choice but to take notice. The first step will be rallying people behind principles and policies. Once people are rallied behind principles and policies, Wellwood said Smith can support them or continue to ignore her base. While Wellwood likes Smith as a person, she said she has good intentions and bad judgment on some of her actions. Some of the promises she wished she had done more on were lowering income taxes, stopping cronyism, and defending parental rights.When promises are made, she said they should be kept. While people had high expectations for Smith when she came in, she said she has repeated mistakes former Alberta premier Jason Kenney made. Wellwood continued by saying she believes her prospects for success are high. Many people have approached her about getting involved with it. The 1905 Committee will be holding its first meeting on June 24 in Calgary. This meeting will focus on establishing its five to seven core principles and speaking about delivering on its goals. Wellwood concluded by saying people “have to realize that leaders are not going to save us.” “People need to come together in a unified way, rally around principles and policies that are more concrete and five to seven principles that are non-negoitable,” she said. “If we can evaluate policy based on those five to seven principles, it helps us steer the ship and stay on course.” Wellwood had her appeal over her disqualification as an Alberta UCP nomination candidate for Livingstone-Macleod denied by the party in 2022. READ MORE: Wellwood loses appeal over UCP nomination disqualification“It is certainly not the outcome that we had hoped for,” she said. “This decision is indeed very disappointing as it was truly my hope that under a new leader, the old party politics would be abandoned.”
