The new Chestermere-Strathmore constituency association (CA) board will tackle two immediate priorities — one being to determine why the CA is essentially “broke,” said re-elected president Nick Boots..First, the CA will work to set a date for the long-awaited nomination meeting to select a candidate to run in the May 29 provincial election..UCP leadership candidate Leela Aheer is being challenged by Chantelle de Jong in the MLA's first open nomination contest. .The board says it will also investigate why CA funds were allegedly 90% depleted by the recently defeated pro-Aheer board ousted Saturday at an annual general meeting (AGM) that saw record attendance..“They basically left the board broke. They wasted 90% of all the fundraising done for many years,” said Boots in a telephone interview from Stavanger, Norway..The CEO of CardGio Inc. is there with a team of six employees as part of an Alberta delegation attending the Offshore Northern Seas (ONS) international oil and gas exhibition and conference..“I will definitely look into the finances. It is my understanding the outgoing board spent 90% of our funds on lawyer’s fees over the past two or three months,” said Boots..“When we got the board in January, we had $30,000 in the account. Now we have something like $6,000.”.Boots alleges a professional lawyer was “paid three months straight” to challenge the results of the CA's January 8 AGM..Former CA president John Kittler confirmed the account held about $30,000 in January..However, he accused Boots of making “statements of limited amounts of truth.”.The former treasurer “verified” Monday that about $9,000 remains in the account, said Kittler..“Is $9,000 being handed to a board that they did not one thing toward earning, is that broke? . . . Broke to me is zero.”.“Is he getting all the money that was there in January that my volunteers earned? No, he’s definitely not.”.Kittler said about $14,000 was spent on legal fees to dispute the January AGM results..“We spent more than we should have on legal.”.Aheer’s ousted board filed a formal dispute notice to central UCP Board President Cynthia Moore requesting it be reinstated, and AGM voting results be declared void..A UCP arbitration committee ruled in March to have the board reinstated on a technicality, due to the ousted board not following correct meeting notification rules. .In January, Boots defeated former CA president John Kittler when 17 of 22 members on Aheer’s board were voted out..Saturday, Boots defeated former Chestermere councillor Chris Steeves in a 327 to 122 vote..The Aheer slate suffered a crushing defeat. That included her son Akesh Aheer and husband Malkeet Aheer, who were ousted from their positions on the board. .All 30 candidates elected to three executive and 27 director positions were on the anti-Aheer slate..READ MORE: Aheer humiliated at AGM.“I wasn’t actually surprised. I would have been surprised if we lost because of the amount of time that Leela has been spending outside of the riding campaigning to be leader. It didn’t help her case here.”.People in the riding felt neglected by their MLA, while de Jong was diligently pounding the pavement, he said..But constituency residents also didn’t like the direction their MLA had taken..“They’re looking for somebody who is a solid conservative, somebody who represents our riding, not some globalists policies that the left has been trying to push in Alberta.”.“They just want to hear local issues being raised in the legislature and that’s not what Leela’s doing. That’s why so many came out and voted her board out.”.READ MORE: Meet the lefty vying to lead Alberta’s Conservatives.Nearly 500 people lined up to register to vote at the Strathmore Civic Centre. Typically, past AGMs have had an average turnout of 50 people..“I feel very proud of all the people that stepped up again. And that a lot of people who ran in January, then got kicked out, ran again and won,” said Boots..“It feels good to be part of that because it sort of redeems us in the eyes of the public that we did nothing wrong.”.“It wasn’t a technical victory in January. It was a landslide then. It is a landslide now. We won fair and square.”.“It’s nice that everything has been set straight now and people can see the truth for what it is.”.Boots is hoping the nomination meeting will be held within six weeks..“My first priority is to make sure that we get this nomination going. We already did it the first time we were elected and then they kicked us out for no reason.”.Aheer has previously been protected by party leaders from facing nomination elections from local UCP members..“Our request was not taken into account. So now we’re five months from the time when we wanted to have the nomination.”.“So as soon as I can, we’ll call the board and elect our vice-president and we’ll elect our nomination committee.”.“As soon as we do that, we’ll request the party holds the nomination as soon as possible.’.When the Arbitration Committee opted to reinstate the Kittler-led board, it did so with four conditions..One was that an AGM be held by July 30..The UCP had to read the riot act to the board that defied the order and wanted the AGM to be held after the leadership race..The party issued a new order that the AGM be held no later than August 27..The party also directed that the “current board be prohibited for utilizing the CA funds for any purpose,” wrote UCP lawyer Steven Dolansky in an email to Arbitration Committee Chair Thomas Kent..READ MORE: Trouble continues for MLA Leela Aheer’s Chestermere-Strathmore UCP constituency.Aheer is one of seven candidates vying to replace Premier Jason Kenney. The winner will be announced October 6..The Western Standard sought comment from Aheer's team but did not hear back from either before time of publishing.
