The UCP rejected an effort by the Chestermere-Strathmore constituency association (CA) board to delay its annual general meeting (AGM) until after the leadership race..The party also called for the board to be “prohibited” from accessing CA funds, reads an email obtained by the Western Standard..The email sent Friday from UCP lawyer Steven Dollansky to Arbitration Committee Chair Thomas Kent requested four conditions be set “as soon as possible.”.They include:.— Directing that the current board be prohibited from utilizing the CA funds for any purpose;.— That an AGM be directed to be held on August 27, 2022, at a location within the constituency of Chestermere-Strathmore to be determined by the party;.— That the AGM is to be administered by the party;.— That notice of the AGM be provided to all current members of the Chestermere-Strathmore Constituency Association on or before August 5, 2022..Chestermere-Strathmore MLA Leela Aheer's nomination for the May 29 provincial election is being challenged by Chantelle de Jong..Aheer is also running in the UCP leadership race to be held October 6..Lawyer Brenden Miller wrote a letter on behalf of the CA to the UCP requesting that the AGM be delayed until November 13..The CA board had already defied a March order by the Arbitration Committee to hold the AGM by a July 31 deadline..READ MORE Still no plans for vote in troubled UCP constituency.That deadline was one of the conditions set by the panel when it reinstated the board in March, declaring the results of a January 8 AGM when 17 of 22 board members were voted out as invalid..The panel ruled that the membership hadn’t been given adequate notice of the AGM..Reinstated CA President John Kittler had alleged the AGM was delayed because the party was withholding Constituent Information Management System (CIMS) access to the membership list..That claim was recently disputed by the UCP, and again in Friday’s email..Dollansky noted that CIMS access has been suspended for all UCP members because of the leadership contest..“The CA did not request access or indicate that there was a concern that they had been cut off until on or about early July when they were resisting calling the AGM,” he wrote..The UCP “reinstated” CIMS access to Kittler and Aheer “to enable them to schedule the AGM immediately.”.“CIMS access is not a barrier to scheduling the AGM,” he added..The UCP “made good faith efforts” to ensure the CA complied with the Arbitration Committee’s order..“This included emails and telephone calls by party staff and more recently my correspondence to the CA Board’s counsel,” said Dollansky..“Unfortunately, those efforts have been refused and, as you will see from the resolution passed by the Constituency Association Board on July 20, 2022 — they have no intention of complying with the Arbitration Panel’s direction. Instead, the CA Board seeks to have the AGM delayed to November 13, 2022.”
