UCP leadership candidate Bill Rock says rules which exclude him alone from a leadership panel are designed to benefit “career politicians.”.The Free Alberta Strategy Group (FASG) is hosting a UCP leadership panel Thursday night, which includes only those candidates that are current or former MLAs..Besides Rock, the remaining seven leadership candidates — Danielle Smith, Brian Jean, Travis Toews, Todd Loewen, Leela Aheer, Rebecca Shulz, and Rajan Sawhney — meet the criteria, and as such, are participating in the panel. .The rules seem “either deliberately or unthinkingly made in such a way that you either needed to have been able to raise $175,000 and gotten 1,000 signatures in just a couple weeks or be a career politician,” said Rock, who's also the mayor of Amisk. .“I think Alberta needs to be the sort of province where someone who has good ideas and works hard can become the leader of a party. It doesn’t look good for Alberta to become like Ontario where only well-connected career politicians ever seem to hold public office.”.The invitation was not extended to Rock simply because he didn’t meet the criteria, said Peter McCaffrey, founder and president of the Alberta Institute, which started FASG with former Airdrie MLA and lawyer Rob Anderson..“There was no intention to exclude any specific candidate,” McCaffrey told the Western Standard. “We picked the rules when we decided to hold the event, knowing that anybody could register with Elections Alberta and therefore there had to be some kind of criteria.”.He was referencing new Elections Alberta campaigning rules, which stipulate that potential candidates must immediately register with the agency before they begin campaigning. This way, candidates can’t find a loophole around the agency’s campaigning spending cap..But it also means that anyone can declare themselves a candidate, even before passing the UCP’s criteria, which includes $175,000 in fees and 1,000 signatures. Party members have until July 20 to accomplish that. .Anderson said seven panelists is already a high number. ."It's going to be difficult as is, and we kind of have to draw the line somewhere," he said..Rock ran for the Wildrose Party in 2015, in which he placed a distant third. After Premier Jason Kenney announced his impending resignation, Rock stepped down from Agricultural and Forestry Minister Nate Horner’s constituency association board so he could run in the leadership race..The east central Alberta village mayor has said he doesn’t believe the other candidates have been standing up for rural Alberta when it comes to issues like rural crime, health care, and Alberta’s fair deal..While Rock is the only candidate barred from the panel, McCaffrey said they won’t make an exception..“I think it's best that we stick with the rules that we picked before we knew how this would impact any particular candidate,” he said. “If we were to change the rules now, that could also be seen as unfair.”.The FASG looks forward to involving all candidates that officially qualify as a UCP leadership candidate in future activities, McCaffrey said. .“Once candidates are officially registered with the party and they're actually UCP leadership candidates, then they can be assured that they will be treated perfectly equally by us for any future events.”.The virtual panel, hosted by Anderson, will be held Thursday night from 7-9 p.m. Panelists will discuss the Free Alberta Strategy and Alberta's relationship with Ottawa.
UCP leadership candidate Bill Rock says rules which exclude him alone from a leadership panel are designed to benefit “career politicians.”.The Free Alberta Strategy Group (FASG) is hosting a UCP leadership panel Thursday night, which includes only those candidates that are current or former MLAs..Besides Rock, the remaining seven leadership candidates — Danielle Smith, Brian Jean, Travis Toews, Todd Loewen, Leela Aheer, Rebecca Shulz, and Rajan Sawhney — meet the criteria, and as such, are participating in the panel. .The rules seem “either deliberately or unthinkingly made in such a way that you either needed to have been able to raise $175,000 and gotten 1,000 signatures in just a couple weeks or be a career politician,” said Rock, who's also the mayor of Amisk. .“I think Alberta needs to be the sort of province where someone who has good ideas and works hard can become the leader of a party. It doesn’t look good for Alberta to become like Ontario where only well-connected career politicians ever seem to hold public office.”.The invitation was not extended to Rock simply because he didn’t meet the criteria, said Peter McCaffrey, founder and president of the Alberta Institute, which started FASG with former Airdrie MLA and lawyer Rob Anderson..“There was no intention to exclude any specific candidate,” McCaffrey told the Western Standard. “We picked the rules when we decided to hold the event, knowing that anybody could register with Elections Alberta and therefore there had to be some kind of criteria.”.He was referencing new Elections Alberta campaigning rules, which stipulate that potential candidates must immediately register with the agency before they begin campaigning. This way, candidates can’t find a loophole around the agency’s campaigning spending cap..But it also means that anyone can declare themselves a candidate, even before passing the UCP’s criteria, which includes $175,000 in fees and 1,000 signatures. Party members have until July 20 to accomplish that. .Anderson said seven panelists is already a high number. ."It's going to be difficult as is, and we kind of have to draw the line somewhere," he said..Rock ran for the Wildrose Party in 2015, in which he placed a distant third. After Premier Jason Kenney announced his impending resignation, Rock stepped down from Agricultural and Forestry Minister Nate Horner’s constituency association board so he could run in the leadership race..The east central Alberta village mayor has said he doesn’t believe the other candidates have been standing up for rural Alberta when it comes to issues like rural crime, health care, and Alberta’s fair deal..While Rock is the only candidate barred from the panel, McCaffrey said they won’t make an exception..“I think it's best that we stick with the rules that we picked before we knew how this would impact any particular candidate,” he said. “If we were to change the rules now, that could also be seen as unfair.”.The FASG looks forward to involving all candidates that officially qualify as a UCP leadership candidate in future activities, McCaffrey said. .“Once candidates are officially registered with the party and they're actually UCP leadership candidates, then they can be assured that they will be treated perfectly equally by us for any future events.”.The virtual panel, hosted by Anderson, will be held Thursday night from 7-9 p.m. Panelists will discuss the Free Alberta Strategy and Alberta's relationship with Ottawa.
