The cancellation of the United Conservative Party’s (UCP) Special General Meeting (SGM) is unlawful, according to Calgary lawyer Jeff Rath and, on behalf of thousands of UCP members, he has notified the party as such..Rath, of Rath & Company, told the Western Standard in an exclusive interview his firm sent a letter addressed to UCP Caucus Chair Nathan Neudorf and all party MLAs, requesting caucus appoint an interim leader in place of Premier Jason Kenney..“Please be advised that this cancellation is unlawful and without jurisdiction of the Board of Directors of the UCP as the Governance Rules, s. 3, clearly and unequivocally require the Leadership Review to take place at a Special General Meeting called for that purpose where the votes are counted at the end of that Special General Meeting,” said Rath in the letter..“There is no provision in the Governance Rules for the vote to take place by mail-in ballot.”.Rath said more than 9,000 UCP members have paid the required $99 to attend the SGM in accordance with the rules..“The UCP Board of Directors and Jason Kenney are clearly attempting to circumvent the Governance Rules on the basis of the likelihood that under the Special General Meeting procedure being followed, that Jason Kenney would be removed from office as Leader of the UCP on April 9, 2022, in Red Deer,” said the letter..“They knew Kenney was losing, that’s why they’ve cancelled the SGM and switched to a mail-in ballot system,” Rath told the Western Standard in an exclusive interview..“The UCP established a set of rules rigged to benefit Kenney, they were followed by thousands of people, they knew he was still going to be wiped out, so they changed the rules. And now Kenney just wants to find a new way to cheat his way through this.”.Rath called on all MLAs to “protect the integrity of this process” as their duty under the Governance Rules of the party..“As a UCP member and citizen of Alberta, and on behalf of thousands of other UCP members, I respectfully request that Caucus immediately convene an emergency meeting to appoint an interim leader of the UCP on the basis that Jason Kenney and the UCP Board of Directors have brought the entire UCP into disrepute through their attempt to circumvent the Leadership Review process that is well underway and which would have, in all likelihood, resulted in the requirement of a leadership contest,” said Rath in the letter..Rath also accuses the board of breaking the rules established at the outset of the campaign by opening the vote to UCP members who have not paid the $99 SGM fee. He said to “change the rules halfway through to benefit Jason Kenney” is “corrupt on its face.”.Rath said he believes the UCP Board of Directors is “in Kenney’s back pocket” and said he finds it “despicable they refuse to be accountable to the grassroots.”.“What they are doing is corrupt,” said Rath..“Jason Kenney is turning Alberta into a banana republic and sending the governance of this party and this province into disrepute.”.“In a responsible government, any other leader would have the decency to resign by now but Kenney is too much of a narcissist to do so.”.Rath’s letter requested Kenney’s immediate removal as UCP leader and an interim leader be appointed..Melanie Risdon is a reporter with the Western Standard.,.mrisdon@westernstandardonline.com
