An inability to raise the required hefty $175,000 entrance fee may force Amisk Mayor Bill Rock to “regretfully” withdraw from the United Conservative Party (UCP) leadership race..However, meeting the requirement to get 1,000 signatures of support, 200 each from five UCP districts, wouldn’t have proven to be an issue..“The people just didn’t have the appetite to hand over $175,000. We were pretty close to making it on the signatures,” said Rock Saturday..“This speaks to the only way to become a politician in Alberta is with big money.”.Rock will not officially withdraw from the race until next week..Candidates have until July 20 to submit their paperwork and a $150,000 entrance fee plus a $25,000 refundable deposit, if they comply with the code of conduct..“We just couldn’t meet our goal. We had an outline of where we had to be by the 12th of July. We’re too far away.”.“We still got 10 days, maybe something will come along. I wanted to give people an opportunity to step forward, if they believe that I am the person they need.”.Rock said he likely could have met the 2017 leadership contest entrance fee of $75,000..“I think we would have been OK.”.His campaign recently reached out to all 87 provincial CAs. To date, too few got back to him..“We weren’t able to secure sufficient support from our rural constituency associations (CA). Without their support, our bid to win the leadership would have missed the mark,”.“They’re all mad, they say ‘We need to change, we need more accountability, this isn’t right.’ They all want change, but are they willing to stand up to make change?”.“Our plan to get the power back in the hands of the people is the right plan.”.If he does withdraw, Rock won’t pack up his “ball and bat and go home.”.“I will continue to fight for rural Alberta and advocate for our way of life and prosperity.”.“I’ll still be able to stand in the back of the room and raise my hand and all tough questions of our provincial and federal governments. They’ll still go ‘Oh sh--, there’s Bill again.’”.He still has more than three years left to serve in his term as mayor..Nine other hopefuls, so far, are in the race to replace Premier Jason Kenney when the leadership election is held October 6..The provincial election is slated for next May 29. .“If the NDP forms the next government, I have a feeling we’ll be in another leadership race soon,” said Rock,.“It’ll be a wreck, because it’ll decimate the Conservative party.”.“The problem with our conservative movement is we don’t seem to all get on the same page about what conservative is.”
An inability to raise the required hefty $175,000 entrance fee may force Amisk Mayor Bill Rock to “regretfully” withdraw from the United Conservative Party (UCP) leadership race..However, meeting the requirement to get 1,000 signatures of support, 200 each from five UCP districts, wouldn’t have proven to be an issue..“The people just didn’t have the appetite to hand over $175,000. We were pretty close to making it on the signatures,” said Rock Saturday..“This speaks to the only way to become a politician in Alberta is with big money.”.Rock will not officially withdraw from the race until next week..Candidates have until July 20 to submit their paperwork and a $150,000 entrance fee plus a $25,000 refundable deposit, if they comply with the code of conduct..“We just couldn’t meet our goal. We had an outline of where we had to be by the 12th of July. We’re too far away.”.“We still got 10 days, maybe something will come along. I wanted to give people an opportunity to step forward, if they believe that I am the person they need.”.Rock said he likely could have met the 2017 leadership contest entrance fee of $75,000..“I think we would have been OK.”.His campaign recently reached out to all 87 provincial CAs. To date, too few got back to him..“We weren’t able to secure sufficient support from our rural constituency associations (CA). Without their support, our bid to win the leadership would have missed the mark,”.“They’re all mad, they say ‘We need to change, we need more accountability, this isn’t right.’ They all want change, but are they willing to stand up to make change?”.“Our plan to get the power back in the hands of the people is the right plan.”.If he does withdraw, Rock won’t pack up his “ball and bat and go home.”.“I will continue to fight for rural Alberta and advocate for our way of life and prosperity.”.“I’ll still be able to stand in the back of the room and raise my hand and all tough questions of our provincial and federal governments. They’ll still go ‘Oh sh--, there’s Bill again.’”.He still has more than three years left to serve in his term as mayor..Nine other hopefuls, so far, are in the race to replace Premier Jason Kenney when the leadership election is held October 6..The provincial election is slated for next May 29. .“If the NDP forms the next government, I have a feeling we’ll be in another leadership race soon,” said Rock,.“It’ll be a wreck, because it’ll decimate the Conservative party.”.“The problem with our conservative movement is we don’t seem to all get on the same page about what conservative is.”
