Challengers to MLA incumbents in three UCP ridings who filed complaints with the party alleging they weren’t given a fair shot in the nominations, are open to again throwing their hats in the ring..Premier Danielle Smith promised to investigate the feasibility of reopening nominations, during the leadership campaign. .“It is a viable option that if the nomination was reopened, I would look at running again,” said Jodie Gateman who tried to challenge MLA Joseph Schow for the Cardston-Siksika nomination.. Joseph Schow .However, the Vulcan County councillor said she’s in a “holding pattern” until details of what the ‘threshold” would be are released, should the nomination in Cardston-Siksika be reopened..Gateman was disqualified for alleged “extreme or hateful” views, said former premier Jason Kenney defending the decision. The allegation was based on one pro-Trump repost that Gateman said was wrongly depicted by party officials as anti-Muslim..Gateman said Smith must carefully weigh her decisions..“I understand why our leader would want some type of verification from a constituency, from the members in that constituency, that they wanted to have this reopened. It’s correct to ask the constituency.”.“My expectation — I have this on no authority — is that the decision to reopen nominations or not will come out after the AGM (annual general meeting).”.The UCP’s AGM will be held October 21-23..“I’m expecting end of October, early November would be the earliest we’d see this documentation. You would not want a decision made by an executive that’s possibly going to have nine members change. You want a new board that’s been voted in by the members to have that decision on how the party moves forward," said Gateman..However, if any nominations are reopened, demands on the successful candidates would be profound..“Until you know what the threshold is, it’s hard to make plans. But if the threshold is going to be put on the constituents, it’s a hard sell for those people who are thinking that they maybe would put their name forth again because they will be forced to run three separate campaigns in six months.”.“You would have to run a nomination to get the campaign back open. You would then have to run a campaign to win the nomination. And then you would have to be ready to roll for a May provincial election.” “That’s asking a lot of civic-minded people.”.Gateman said she’s heard rumblings that if the threshold is too “hard” — for example, having to go out and collect signatures again — some hopefuls will run as Independents instead of under the UCP banner..Meanwhile, members “pocketbooks will get really tight” and people tire of talking politics..“It runs the risk of making those ridings apathetic or not war chest ready for a provincial election due to the fact that people have just finished a six-month long leadership election. They donated to those causes, they volunteered for that.”.At this point, Gateman said there are too many unknowns for her to give a “resounding yes.”.“We’ll be watching closely for those rules to come out and then we’ll make a decision.”. Tim HovenTim Hoven .Tim Hoven was disqualified from challenging MLA Jason Nixon for the nomination is Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre. .The allegation of his “extreme or hateful” views stemmed from him being registered years ago on a long inactive social media account said to be used by racists..“On the one hand I will say yes, I am good to go,” said Hoven about taking another run at the nomination..“On the other hand, I’ve got to talk to people in the constituency and see what their mood is and who they want to have representing them.”. Jason NixonJason Nixon MLA .“I’m assuming nothing is going to happen until Danielle has her seat in the legislature. She’s got to get some stability in her leadership and that’s not going to happen until she gets her seat. That’s just my gut feeling, I have been wrong before.”.Smith announced she will call a by-election and run in Brooks-Medicine Hat..Finally, Kevin Smook who was defeated by MLA Jackie Lovely by 58 votes in the Camrose nomination is ready to give it another go.. Jackie Lovely .“If she reopened the nomination, I would definitely let my name stand.”.“I didn’t win, but I had pretty good support when they had the nomination in the summer, and I think I could up that support. There were some oddities in there,” he said about the nomination process..Smook noted Smith promised to look into reopening nominations and is “hoping she’ll follow through.”.“I will pledge to you as well, if any of the local ridings wants some of those ridings reopened because they don’t believe that they’ve been fair or they believe the candidates have been disqualified inappropriately, we will address that when I’m elected,” said Smith during her campaign..The Western Standard reached out to the MLAs and Smith’s office for comment, however, they are in Sylvan Lake at a three-day caucus retreat.
