UCP president Ryan Becker says his party still had plenty of holes to plug, particularly in its governance documents and bylaws..Becker commented in an email to UCP constituency presidents on the weekend obtained by the Western Standard..“It’s hard to believe, but four years ago at this time, our party didn’t even exist. An agreement in principle between our legacy parties didn’t exist either,” wrote Becker..“Since that time, we have united our conservative movement, established 87 constituency associations, held our founding AGM, and won the last election with the largest vote total of any party in Alberta history.”.A series of scandals and gaffes – including the Snowbird scandal, its coal mining policy and anger of COVID 19 lockdown policies – has seen UCP popularity plunge across the province to a point where an election was held today, former NDP premier Rachel Notley would likely return to power..Premier Jason Kenney suffered a caucus revolt two weeks ago when six UCP MLAs went public with their anger over the government not moving entirely to their Phase 2 reopening of the province, something it finally announced at the start of March..After the negative comments, Kenney put a gag order on his caucus..Until 2020, the UCP’s governance documents were silent on conducting a leadership review or election, which were standard features in Alberta’s legacy parties and for many political parties across Canada. .Last year, the provincial policy and governance committee (PPGC) identified the UCP had no leadership selection rules and leadership review rules passed by our membership. .On par with its commitment to the grassroots, the party executive provided assurances to its membership that they would have a direct say on membership accountability and the leader selection process..At the 2020 Virtual AGM, a resolution – sponsored by a team of constituency associations, including Calgary-Currie, Calgary-West and St. Albert – was debated on virtually and passed with 58.99 per cent of the vote as an Article 10 constitutional document..Seven hundred fifty-one members total voted on Resolution GR-01..In a separate email to party members, Executive Director Dustin van Vugt reminded them a motion to hold a leadership review every three years – not including when the Election Act fixes an election date – was passed during the party’s 2020 Virtual AGM..“Our board consulted broadly with members regarding how these rules should be applied, while our Leader Jason Kenney believed it was important to have a leadership review vote during the current mandate,” said van Vugt. .The board recently voted and passed a resolution resoundingly 16-1 for the vote is to be held in 2022..“As a board, we spent the past few months receiving legal advice and consulting with our CAs and members regarding our responsibilities for when a leadership review needs to be held given the wording of the resolution that says, “one out of every three Annual General Meetings of the Party, which must be years where an election date is not fixed by the Election Act,”” said Becker..“We believe this keeps us fully compliant with our bylaws and strengthens membership engagement with our party.”.Becker notes Kenney also chimed in his desire for a membership accountability measure to be held during the current mandate regarding the party’s bylaws..The Alberta government has introduced Bill 52, critical legislation enabling constituents to petition for their government representative’s legislative recall. If successful, constituents would vote in a by-election if they felt their representative underperformed..The application costs for those concerning MLAs and the bill’s proclamation date have yet to be determined..Dhaliwal is a Western Standard reporter based in Edmonton
UCP president Ryan Becker says his party still had plenty of holes to plug, particularly in its governance documents and bylaws..Becker commented in an email to UCP constituency presidents on the weekend obtained by the Western Standard..“It’s hard to believe, but four years ago at this time, our party didn’t even exist. An agreement in principle between our legacy parties didn’t exist either,” wrote Becker..“Since that time, we have united our conservative movement, established 87 constituency associations, held our founding AGM, and won the last election with the largest vote total of any party in Alberta history.”.A series of scandals and gaffes – including the Snowbird scandal, its coal mining policy and anger of COVID 19 lockdown policies – has seen UCP popularity plunge across the province to a point where an election was held today, former NDP premier Rachel Notley would likely return to power..Premier Jason Kenney suffered a caucus revolt two weeks ago when six UCP MLAs went public with their anger over the government not moving entirely to their Phase 2 reopening of the province, something it finally announced at the start of March..After the negative comments, Kenney put a gag order on his caucus..Until 2020, the UCP’s governance documents were silent on conducting a leadership review or election, which were standard features in Alberta’s legacy parties and for many political parties across Canada. .Last year, the provincial policy and governance committee (PPGC) identified the UCP had no leadership selection rules and leadership review rules passed by our membership. .On par with its commitment to the grassroots, the party executive provided assurances to its membership that they would have a direct say on membership accountability and the leader selection process..At the 2020 Virtual AGM, a resolution – sponsored by a team of constituency associations, including Calgary-Currie, Calgary-West and St. Albert – was debated on virtually and passed with 58.99 per cent of the vote as an Article 10 constitutional document..Seven hundred fifty-one members total voted on Resolution GR-01..In a separate email to party members, Executive Director Dustin van Vugt reminded them a motion to hold a leadership review every three years – not including when the Election Act fixes an election date – was passed during the party’s 2020 Virtual AGM..“Our board consulted broadly with members regarding how these rules should be applied, while our Leader Jason Kenney believed it was important to have a leadership review vote during the current mandate,” said van Vugt. .The board recently voted and passed a resolution resoundingly 16-1 for the vote is to be held in 2022..“As a board, we spent the past few months receiving legal advice and consulting with our CAs and members regarding our responsibilities for when a leadership review needs to be held given the wording of the resolution that says, “one out of every three Annual General Meetings of the Party, which must be years where an election date is not fixed by the Election Act,”” said Becker..“We believe this keeps us fully compliant with our bylaws and strengthens membership engagement with our party.”.Becker notes Kenney also chimed in his desire for a membership accountability measure to be held during the current mandate regarding the party’s bylaws..The Alberta government has introduced Bill 52, critical legislation enabling constituents to petition for their government representative’s legislative recall. If successful, constituents would vote in a by-election if they felt their representative underperformed..The application costs for those concerning MLAs and the bill’s proclamation date have yet to be determined..Dhaliwal is a Western Standard reporter based in Edmonton
