Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s supporters pulled out all the stops..The requisite number of constituency associations had demanded a Special General Meeting (SGM) to be held at the beginning of next March where Kenney’s leadership would be reviewed by members. Clearly, Kenney didn’t feel confident he would be able to come out of the review well. A number of political tricks were pulled in hopes of fending off the review..A rule was set at the 2021 UCP AGM blocking motions from the floor. It stated: “No resolutions other than the Special Resolutions and Resolutions approved by the Board will be considered, with the exception of those proposed by the leader.”.Clearly, the leader’s office feared unexpected motions challenging the party leadership and they moved to block such efforts. If members can’t get resolutions considered at an AGM, where can they?.In the next move, the deliberations and voting on governance resolutions were set to be done on the Friday night of the conference. This is very unusual at a political convention. Usually, the Friday evening of an AGM is pretty light on content. Most of the activities involve speeches and socializing. Many members from distant constituencies don’t make it out on time for the Friday evening of an AGM. It is a great strategic move if you want Calgary voters to dominate a room though..A political action committee (PAC) paid the AGM fees for Kenney loyalists to attend the meeting. This caused some controversy and may run afoul of the Elections Act. While Kenney didn’t deny this had happened, he did state he had nothing to do with it directly..A governance resolution calling to raise the bar for invoking an SGM from 22 constituency associations to 29 was inserted into the agenda for Friday night..The debate was heated but short on the resolution. Despite every possible effort being made to stack the room for the resolution, only 58% supported it. The bar for changing party bylaws is set at 75% and it wasn’t even close to being reached. The efforts to stack the vote were for naught..At this time, it looks like facing a leadership review by members this March will be unavoidable for Kenney..In speaking to members at the AGM the most common rationale I heard from Kenney supporters is that there is nobody better to replace him right now. It is a pretty weak defense of his leadership. People are essentially saying “Yes, I know he is bad but all the others are worse.”.Many people respond to questions on his leadership with a question asking who would replace him..It is a tough question. Who is out there standing on the sidelines who can replace Kenney as UCP leader? I asked on Twitter and people proposed dozens of names but no clear, single contender stood out in the pack. While Brian Jean is the only person openly campaigning for the role, I didn’t find a lot of enthusiasm out there for his potential leadership..If there was a clear heir apparent for Kenney out there, I suspect he already would have been pushed from the leadership by his own caucus. The lack of an alternative is the only thing saving Kenney’s political butt right now. That won’t save him for much longer..Does Kenney have another rabbit he can pull out of his hat? Can he somehow salvage his leadership after this weekend’s party gathering?.I doubt it..Kenney’s fate as leader was likely sealed when the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic slammed Alberta. Anti-restriction people were livid as restrictions returned and pro-restriction people were furious that Kenney ever opened up the province. He lost on all sides..The question now is about how long he is going to hang on while the party divides and burns. Members at large when given the choice in a leadership review will likely be ready to kick Kenney to the curb and deal with finding a replacement later. The hopes of Kenney’s supporters that the party will come out of the AGM unified behind the leader have been dashed..UCP members may not know who they want to lead them next but they know who they don’t want to lead them any longer..Cory Morgan is the Alberta Political Columnist for the Western Standard and Host of the Cory Morgan Show
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s supporters pulled out all the stops..The requisite number of constituency associations had demanded a Special General Meeting (SGM) to be held at the beginning of next March where Kenney’s leadership would be reviewed by members. Clearly, Kenney didn’t feel confident he would be able to come out of the review well. A number of political tricks were pulled in hopes of fending off the review..A rule was set at the 2021 UCP AGM blocking motions from the floor. It stated: “No resolutions other than the Special Resolutions and Resolutions approved by the Board will be considered, with the exception of those proposed by the leader.”.Clearly, the leader’s office feared unexpected motions challenging the party leadership and they moved to block such efforts. If members can’t get resolutions considered at an AGM, where can they?.In the next move, the deliberations and voting on governance resolutions were set to be done on the Friday night of the conference. This is very unusual at a political convention. Usually, the Friday evening of an AGM is pretty light on content. Most of the activities involve speeches and socializing. Many members from distant constituencies don’t make it out on time for the Friday evening of an AGM. It is a great strategic move if you want Calgary voters to dominate a room though..A political action committee (PAC) paid the AGM fees for Kenney loyalists to attend the meeting. This caused some controversy and may run afoul of the Elections Act. While Kenney didn’t deny this had happened, he did state he had nothing to do with it directly..A governance resolution calling to raise the bar for invoking an SGM from 22 constituency associations to 29 was inserted into the agenda for Friday night..The debate was heated but short on the resolution. Despite every possible effort being made to stack the room for the resolution, only 58% supported it. The bar for changing party bylaws is set at 75% and it wasn’t even close to being reached. The efforts to stack the vote were for naught..At this time, it looks like facing a leadership review by members this March will be unavoidable for Kenney..In speaking to members at the AGM the most common rationale I heard from Kenney supporters is that there is nobody better to replace him right now. It is a pretty weak defense of his leadership. People are essentially saying “Yes, I know he is bad but all the others are worse.”.Many people respond to questions on his leadership with a question asking who would replace him..It is a tough question. Who is out there standing on the sidelines who can replace Kenney as UCP leader? I asked on Twitter and people proposed dozens of names but no clear, single contender stood out in the pack. While Brian Jean is the only person openly campaigning for the role, I didn’t find a lot of enthusiasm out there for his potential leadership..If there was a clear heir apparent for Kenney out there, I suspect he already would have been pushed from the leadership by his own caucus. The lack of an alternative is the only thing saving Kenney’s political butt right now. That won’t save him for much longer..Does Kenney have another rabbit he can pull out of his hat? Can he somehow salvage his leadership after this weekend’s party gathering?.I doubt it..Kenney’s fate as leader was likely sealed when the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic slammed Alberta. Anti-restriction people were livid as restrictions returned and pro-restriction people were furious that Kenney ever opened up the province. He lost on all sides..The question now is about how long he is going to hang on while the party divides and burns. Members at large when given the choice in a leadership review will likely be ready to kick Kenney to the curb and deal with finding a replacement later. The hopes of Kenney’s supporters that the party will come out of the AGM unified behind the leader have been dashed..UCP members may not know who they want to lead them next but they know who they don’t want to lead them any longer..Cory Morgan is the Alberta Political Columnist for the Western Standard and Host of the Cory Morgan Show
