By Dori Modney (@Dori_Modney on Twitter)

Alberta Progressive Conservatives launch leadership race in Lethbridge

Oct 1, 2016 | 11:20 PM

LETHRBRIDGE –   The race for the next leader of Alberta’s Progressive Conservative party was rolled out Saturday night in Lethbridge.

To date, there are four contenders, however, party officials expect there could be several more added by the time nominations close on November 18th.

The current candidates are former Conservative MP Jason Kenney, Calgary lawyer Byron Nelson, PC house leader Dr. Richard Starke and former PC MLA, Donna Kennedy-Glans.

Alberta PCs have been without a permanent leader for just over a year.  The last leader, former Premier Jim Prentice, stepped down from the post after his party was defeated by the NDP in the general election of May 2015. Since then, Calgary MLA Ric McIver has been holding the reins of a severely reduced contingent of PC MLAs, as interim leader.

About two hundred PC supporters from across the province, attended Saturday’s launch which included a Progressive Conservative Youth Association (PCYA) event, with the youth inspired “265 Project”. It is a candidate neutral initiative working to ensure that all campus clubs and the province’s 87 PC constituency associations fill all of the youth delegate spots. The purpose, is to encourage party youth to become more involved in the leadership election process.

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 The four candidates to-date, all carry a common background – they are long time Conservative supporters who express a deep concern over Alberta’s direction and its economy. They all concede that their party got a smack-down from the electorate in the last election, they understand why and say they got the message loud and clear.

All four candidates also acknowledge that their party made mistakes and did not always live up to the expectations of Albertans. Each one says they are ‘owning’ those mistakes and are working  to move forward with humility. 

The candidates are not all on the same page, when it comes to how they should move forward.

On Friday night, Jason Kenney held a town hall meeting in Lethbridge to put forward his 5-point Unite Alberta campaign, which would see a union of PCs and the Wildrose. The majority of those in attendance agreed it may be needed, to prevent another NDP majority in the next election in 2019.

When questioned about the union and the potential differences in how the party might approach issues, Kenney said that it was more important to focus on the similarities.  He reminds those in attendance Friday night that so far during this current government, the PC’s and Wildrose have registered identical votes 90 per cent of the time in the legislature.

The other three people who are challenging Kenney are determined to focus on rebuilding the PC party. Donna Kennedy-Glans isn’t on board with the idea of a union.

” If I thought that Unite the Right would solve our problems, I would embrace it too, but I don’t think it gets us there – I think we actually bleed a lot of votes from the centre and from the left and I don’t think it reflects the values of Albertans.”

Kennedy-Glans said she wants the Progressive Conservative party to be the next governing party in the province.

“We have to earn that trust and I respect that responsibility and I believe it is possible but, we’re not going to get there by trying to take people who are socially progressive and trying to push them back into a socially conservative box – they won’t go there, especially the 36-year olds.”

For Byron Nelson, his intention is to lead the PC party into the next election.

“I have been a member of both the provincial and federal parties for a long time and I have seen leader driven top-down merger attempts fail repeatedly – the most notable was the Danielle Smith, Jim Prentice thing – I don’t think that’s the way to go.”

Nelson noted that if a merge were to happen, it would not come from the leaders, it would have to come from the party members.

Richard Starke echoed the sentiment, by saying it is his stance to follow the direction of party members.

“Party members have indicated very clearly that they do not want a merger with the Wildrose party – that they want us to rebuild the Progressive Conservative party, based on the values and principles that were espoused during the time of Peter Lougheed, so that (unite the right) is not something I am pursuing.”

While the campaign launch was in Lethbridge, the party will pick its next leader at a delegate convention in Calgary on March 18th.

PC President Katherine O’Neill, explained that Lethbridge was chosen to launch the leadership campaign, in order to rally southern Alberta constituencies. However, leadership events will be held in multiple locations across the province, to provide other  areas personal contact with the candidates.

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