SUNDRE -- The five declared Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre riding candidates last week shared their thoughts on why their party’s leaders were best suited to lead Alberta into the future.
But overshadowing the provincial election campaign, which ends April 16, are near-daily revelations regarding an RCMP investigation digging into allegations the campaign of UCP Leader Jason Kenney had during the party’s leadership race collaborated behind the scenes with Jeff Callaway to erode support for former Wildrose leader Brian Jean.
Jason Nixon, the riding’s incumbent UCP MLA, downplayed the unfolding developments dogging his party’s leader.
The RCMP investigation, said Nixon, is about donations associated with the leadership campaign run by Callaway, who after attacking rival candidate Brian Jean during the debates abandoned his bid for the new Alberta conservative party’s crown and then threw his support behind Kenney.
“There’s no financial connection between Mr. Kenney’s campaign and Mr. Callaway’s,” said Nixon, adding the full extent of details surrounding the case is not yet known.
As for allegations Kenney and Callaway collaborated specifically to undermine Jean, Nixon said such tactics are not uncommon.
“Campaigns cooperate,” he said, adding the NDP is attempting to use the issue as a distraction.
Situations reversed, he claims, the UCP would not be pounding the political war drums had similar revelations and subsequent investigations surfaced against NDP Leader Rachel Notley.
“Our opinion would be the same. That’s how leadership races go,” he said.
“Campaigns communicate together during a party election.”
But all of the riding’s other candidates expressed serious reservations about the so-called kamikaze campaign.
In the face of the investigations compounded by numerous UCP desertions, Paula Lamoureux, Alberta Advantage Party candidate, wonders how Kenney could possibly keep Albertans happy when the UCP leader cannot even keep his own candidates content.
“It shows mistrust to Albertans,” said Lamoureux, adding she believes the investigation is shedding light on how a Kenney government would operate.
“It’s not good business for Albertans,” she said.
The Green Party of Alberta’s candidate for the riding also expressed a less than favourable view of the revelations that have been coming to light.
“The investigations into the UCP leadership campaign could also be examined using the foundations of character and culture,” said Jane Drummond in an email statement.
“Conservative political traditions are rooted in patriarchy, where a few hold power over the many and are understood to have all the answers. The patriarchal system is adversarial, where a ‘winner takes all’ and a ‘no holds barred’ process are seen as usual practices that extend all the way to ‘taking one for the team,'" she wrote.
“These cultural practices speak volumes for the future, should the leader of the UCP be successful. Further such behaviour is the antithesis of the principles of the Green Party of Alberta, (which include) ecological wisdom, non-violence, participatory democracy, respect for diversity, social justice and sustainability.”
Joe Anglin, the Alberta Party’s candidate, did not pull any punches.
“It’s not a kamikaze campaign — it’s a fraudulent campaign,” said Anglin. “A fraud on the voters of the party that was done intentionally.”
Having previously personally met with Callaway in Red Deer among a larger group, Anglin said he had his own suspicions that something was amiss, and that he has since seen the communications between the campaigns.
“There are now a number of police investigations underway dealing with the UCP leadership,” he said.
“It stinks to the high heavens. Boy oh boy, the public needs to know this before they decide to cast a vote.”
Anglin said many of his constituents have no desire to support the UCP, nor are they keen to vote NDP, whose MLAs were largely inexperienced and in many cases even surprised to have been elected in 2015.
But trading in rookie politicians for “a bunch of crooks is not a move up,” he said.
“People need to make a decision based on character and honesty. I'm convinced honesty is far more important than competency — I can teach somebody to do a job, but I can’t teach them to be honest," he said.
He elaborated, adding if the UCP leadership is unable to follow the law, how could the party possibly be expected to lawfully lead the public. The investigation also involves accusations of stolen identities and forged documents, he said.
“These allegations are extremely serious,” he said. “The public is not going to win if they think replacing the NDP with the UCP is moving up a step,” he said, calling such a transition, “Jumping from the frying pan right into the fire.”
Jeff Ible, the NDP’s candidate for the riding, called the investigation disconcerting.
“With the Callaway situation, we recently learned that Kenney essentially cheated to win the UCP leadership,” said Ible. “And when caught, he didn’t tell the truth. He looked Albertans in the eyes and lied to all of us. He needs to come clean.
“The scandal says a lot about who is fit to be premier and who is not fit to be premier. The whole thing is very concerning, and not becoming of a person who wants to be a leader — let alone a premier of Alberta.”
Meanwhile, all of the candidates expressed confidence in their respective party’s leadership.
“Jason Kenney is the candidate on the leadership side of this race with the most experience by far,” said Nixon.
Kenney formerly served as a federal cabinet minister under the previous Conservative Stephen Harper government, and is committed to remaining focused on generating jobs and stimulating economic activity in Alberta, he said.
Most importantly, said Nixon, Kenney will not be shy about stepping up to the governing Liberals in Ottawa to protect Alberta’s best interests and combat the carbon tax.
Alberta Party Leader Stephen Mandel, a former mayor of Edmonton, also brings a wealth of experience to the table, said Anglin.
The party pursued a more urban path about a decade ago, but has under Mandel’s leadership been steering back to include rural roots, he said.
“He’s trying to broaden the scope of the party,” said Anglin. “I was drafted in to bring a rural conservative perspective to the party, and I agreed to do that.”
The UCP, said Anglin, “killed what the Wildrose stood for. The Wildrose Party stood for grassroots,” he said, adding the new conservative party under Kenney has “abandoned that.”
There is of course no perfect party for everyone, he said, but Anglin added he is tired of a party’s unelected representatives dictating what their MLAs should say and do.
The riding’s Green candidate said her party’s leader, Cheryle Chagnon-Greyeyes, “has the predispositions of enlightened leadership.”
While Chagnon-Greyeyes “is a new and untried leader, she has demonstrated character through: her military service, her tenacious pursuit of educational preparation, her work history, her successful parenting, her longtime advocacy for Indigenous women, and her successful push to improve the presence of the Green Party of Alberta in this election,” said Drummond.
As an Indigenous woman, Chagnon-Greyeyes brings with her Indigenous cultural predispositions such as safeguarding resources, understanding the complexity of life, and commitment to the sharing circle, she said.
“These characteristics are most certainly those of a suitable premier of the province of Alberta,” she said.
“In my view, character and cultural background are primary to the practice of enlightened leadership.”
To move forward, Albertans must “abandon the search for certainty. The outcomes of abandoning certainty would include: embracing change, including accepting diversity; learning to collaborate and build consensus; and expecting that we will need networks of policies or practices to manage challenges,” she said.
Lamoureux said the Alberta Advantage Party’s leader, Marilyn Burns, was a co-founder of the original Wildrose Party who refused to take part in the infamous 2014 floor crossings.
Burns has since the last election been reorganizing and receiving signatures to create the new party, whose platform has been “completely transparent,” said Lamoureux, adding all Albertans would benefit equally under their party.
“That’s how I became a candidate — I liked the platform and the leadership,” she said. "I really am in the fight to stand up and for all Albertans. Kenney’s plan is if you’re not wealthy, you have no room in this province.”
Ible said Notley remains the only clear choice in terms of working to create a more diversified economy that protects important services such as education and health care, and that she will fight and stand for all working Albertans moving forward.
