Several Hatters expected to attend UCP convention
By Gillian Slade on May 2, 2018.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com @MHNGillianSlade About 40 people from Medicine Hat are expected to attend the United Conservative Party annual general meeting and founding convention in Red Deer this weekend. “There will be many people from Medicine Hat and Cypress-Medicine Hat. I’m thinking about 40,” said Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes. About 2,200 people have already registered from across the province to attend. “It will be the biggest convention probably in Alberta’s history, I would think,” said Barnes. Items on the agenda include a focus on the family, community, competitive taxation and choice in education and health care, said Barnes. “Ensuring that the UCP stay a truly grassroots party where the members have power and members can always get policy on the floor,” said Barnes. The UCP has faced criticism in the past for not revealing party policy on a number of issues. Policy will be on the agenda at this convention. A total of about 1,200 suggestions/ideas for policy were submitted by members and that has been narrowed to about 300 that will be discussed during the convention, said Barnes. “I think you’ll start to see, in the future, once our members have given us their input, this is when you’ll start to see our leadership and the MLAs have a better idea of which direction …. ahead,” said Barnes. “I think this founding convention will be really crucial for seeing the strength of the conservative movement in Alberta grow.” Some of these will include how quickly the budget needs to be balanced and what the focus of spending should be, he explained. A recent CBC poll declared if an election were held now the UCP would win. That however, is not going to set the tone for the convention, said Barnes. “There have been a lot of reasons not to trust polls…” said Barnes. “I think the best thing for us to do is be focused on what our members are telling us. I think we should just take that poll as a nice guideline. Let’s do the hard work. Let’s come up with real conservative values so communities and families can be strong.” 14
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