Barnes wants back in the UCP

By COLLIN GALLANT on September 3, 2022.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Independent MLA Drew Barnes has sent an open letter to government colleagues asking he return to the UCP caucus before the United Conservatives’ new leader is chosen early next month.

“This leadership race is the UCP’s chance for a fresh start and an opportunity to reunite the conservative movement in Alberta,” the representative from Cypress-Medicine Hat says in the letter, which states he has discussed the matter with several leadership candidates. “For my part, I do not think reunification of the UCP caucus should depend on which candidate is leader on Oct. 6.”

He asks that a vote allowing him to return to his former party is held “as soon as possible” and “decisions regarding caucus membership should be made by a vote of caucus members free of influence or interference from the leader.”

Barnes was removed by a caucus vote in the spring of 2021 after he continued to criticize party leader Premier Jason Kenney. Since then, he has sat as an independent member of the legislature, often co-ordinating office resources and issuing joint press releases with another Kenney critic and former UCP MLA Todd Loewen.

Loewen is one of seven candidates in the contest to replace Kenney after he announced he would not continue as leader following a spring leadership review showing just more than 50 per cent support.

Barnes has not formally endorsed any candidate in the contest to determine who will become party leader and by extension premier.

This summer the Cypress-Medicine Hat UCP constituency association advertised it was seeking a new candidate and would hold a contest to replace Barnes on the ticket as soon as the late summer ahead of an expected election in May 2023.

No information on a local riding nomination process has yet been listed by the party or Elections Alberta.

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