UCP door could now be open for Barnes to return

By COLLIN GALLANT on October 7, 2022.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Danielle Smith will become the next Alberta premier after a party leadership vote was counted Thursday, promising a united front in the coming provincial election and against the Liberal-led federal government.

The outsider candidate also made strong overtures that two independent MLAs – including Medicine Hat’s Drew Barnes – voted out of caucus for criticizing outgoing leader Jason Kenney might be welcomed back.

Smith scored a last ballot win, securing 53.7 per cent of the vote after five rounds, in the race to replace outgoing leader Jason Kenney.

“I’m back,” she told a crowd of party supporters at the BMO convention centre in Calgary, promising to challenge the federal government, develop natural resources and have Alberta “become a senior member of confederation.”

“I’m so excited that our conservative family is together in one room united and strong.”

Former finance minister Travis Toews placed second, and former Wildrose Party leader and current Fort McMurray area MLA Brian Jean, third.

The race also included one-time cabinet ministers Leela Aheer, Rebecca Schulz, Rajan Sawhney, and independent MLA Todd Loewen.

Smith thanked Loewen, a Grande Prairie area MLA elected under the UCP banner but removed from caucus in 2021 after levelling harsh criticism on Kenney for his handling of the pandemic among other issues.

Smith said she had discussed his return to caucus with “a number” of government MLAs.

“They’ve indicated overwhelming support for you to rejoin them,” she said. “I invite you to join our (caucus) meeting tomorrow.”

She did not specifically mention Barnes’s similar situation.

Barnes told the News via telephone on Thursday night that he was excited with the party membership vote.

“I spoke with all seven candidates about my role, and I would be willing to go back and help out,” he told the News.

“(On the results) I think the people are energized and are looking for their voices to be heard.”

Alan Rose, the president of the Cypress-Medicine Hat riding party association, also attended the event and said he had no specific knowledge of Smith’s plans regarding Barnes.

Smith as premier, he said, “will be good for our region.”

“We spoke after the debate here, and she’s very considerate of our issues down here. And we’re together as a party now, instead of running (leadership) campaigns.”

Smith, long seen as the front-runner, showed 41 per cent support in initial results, then gained as lowest place finishers in each round were dropped and their voters’ second choices were redistributed.

Brooks-Medicine Hat Michaela Frey supported Schulz in the race, but said she and the party are solidly behind Smith.

“The membership – there are 1,600 people here – are really excited,” she said. “I’m more than excited for the 2023 election.”

Alberta Party Leader Barry Morishita, a candidate in Brooks-Medicine Hat, said the results of the UCP race highlight the differences in parties’ priorities.

“It’s clear that the UCP cares more about sovereignty than real issues like affordability, education and health care,” he told the News. “Those are real issues that Albertans are talking about.”

Brooks-Medicine Hat NDP nominee Gwendolyn Dirk wasn’t available for comment.

NDP Leader Rachel Notley said this week that Smith was wrong to imply she’d seek to enter the legislature in a UCP-friendly rural riding rather than call a byelection in the empty seat in Calgary.

“If that’s the type of leadership we can expect, I’m deeply concerned about what the next six or seven months hold for us,” said Notley.

Smith said she would be sworn in on Tuesday following the long weekend.

The party has stated that 124,000 people bought or renewed membership during the race and about two-thirds, or 85,000, cast ballots, by mail or at in-person stations across the province, including one in Taber.

UCP party leaders also stressed the party needed to gather together with an election scheduled for May 2023, just eight months away.

“Albertans want to vote for this party,” said UCP party president Cynthia Moore in introductory remarks. “But, we need to be a disciplined party that Albertans can trust. We need to be united.”

Kenney “united the right” in a cross-Alberta campaign to merge the Progressive Conservative and Wildrose parties, which he argued split the vote in 2015 and led to a so-dubbed “accidental” New Democratic majority.

That led to a landslide win in 2019, but fractures have appeared since with rumours of discontent among supporters and party MLAs.