On Nov. 2 the Wildrose Party unanimously voted to stand behind its leader Danielle Smith.
The move came following the Oct. 27 byelection results in Calgary, in which the Progressive Conservatives took a clean sweep in all four ridings. On Oct. 28 Smith made a request for a leadership review but on Nov. 2 Airdrie MLA and Opposition House Leader Rob Anderson put forward a resolution to withdraw the leadership review request.
“I just felt, and our caucus unanimously felt, right now we don’t need the distraction of a leadership vote,” Anderson said. “We need to be unified and move forward.”
He said losing the byelection did not put the Wildrose caucus in a position that required a new leader and added in the Calgary-West riding, one of the most sought after ridings for the Wildrose, Wildrose candidate Shiela Taylor lost by 300 votes to PC candidate Mike Ellis.
“Caucus members are united in their support of Danielle Smith and are confident that she is the best choice to continue to move our party forward into the next election,” Anderson said in a Nov. 2 press release.
“I am humbled and honoured to have the unanimous support of my caucus colleagues,” Smith said in the press release. “Our focus will now turn to the upcoming fall legislative session and the important work we need to do on behalf of Albertans.”
The request to withdraw the leadership review from the agenda of the upcoming Wildrose Annual General Meeting will now be put before the party executive for consideration.
The Nov. 2 caucus meeting was not without controversy as Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre MLA Joe Anglin announced he would leave the Wildrose Party and sit as an independent.
“Joe is a good guy and he’s got a lot of strengths but he’s been very divisive in our caucus for a long time,” Anderson said.
Anderson said though he had never had any personal run-ins with Anglin, the now-independent MLA was a “source of division” in the Party.
“When we don’t have trust between caucus members it’s not good,” Anderson said.
The MLAs will resume session on Nov. 17.
