Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie has publicly declared his desire to see Jason Kenney face a leadership contest, after the United Conservative Party (UCP) Board of Directors announced changes to how this April's leadership review will be conducted.
On March 24, Guthrie posted a statement on his social media account, condemning a move by the UCP Board of Directors to cancel an in-person leadership review slated for April 9, in favour of a mail-in ballot review process.
"Membership signed up to the special general meeting in record-breaking fashion," Guthrie wrote. "However, after extensive polling and knowing full well that large numbers of registrations typically mean dissatisfaction, yesterday, the UCP board announced the cancellation of the in-person event – electing for mail-in balloting."
The UCP stated their reasoning for changing the format was to accommodate an influx of new party registrations. According to media reports, party membership had doubled and an anticipated 20,000 people were anticipated to vote in the April 9 leadership review, in Red Deer.
Guthrie went on to say the decision to change the format of the review to a mail-in process was indicative of a premier who could not win a leadership review.
"Obviously, it became clear that the premier could not win an in-person review and altering the rules was determined as the best course of action in hopes of salvaging a win," Guthrie said. "In my opinion, yesterday's announcement is the equivalent to tossing in the proverbial towel."
Guthrie, claiming the integrity of the process is now tainted, threw his support behind the nuclear option: ousting Jason Kenney as leader.
"The party should forgo the review fiasco and move immediately forward with a leadership contest to save the credibility of the party and find a new leader," Guthrie said.
In the video portion of Guthrie's statement, he added further speculation as to why the UCP board chose this route, arguing the legal challenges that are sure to follow will keep the process in limbo long enough for any leadership review to be effectively toothless.
"There will certainly be a court challenge," he said. "Based on the fact this is in contravention of the provincial Societies Act, not to mention the party's own bylaws. Those involved are counting on the fact that it will take months to find the resolution and most likely too late to take corrective action before the next general election."
Guthrie did not mince words about Premier Kenney, claiming he was practising identity politics and invoked the spirit of the convoy protests to make his point, at one point even comparing Kenney to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
"The premier has taken to the use of terminology such as extremist to define anyone who is in opposition to him," Guthrie said. "It's a kind of politics of personal destruction and uses identity politics to classify people so their opinions can be dismissed or cancelled.
"Similarities can easily be drawn to ... Justin Trudeau, who has deemed those that oppose him the 'fringe minority.'"
With his recent byelection win to become the MLA of Fort McMurray-Lac la Biche, former Alberta Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean has re-emerged as a contender for Kenney's job in recent weeks. However, Guthrie did not directly state whether he supports Jean's ambitions or merely wants to see a leadership contest writ large.
"I believe there will be a lot of interested candidates from all across the province who will come forward to help restore faith in the process and repair trust in the role of leadership," Guthrie said.
