The move to open the leadership review to all UCP members and to move the vote to a mail-in ballot is positive, said Ilario Spagnolo, president for the Morinville-St. Albert United Conservative Party Constituency Association, although not everyone agrees.
"Any time you get a chance to simplify something, give more access to it, and ensure its security, and transparency, and fairness, I don't know how you can complain,” said Spagnolo in an interview with The Gazette.
On March 22, the UCP board decided to move the special general meeting leadership review to a mail-in ballot in response to “intense interest.”
The leadership review was initially planned for April 9 in Red Deer. The SGM will now be held online on April 9 at 11 a.m. The board has eliminated the registration fee and will be offering those who paid for tickets to the Red Deer event a refund or a tax receipt.
“Our UCP membership has more than doubled and more than 15,000 people have registered to participate. Because of the intense interest, we have decided to open up the voting to all those that have a current membership as of the early bird deadline on March 19,” said Cynthia Moore, president of the United Conservative Party, in a letter to members.
Spagnolo said it has been encouraging to see the uptick in the number of members interested in participating. He said he doesn’t have a confirmed number, but the Morinville-St. Albert constituency was not immune to the influx in memberships.
“I think it's indicative of all of the good news that's coming out of what's going on with our with our economy and how things are turning around,” he said.
Spagnolo said he had been hearing more and more from members that they wanted to participate remotely.
“Our members are pleased that now they have that opportunity. And we've also removed the financial constraint of having to pay for the registration,” he said.
Not everyone was happy with the move to an online event featuring mail-in ballots.
Peter Guthrie, UCP MLA for Airdrie-Cochrane; Jason Stephan, Red Deer-South UCP MLA; Angela Pitt, UCP MLA for Airdrie-East; Dave Hanson, Bonnyville-Cold Lake UCP MLA; and former UCP MLAs for Cypress-Medicine Hat Drew Barnes and Central Peace-Notley Todd Loewen; along with six UCP constituency association presidents held a press conference outside the Alberta legislature on Thursday calling on the premier to resign.
In a video posted to social media on March 24, Guthrie called the move to a mail-in ballot “unjustifiable.”
“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 the hopes of salvaging a win, in my opinion. This reeks of desperation,” he said during the four-minute video.
Guthrie said, from a legal perspective, there will certainly be a court challenge, as this is in contravention of the provincial society's act.
Stephan posted a letter on social media calling the leadership review a circus.
“Many do not trust this new process has not, or will not, be rigged,” said Stephan.
Spagnolo said he has no concerns about the mail-in ballots. He said the process has been used by the Conservative Party of Canada in the past.
“We're using a lot of tried-and-true measures that have worked in the past so no, I have no concerns around fraud,” Spagnolo said.
Ballots will be verified and tabulated by a team of volunteers. Scrutineering will be done by locally-elected constituency association presidents, chief financial officers, and secretaries throughout the credentialing and counting process, an email to party members said.
The association will also retain an auditing firm to provide independent oversight to the verification and counting process.
“The integrity of the SGM and the reputation of the party are of the highest importance to all of us, and the board has approved a clear process to ensure both are protected throughout the SGM,” said Moore in an email.
Spagnolo said overall the members in his constituency are pleased they have a way to participate remotely.
“They're quite comfortable with the mail-in approach. It's proven to be effective, fair, and transparent …They like the fact that they can participate and it's convenient, and it opens up allowing each member of the party to voice their satisfaction for the leader or not,” he said.
When asked if there is consensus in the Morinville-St. Albert constituency about leader satisfaction, Spagnolo answered slowly.
“We've purposely not, I would say, communicated a position that we wanted our members in the constituency to take. We did that on purpose. We did not send out any encouragement for or against the current leader.
“We want each member to vote based on their own personal opinion and I think that's the best way to do it.”
In an email sent March 24 to party members, Moore said ballots for the leadership vote will be mailed after the SGM, and members will have until 5 p.m. on May 11 to hand in their ballots.
Results from the vote will be made public on May 18.
