On the day Conservative MP Jason Kenney brought Alberta politics’ worst-kept secret out in the open and declared his intention to run for leader of the Progressive Conservative party, an Edmonton city councillor confirmed he is also considering a campaign and suggested it would be quite different from Kenney’s.
READ MORE: Jason Kenney’s bid to lead Alberta PC Party includes mandate to unite with Wildrose Party
Coun. Michael Oshry, who moved to Alberta’s capital from South Africa over 40 years ago, is a rookie civic politician with a background in business.
“I was approached a couple of months ago by some people in the PC party and they asked if I’d be interested,” Oshry told Global News on Wednesday. “So I’m definitely considering it but I have yet to make my mind up.”
While many of Alberta’s small-c conservatives expressed excitement about Calgary’s Jason Kenney signalling his ambitions for provincial politics, Oshry implied the former Reform party member and his intentions to ‘unite the right’ may not be what’s best for the Alberta’s Progressive Conservative party.
READ MORE: Vote for Alberta PC leader will be held next spring
“The PC party was really a top down (party) and they put in a leader and that sort of drove the agenda where it should really be from the bottom up,” he said. “So Mr. Kenney’s now coming, and the federal Conservatives are not the same as the provincial Progressive Conservatives, and he’s now coming with the same approach and I don’t think that’s what people are looking for in the province now.”
Asked about whether a decision to jump into the leadership race was imminent, Oshry said his mind was not made up yet.
“I’ll make my mind up in the fall (when) there’s a policy convention for the PCs,” he said. “I want to make sure my views and what the PC party is going to stand for are going to align and then if that was the case, I would obviously talk to the family and make a decision then.”
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