WATCH ABOVE: Former premier Jim Prentice will be speaking publicly for the first time since he resigned, while at the PC leader’s dinner on Thursday. Jayme Doll reports.
CALGARY – Organizers of Thursday’s annual Conservative Leader’s Dinner in Calgary say outgoing Premier Jim Prentice is expected to attend.
Prentice has stayed mostly out of the spotlight since his speedy resignation on election night when the 44-year reign of the Progressive Conservatives fell to an NDP majority government.
Kelley Charlebois, the party’s executive director, admits some people asked about getting refunds for the dinner, which cost $500 a seat or $5,000 a table.
But he says nobody’s insisted on a refund and when people asking were informed the party wasn’t contemplating giving refunds, “they’ve said we’ll be there.”
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Charlebois says based on his conversations with those in the party, there’s plenty of optimism even though the Tories have been relegated to third-party status, with just 10 seats after the election compared with 70 seats going in.
He says people wanted to send the party a message.
“I don’t think this is quite the message they intended to send themselves, but I think that we have a responsibility as a party to regroup, rethink our processes, rethink where we go from here,” he says.
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While Ric McIver is the interim leader, the next leadership will race will happen in four to six months barring a constitutional change.
McIver has not yet said if he will seek the position permanently.
Charlebois says party finances are good and they are not in debt.
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