Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche MLA Brian Jean says he is letting United Conservative Party members decide the fate of the party after withdrawing an arbitration dispute with the party board over the change in the leadership review process.
Jean and 11 other UCP members filed a notice of dispute with the UCP arbitration committee on March 28, five days after it was announced that Premier Jason Kenney’s leadership review will be moved to a mail-in vote.
“Because of political games, this process has gone on too long as it is. It is time to let the members vote,” he said in a statement on Friday.
“I am confident that if the voting process is fair that Jason Kenney will not get a survivable number from this list of voters.”
Jean previously expressed concerns over the voter list, alleging there are thousands of people on the list who have not paid for their own memberships.
On Friday, however, Jean said he is confident that the majority of people on the list are legitimate members after reviewing details of the voter list provided by the party as part of the arbitration process.
He and the other members have decided to withdraw their complaint based on the information, along with the possibility the continuation of the arbitration might result in a delayed leadership review process.
“This list has issues. I believe that there are thousands of people on the list who have not paid for their own memberships…” he said.
“But I also know that about 54,000 of the 58,500 are either long-term members or bought their memberships with their own personal credit cards”
The decision comes a day before Kenney’s leadership review process is set to begin. It was supposed to be an in-person vote in Red Deer on Saturday, but the UCP board changed it to a mail-in ballot on March 23 due to “extraordinary interest” in the review process.
Members must return their ballots by May 11 but the decision will not be announced until May 18.
Many of Kenney’s opponents, including Jean, raised concerns about the change.
“The UCP board’s decision to do this leadership review vote completely outside of the party’s rules is a travesty,” Jean said in a Facebook video posted on March 23.
Samantha Steinke, president of the Central Peace Notley UCP constituency association, said she is not happy about the decision. She is one of 33 association presidents who penned a letter to the UCP board outlining options to keep the vote in Red Deer.
“Are we really relying on people’s ballots getting there on time? Or not getting lost in the mail?” Steinke asked at a March 23 press conference.
“It’s disheartening to think that three-quarters of the way through the process we’ve now decided to pull the rug out from under people and change the rules.”
770 CHQR reached out to Kenney’s leadership review campaign with a request for comment.
Campaign spokesperson Harrison Fleming replied with a statement saying “all of Mr. Jean’s allegations were completely without evidence or merit, so it makes sense that he finally decided to withdraw his complaint.”
“We are looking forward to UCP members having their voices heard.”
–With files from Tom Vernon, Global News, and Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press