‘Party elite have overreached’: Alberta UCP candidate appealing nomination disqualification

A southern Alberta UCP candidate is vowing to keep fighting for the riding she wants to represent.

In a tweet Monday, Nadine Wellwood said she’s appealing her disqualification from running for Livingstone-Macleod and will continue campaigning.

In a news release, Wellwood claims she received a letter stating that “the Party Candidate Selection Committee (PCSC) rejected my application based on a referral from the executive director of the UCP.”

Wellwood said she began campaigning in the riding the day the nomination opened and says she received triple the number of signatures required.

The former People’s Party of Canada (PPC) candidate says she was on her way to a meeting with the local candidate nomination committee when a senior government staffer called to tell her the party had already disqualified her.

But that’s not deterring her.

“The approval and support of grassroots members is important to me, and I would not be campaigning to represent the riding of Livingstone-Macleod without their efforts and encouragement,” Wellwood said in a statement.

“I believe that the party elite have overreached their authority and this action itself threatens the integrity of the UCP by denying the grassroots members and their chosen local committee members the choice in who represents them in the legislature.”

Wellwood said she was told her social media activity was part of the reason for her disqualification adding, “most are conjecture, or a matter of personal opinion based off of social media posts I had interacted with, as little as a ‘like’ or a retweet, in the past.”

She says she will continue to meet with constituents, host events and listen to the concerns of residents in the riding ahead of next spring’s election.

Wellwood ran for the PPC in Banff-Airdrie in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections and heavily opposed COVID-19 public health measures.