Premier mulls reinstatement of controversial MLA booted from UCP caucus

An Alberta MLA banned from the UCP caucus last year for comments comparing transgender youth to feces could soon be back in the ruling Alberta party's fold.

Jennifer Johnson, who had won the UCP nomination the previous fall, was forced to run as an independent candidate after the comments came to light about two weeks before the 2023 provincial election.

Johnson wound up winning the Lacombe-Ponoka seat.

In the days leading up to the vote on May 29 that year, Premier Danielle Smith said the UCP's decision to keep Johnson out of caucus was "final" after first saying she could be given a second chance.

Recently, however, Smith mused during a UCP town hall in Red Deer that Johnson could soon rejoin the UCP.

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"Give her a chance to speak you know put out on the record - what she meant, what she really said and how she really feels," the premier said during the town hall, adding Johnson could be welcomed back after Smith passes new policies pertaining to trans youth.

"She doesn't want this debate to be about comments made during the election."

The comments came from audio that had surfaced from September 2022, before Johnson won the UCP nomination, in which she is heard telling a group that Alberta’s high-ranking education system counts for little set against the issue of transgender students, comparing their presence to a batch of cookies laced with feces.

“That little bit of poop is what wrecks it,” Johnson says on the recording. “It does not matter that we’re in the top three per cent in the world."

She repeated a long-denied assertion that public schools allow students to identify as cats and set out litter boxes for them. She said girls are getting double mastectomies and being chemically sterilized at age 14.

She said hard-core pornography is available in elementary schools and advocated for the total elimination of sex education.

In April, the UCP's Red Deer-South constituency group asked the UCP to reinstate Johnson into its caucus, arguing she had "sufficiently made amends" for the September 2022 comments.

Rob Smith, the party's president, told CTV News Edmonton on Monday that the UCP would welcome Johnson back into the fold, saying she has been a fantastic MLA and that he believes she has met criteria set out by the premier to make amends despite not knowing what that criteria is.

"We believe MLA Johnson has been working diligently away at that, and once the time is right, caucus will welcome her back, and I believe it's fair to say that UCP members across the province are excited for that day," Smith said.

Jonathan Luscombe, the founder of the Lacombe Pride Society, says Johnson is not putting in the work of connecting to the community, calling her lack of effort "infuriating."

"We have done fundraising events, we have had Pride events, we've had multiple different things -- she has never shown up," Luscombe told CTV News Edmonton on Monday.

"Her words have extremely harmed a lot of people, and she has still consistently shown that she does not care about rectifying those relationships."

In a statement to CTV News Edmonton, the Central Alberta Pride Society said it condemns reinstatement of Johnson into the UCP caucus.

"This decision, which appears to align with the party's values, disregards the harm caused by Johnson’s past remarks," the society said in the statement, adding that it has had multiple requests for meetings with her denied or ignored.

"Johnson’s hurtful comments, particularly those targeting transgender youth, have inflicted significant harm on LGBTQ2S+ communities. By allowing her to rejoin the caucus, the UCP undermines efforts to foster inclusive, safe environments, especially in schools, where vulnerable students are most affected."

In a statement to CTV News Edmonton, a spokesperson for the premier insists no final decision has been made, adding Johnson "has some work to do to rebuild trust and relationships with the LGBTQ+ community. That work is ongoing."

Political scientist Duane Bratt of Calgary's Mount Royal University says bringing Johnson back under the UCP banner is a political play for support from Smith's base ahead of her leadership review, which is slated for November.

"She is not governing for Albertans. She is governing for her base of support," Bratt told CTV News Edmonton on Monday. "This is not about the general electorate. She doesn't face them until 2027."

With files from The Canadian Press