'We want him replaced': Kenney quiet ahead of vote as trust, unity become central issues

Friday appeared to be the calm before the storm in Alberta politics, with the premier and his camp mostly quiet in the week leading up to the kickoff of his leadership vote.

United Conservative Party members will gather virtually on Saturday to hear a speech from Jason Kenney around 11 a.m., and ballots will be mailed out afterwards.

The premier last took questions from reporters on April 1, the same day he had some trouble filling up the blue pickup he drove to an announcement about gas taxes.

"I'm not going to be distracted by the politics of division," he said when asked about the review. He then read some posts from his critics who he called extremists.

Kenney later made a joke online about the nozzle schmozzle.

Meanwhile, his opponents continued to blast him, and the process that will see him either reaffirmed as leader of the UCP, or defeated, on May 18.

“This list has issues," new UCP MLA Brian Jean said Friday.

"I believe that there are thousands of people on the list who have not paid for their own memberships, 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.”

Jean and 11 other UCP members launched an arbitration dispute within the UCP on March 28, but he announced his intention to drop it the day before the Special General Meeting.

“Because of political games, this process has gone on too long as it is. It is time to let the members vote. I am confident that if the voting process is fair that Jason Kenney will not get a survivable number from this list of voters.”

'WE ARE MAINSTREAM CONSERVATIVES'

A local constituency association official also continued to hammer the process.

Rob Smith said he heard from several members that the party has an incorrect mailing address for them.

"Membership information is wrong, and they report that they have tried on numerous occasions to change that information electronically, or contact the party, and they have failed," said the UCP official from Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.

A party official said Friday that members with address concerns can email the party and have the ballots re-issued.

"This scenario is built into the process and it is why we have over four weeks built into the timeline to ensure everyone receives their ballot and it can be sent back in time," Dave Prisco explained, while defending the board's decision to cancel the in-person vote.

"20,000 people were expected to show-up to a venue that can only hold 3,000 people. Something had to be done to make the voting safe and accessible for all members."

Smith was amongst a number of MLAs and local presidents who demanded that the vote be held in Red Deer instead of done through the mail.

They called for board members to step down if they didn't revert to the original plan, but the party didn't budge. At the same time, two UCP MLAs asked for the premier's resignation. Both are still inside the party.

"We are mainstream conservatives, who are not radical, who are not supporting any agenda other than the fact we think we have a tyrannical leader, and we want him replaced," Smith said.

He wouldn't rule out leaving the party if Kenney wins, and he suggested others will join him.

"If (the UCP is) still under the leadership of Jason Kenney, I really question how successfully we can stay united."

'TROUBLE TRUSTING THE RESULT'

Concerns over whether people can trust Kenney are now running rampant in Alberta, said two local political scientists.

The last leadership battle between the premier and Jean is still under RCMP investigation. Kenney was interviewed as part of that probe.

"My campaign did everything it could to carefully follow all of the rules, and I’m confident we did so,” he said on March 28.

"People that were actually working with Jason Kenney in 2017 are now questioning whether he will allow a fair process to go forward. I think ordinary Albertans are going to have trouble trusting the result if it affirms Jason Kenney's leadership," said Lori Williams from Mount Royal University.

The premier has focused much of his strategy on celebrating economic improvements, painting his critics as extremists and arguing that keeping him is the best chance for another conservative government.

Kenney is likely to stick to those points in his virtual speech to members on Saturday, said Duane Bratt, also from Mount Royal.

"I think he needs to frame it on their interest, which is, 'A divided UCP could very well lead to the NDP being reelected.' That's the one glue that keeps members together, so does he hammer on that point?" Bratt said.

Kenney has good news to talk about, and sell himself on, Bratt said. That includes a balanced budget and the recent scrapping of a provincial gas tax.

The question Bratt has: is do concerns of trust drown out any successes Kenney has to talk about?

"I don't know if there's a number that people won't distrust. Unless, of course, Kenney actually loses and gets below 50 per cent, I think people will believe that," Bratt said.

CTV News Edmonton reached out to the premier's leadership campaign for response to this story.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Chelan Skulski