Travis Tows officially launched his campaign for the leadership of the United Conservative Party in Calgary on Saturday – and revealed that he is supported by 23 MLAs.
Toews, who is currently the MLA for Grande Prairie-Wapiti, announced his candidacy this week and resigned as Alberta’s finance minister. On Saturday, Tows appointed his two co-chairs, Sonia Savage, the province’s energy minister, and Grande Prairie MP Chris Workentin.
Speaking at the start of the campaign in Calgary, Toews said the split had crept in during the pandemic, adding that some felt misdiagnosed or neglected by the UCP.
“I want to call those who feel disenfranchised at home. We are better together, stronger in diversity and in our unity, “Tows said in a speech.
In a press release, he also announced more than 20 MPs who have supported him, including Justice Minister Tyler Shandro, Community and Social Affairs Minister Jason Luan, Education Minister Adriana Lagrange and Tracy Allard, MPs for Grande Prairie.
Political commentator and sociologist Janet Brown says Toews has “a huge part” of the group behind it and it is unlikely that other candidates will be able to make that number of approvals.
“He certainly takes the position that he is the favorite and has the greatest support among members of the government,” she said.
“It simply came to our notice then. But I think he’s really trying to position himself outside the door as the strongest candidate, as the one with the most government support, as the person who can bring the most stability to the caucus, because he has the most members of the group behind him. ”
Toews is one of several candidates to officially present their names in the United Conservative Party’s race. Daniel Smith, Brian Jean and Todd Lowen have announced their intention to run.
However, it is difficult to know what the race will look like, Brown says, because there are so many unknowns about what will happen next.
“We don’t know when the leadership race will take place. We don’t know what kind of advance payment the candidates have to make. We don’t know what the full list of candidates is,” she said.
The NDP issued a statement Saturday critical of Toews, saying his speech and supporters showed it was “a direct continuation of Jason Kenny’s UCP policies and practices.”
“Tows says he will deal with the mistakes made by the Kenny government,” Sarah Hoffman, the NDP’s deputy leader, said in a statement.
“Instead of sincerely trying to do so, in his first moves he embraced the best supporters of Jason Kenny and the architects of some of the government’s worst decisions. This only confirms what many people suspect that Travis Tows is running to continue Jason Kenny’s actions. agenda.”
Earlier, Kenny announced he would step down as leader of the United Conservative Party after 48.6 percent of the United Conservatives voted against his leadership, but he will remain at the helm of the party until a new leader is announced.
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