Four United Conservative Party leadership candidates gathered at the Westin Hotel in downtown Calgary Thursday morning to take aim at perceived race frontrunner Danielle Smith and her leading policy.
“We are united here in our opposition to one policy position – the Alberta Sovereignty Act,” said candidate Travis Toews, who took the podium first. “The deed is a false bill of goods.”
Other candidates Brian Jean, Leela Ahir and Rajan Sawney also spoke at the event.
Candidates Rebecca Schultz and Todd Lowen were invited but did not attend, with the former posting on Twitter that she also did not support the policy but was concerned about division in the party. CBC News has contacted Loewen for further comment.
Faction Support
All four in attendance at the Westin Hotel said that if Smith wins the leadership, they will not support the proposed legislation as they understand it in its current state.
“Either the sovereignty act is something that is a symbolic gesture, like the proposals passed by the Quebec National Assembly, or the sovereignty act is patently unconstitutional and the equivalent of starting a bar fight in the middle of confederation,” Ahir said.
“Either way, Daniel Smith is playing with fire and selling fantasy to his supporters.”
Speaking to reporters after the event, Toews was asked how the group would support the act if it came forward, given that his campaign had secured the most endorsements of the campaign.
“Let’s put it this way. I believe that passing the sovereignty act, certainly in the form that I’ve seen and in the concept that I’ve seen, is going to be very difficult to get through the legislature based on the feedback that I’m getting from the caucus members that support my leadership,” he said.
Alberta UCP MLA Tracy Allard said she does not believe enough details have been released regarding plans for Daniel Smith’s proposed Alberta Sovereignty Act. (Janet French/CBC)
Smith said the actual text of the bill will be drafted with the full input of the group. But at this stage, support among the group for the legislation is far from certain, which would complicate its passage.
“I want to read in detail [of the act] before I can say definitively. But with my limited understanding today, I couldn’t support it,” said UCP MLA Tracy Allard, who supports Toews.
UCP MLA Thani Yao, who supports Jean, said he respects Smith’s desire to be more aggressive in negotiations with Ottawa, but is unsure of that specific mechanism for doing so.
“I’m not sure that this particular tact would be effective in achieving its goal,” he said.
In a statement from his campaign, Smith said “tens of thousands” of UCP members had embraced the plan to introduce the law. She said she respects the right of her fellow leadership candidates to criticize the plan.
“I fully trust the judgment of our UCP members to elect the leader they believe will best protect them against Ottawa’s continued unconstitutional attacks on our province,” Smith said.
“I will respect their decision when it is made. I expect my future band mates to do the same.”
The debate shaped the race
The candidates took particular note of a news release released by Smith’s campaign earlier this week. In that message, Smith argued for the mechanisms she believed would allow the act to be implemented.
But the candidate group argued the act would not stop equalization, the carbon tax, federal travel mandates or allow the province to build interprovincial corridors.
“The Sovereignty Act is just useless and pointless virtue signaling,” Sawney said. “Danielle needs to be honest. She needs to provide the wording of her action so we can be clear about exactly what she’s going to do.”
Jean argues that the act of sovereignty focuses on things that are either “things that can never happen” or “things that [Smith] can never change.”
“Daniel is misleading UCP members about reality,” he said. “I have strong policy differences with some of the people at this stage, on items like lockouts, mandates and many other things.
“We can have serious disagreements about politics and freedoms. But we don’t agree with reality.”
Aheer, Jean, Sawhney and Toews speak at the Westin Hotel in Calgary on Thursday. Toews, pictured at the podium, said Daniel Smith’s Alberta Sovereignty Act will create anger and frustration in the province. (Helen Pike/CBC)
In recent weeks, the race has largely revolved around the act, which has alarmed legal experts and drawn criticism from Premier Jason Kenney, who earlier this week said it would turn the province into a “banana republic.”
Meanwhile, Smith accused the “‘woke’ media, entrenched interests and ‘political scum'” of using fear-mongering to discredit the act.
“In my view, restoring and reasserting provincial rights in our country will protect all provinces from the destructive overreach of Ottawa,” Smith wrote in a statement released Tuesday.
The UCP is due to announce the results of the leadership vote on October 6.
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