Michelle Rempel Garner has said she will not run for Alberta’s United Conservative Party leader, ending weeks of speculation that a Tory MP from Calgary will run to replace the outgoing leader, Prime Minister Jason Kenny.
In a blog post Thursday morning, Rempel Garner said that while she was grateful for the many proposals for encouragement to run for leadership, she decided to give it up for two main reasons – that she wanted to continue serving her constituents. Calgary as a federal MP, and “the current internal dynamics of the UCP group.”
“I think the people of Albert will be better served if I stay in the important role they have already given me and if I respect the UCP group by giving it the space it needs to understand things.” she said in her post.
As early as Wednesday, there were still signals that Rempel Garner was preparing to announce an offer.
The campaign manager for Patrick Brown’s candidacy to lead the Federal Conservative Party, Sean Schnell, has resigned to take a role in Rempel Garner’s possible UCP campaign.
Schnell worked for Rempel Garner’s office before starting the leadership race.
On June 15, Calgary MP Noise Hill posted a long topic on Twitter showing that he was seriously considering running to replace Kenny.
“This is not a decision that should be taken lightly by anyone,” she tweeted at the time.
But on Thursday, she announced that although all the stars were in order and nothing really stopped her, she had serious concerns about leading the UCP group.
Rempel Garner says she has heard “there is a significant level of injury and insecurity” on this team.
The MP said that there were divisions in this meeting and wondered how she could lead him as an outsider.
Rempel Garner says not running is “the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make.”
I just made a big decision.https://t.co/6hcbZWoT7Q
– @ MichelleRempel
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