Kenney says the United Conservative Party is under siege by extremist elements, including homophobic and religious bigots, seeking a hostile takeover by overthrowing him in an upcoming leadership review. “I am determined to ensure that such hateful, extremist and divisive voices will not find a home in this wider Conservative party,” Kenny told reporters in Calgary on Friday. “This is an issue that plays a big role here and I will not apologize for shouting such divisive voices.” The private remarks he made to his staff were secretly recorded earlier this week and then leaked to the media. In the remarks, Kenney is heard describing hesitant leadership criticism as a struggle for the soul of his mainstream big-stage party. “Crazy people are trying to understand asylum. “And I’m not going to let them go,” Kenney said in the recording, according to CBC and Global. “These are just bean people in general,” he added. He said the fight is a natural consequence of success, noting “a bright light attracts some mistakes. Well, there are more than a few bugs that attract us to this party right now. “ Kenney said Friday he insists on his plan to listen to the party’s will in the leadership review, but would otherwise remain in place to prevent the UCP from splitting. Kenney’s comments limit a week of turmoil and anger within the party, after a UCP executive canceled the April 9 leadership review and replaced it with a nationwide mailing ballot. The executive said that with 15,000 members expected to vote, the process had become difficult for the scheduled one-day, in-person Red Deer vote. Two UCP supporters called the change blatantly unfair and urged Kenney to resign. Some party presidents representing thousands of members have also called for the old rules to be restored. Party members and Kenneth’s opponent, Brian Jean, who recently won a run-off election to rejoin the UCP parliamentary group, have been selling subscriptions for months with the goal of making Kenny the leader in the review. Kenney needs the support of the majority or a tribe is called upon to choose a new leader. Critics say Kenney was ready to lose the vote, so pressure was exerted and a mail change was made to drastically expand the voter turnout and increase his chances. Jean lost the UCP leadership to Kenney in 2017 in a fight tarnished by allegations of collusion and voting irregularities. He said he had heard again about possible membership mining to collect ballots in favor of Kenney. “It does not matter how he tries to deceive or how he tries to manipulate the system and how his team tries to do things to stay in power,” Jean said in an interview. “If (Kenney) stays in power, the UCP is gone.” In Edmonton, spokesman Jean Vitor Marciano and David Parker of the Take Back Alberta Citizens’ Defense Group said they would ask the district election commissioner to investigate the membership bid. They told reporters they were worried that UCP membership lists might have been misplaced by Kenney supporters shortly before Saturday’s cut. They said the membership list was about 29,000 before it almost doubled to 55,000 in a matter of days. The two claim that about 18,000 names may have been added without the registrants knowing and at the end of $ 10 for each registration paid in bulk by credit card or check. The addition of these names and the mass payment of the fee, they said, would violate provincial electoral laws. Harrison Fleming, a spokesman for Kenny’s leadership review campaign, denied the allegations. “While Mr. Jean may want to spend his time suing the UCP to prevent members from voting, we are encouraged by the broad interest of UCP members to remain committed and active in this large conservative movement,” Fleming said. . Marciano and Parker also said that some of the ballots in question were paper, while the rest were added electronically and sent through a party-created web portal. UCP spokesman Dave Prisco, when asked about the party that created the portal for Kenney, said such portals are routine and legal. “Their purpose is to persuade candidates to do the data entry work for us. “They still have to follow all the rules outlined on our site,” Prisco said in a statement. This Canadian Press Report was first published on March 25, 2022
