In 2017, the Wildrose and Progressive Conservative parties in Alberta joined forces to form the United Conservative Party. That meant it included MLAs on a wider range of the political spectrum.
But back then, the economy was stronger and all Alberta conservatives had a common goal of defeating the NDP, explained Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt, and the divisions were more easily glossed over.
Now, the climate is a little different and those factions are much harder to ignore.
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UCP begins search for new leader with Jason Kenney stepping down
It’s more than just having UCP members who are more progressive and ones who are more moderate, Bratt added.
“You also have an urban-rural split, you have a social conservative versus a fiscal conservative split, you have those who simply want to govern versus those who want to radically transform the province, and getting all those people all on one page is very difficult.
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“Jason Kenney and others were able to merge the parties basically because the one thing that united them was opposition to Rachel Notley and the NDP.
“But then, when they formed government, those divisions emerged back again and were greatly exacerbated by COVID — but were not caused by COVID.”
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Jason Kenney announces intention to step down as UCP leader
Jason Kenney announces intention to step down as UCP leader
Wednesday night, a leadership review vote found only 51.4 per cent of voting UCP members supported Jason Kenney as leader. Shortly after the results were shared, Kenney announced his intention to resign.
“The past two years were deeply divisive for our province, our party and our caucus,” he said Wednesday night….