Jean and Smith spar at UCP candidates forum in Vermilion

Five of the seven candidates vying for the Premier’s chair engaged with voters in Vermilion on Monday night as the deadline to purchase a UCP membership in the upcoming leadership race draws nearer.

Travis Toews, Danielle Smith, Brian Jean, Rebecca Schulz, and Todd Loewen had roundtable discussion at the Vermilion Regional Centre as the conversation was loosely moderated, as vaccine mandates, policies to “stand up” to Ottawa, and party unity were at the forefront.

While this conversation lasted an hour, another hour was spent with the assembled residents divvied up into five smaller groups, as each candidate was allowed more intimate time to answer specific questions voters had.

The biggest piece of drama was the back and forth between former Wildrose leaders Danielle Smith and Brian Jean.

On the question of being right for the job and making sound decisions when things get tough, Jean questioned Smith about crossing the floor to Progressive Conservatives for a cabinet position under Jim Prentice.

“I’m sorry, but Danielle, that’s when things get tough. That’s when the 330,000 people in Alberta voted for you and your caucus were there for you. And I have to say, I came and cleaned up your mess and it was very difficult keeping that caucus together for over two years,” he said, adding that he would have Smith or any of the other candidates in his cabinet.

“You want to unify caucus, you want to keep people together? I think Danielle Smith is one of the best storytellers I’ve ever met, she is a brilliant person, and she’s talked to a lot of Albertans. But I’m nervous about the decisions. I make good decisions.”

Smith responded, saying she made an error in judgment and her ties to Prentice hailed back to her first campaign back in 1992.

“I knew he hadn’t created the problems and mess that we had here and he wanted to come here and clean them up. So, I made an error in judgment, we both got punished for it. I lost my nomination and he lost the election,” said Smith.

“But we were an early adopter of unity, we went about it the wrong way. I’ve been very upfront about that. I think when you make mistakes you have to admit them…I came back in because the United Conservative Party is the right vehicle. It is the right movement. It’s worth investing in.”

 

 

 

 

Subtle back and forths were lobbied in the initial discussion about vaccine mandates, which each candidate said they would not enforce like was done during the Kenney leadership.

Toews and Schultz were ministers at the time of these decisions, while Jean and Smith were not in the party. Loewen, who was the caucus chief, was expelled in May 2021 after dissenting to Premier Kenney. He called on Kenney to resign shortly after.

Otherwise, there was large agreement between the candidates with similar policies or small nuances.

The full roundtable can be seen on the Shaun Newman Podcast. The deadline to buy a party membership is Friday.

Leela Aheer and Rajan Sawhney were not in attendance.