Interest swells for Alberta’s ruling party AGM that boasts controversial resolutions | Breaking:

The United Alberta Conservatives will hold their second annual general meeting under Premier Danielle Smith on Friday and Saturday in an event that has seen registrations surge and seats on the party’s board of directors up for grabs.

The number of delegates is expected to far exceed previous general assemblies, including the UCP’s founding convention in 2018, which attracted some 2,500 members.

This weekend, more than 3,500 members are expected to show up at Calgary’s BMO Centre, which was chosen as the venue after attendance surpassed the previous site of the Gray Eagle Resort & Casino.

The event comes as Alberta is locked in a battle of wills with Ottawa over pensions and power. Those are issues that political observers expect Smith to use as major areas of focus during his keynote address, scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

His speech will also be revealing in terms of how he seeks to keep his party together, said Lisa Young, a political science professor at the University of Calgary.

“One of the things Prime Minister Smith has to do to stay in office is keep the party there happy. I think it will be really interesting to watch the atmosphere at the convention,” Young said.

This may be easier said than done when it comes to managing rival groups across the conservative spectrum vying for power; the most notable is Take Back Alberta, a group registered as a third-party political advertiser with Elections Alberta that has been vocal in pushing for change around various social issues.

Some of these social issues are reflected among the 30 political resolutions that will be voted on by members during the convention, including:

Ban race-based admissions to post-secondary institutions.
Require written parental consent when a student under 16 wants to change their name or pronouns at school.
End provincial funding of supervised consumption sites.
Reject transgender women from women’s prisons.
Prohibit the implementation of the so-called “15-minute cities”.‘

Other resolutions may be more familiar to followers of Conservative politics in the province, such as opposing net-zero energy rules in Canada by 2035.

Political resolutions, which are presented by party members and voted on at party meetings, are not binding. If a resolution is passed, Albertans shouldn’t expect the government to act immediately afterward, Young said.

“It gives us an idea of ​​the party’s foundation and that foundation that the prime minister certainly takes into account,” he said. “So it’s not that it’s meaningless. But it’s also not something that gives us a road map for the government over the next few months or years.”

Take Back Alberta pushes for board control

At a recent Take Back Alberta event in Taber, Alta., group leader David Parker attributed much of the increase in attendees at this year’s UCP Annual General Meeting to his group’s efforts.

Last year, the group sent hundreds of its members to the UCP’s Annual General Meeting and swept the nine available seats on the party’s board of directors, representing half. The other half of the board, including its president, will be elected this weekend. Current UCP President Cynthia Moore, long a target of TBA members’ ire, is not running for re-election.

“No matter what happens at this Annual General Meeting, we will have a majority of the board, we will have an absolute majority of the board,” Parker told attendees in Taber on October 18. “What this will guarantee is the representation of the bases.” , It does not matter that.”

In his speech, Parker outlined some of his group’s priorities, including “parental rights.” The Saskatchewan government recently passed a bill requiring parental consent before a child under 16 can use a different gender-related name or pronoun at school.

Take Back Alberta claims many of its supporters are attending the Annual General Meeting, which presumably means those people will vote for a board that pushes its agenda, said Lori Williams, a political science professor at Mount Royal University.

“You have to wonder if these concerns reflect the kinds of things that most Albertans worry about,” Williams said.

“If it’s too far away from where the majority of Albertans are, then it could have an impact on whether the party is considered to represent the majority of Albertans, and that could have electoral consequences down the road.”

“Particularly unpredictable”

Christine Myatt, a spokeswoman for Jason Kenney during his tenure as prime minister, said she would be watching how the large number of delegates affects policy, debates and board elections, adding that the potential record number of attendees makes this Annual General Meeting to be “particularly unpredictable”. “

“We know that Premier Danielle Smith takes her base and the opinions of her base very seriously,” said Myatt, who is now a senior consultant at New West Public Affairs.

“We have some controversial policies that are going to be discussed. And I’m really interested to see how the large number of registered delegates impacts those debates.”

Myatt said Smith will need to send a signal that she is listening to her base, while also remembering that she is the premier for all Albertans.

“We know what happens when the base feels they are not being heard. They often organize to eliminate different leaders,” Myatt said.

Colin Aitchison, former UCP spokesperson under Ministers Adriana LaGrange and Nicholas Milliken, and acting director of government communications under Premier Smith, is now a senior consultant at Enterprise Canada.

He said he hoped much of Smith’s speech would be tailored to the grassroots while also taking into account the rest of the UCP members across the conservative spectrum.

“We have center-right conservatives who agree with more left-wing views, and then we have far-right conservatives,” he said.

“He will have to offer a balanced perspective on the party’s policies. Obviously, serve some red meat to the base to keep them energized.”

The opening ceremony of the Annual General Meeting will take place on Friday at 5:45 p.m.

Speeches and voting for board candidates will take place Saturday morning. The results of the board elections will be announced that evening.