UCP

Last spring Alberta's UCP government announced that parties will be able to run candidates in municipal elections beginning in Calgary and Edmonton. Even though 70 percent of respondents to the government's public survey disagreed with introducing the party system, the government passed legislation leaving people and political pundits questioning and confused. Some pundit comments are below and the public can share their comments and thoughts on focaLOCAL.com

MacEwan University associate professor Brendan Boyd says the party system is where independent thought goes to die which leads to what people call the democratic deficit. Ric McIver, Minister of Municipal Affairs says political parties make candidates' positions on issues more transparent. City councillor Andrew Knack believes freedom of expression and choice will be lost with the change. Councillor and mayoral candidate Tim Cartmell plans to form his own party, which he said will not be partisan. Doug Main who is spokesperson for The Principled Accountable Coalition of Edmonton (PACE) says they are not describing themselves as a right, centre or left-leaning ideology.

Existing provincial and federal parties cannot register in Alberta's civic election under the province's rules which means it is incumbent upon any parties to enlighten and inform citizens just who they are and what they stand for.

New legislation introduced in the Alberta legislature Thursday has generated comments from both those who against and those who support the legislation. The trio of bills introduced are the UCP's attempt to answer some of the questions and address some of the problems governments across North America and beyond are having to deal with.

Read the Global News article below to better understand what the three bills are and what they address.

• As we are coming up on the Easter weekend, the Legislature continues its break until April 19th. When the Assembly returns, it will consider Bill 2, the Financial Statutes Amendment Act, 2022, and Bill 10, the Health Professions (Protecting Women and Girls) Amendment Act, 2022.
• Tomorrow, the Select Special Committee on Real Property Rights will hold two meetings, the first from 9:00 am to 11:00 am in Medicine Hat and the second from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm in Fort Macleod. Meetings will continue on Wednesday in Hanna from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm and on Thursday in Eckville from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm.
• Mail-in ballots will be sent to eligible United Conservative Party members to vote on Jason Kenney’s leadership this week. Eligible UCP members will have until 5:00 pm on May 11th to return their ballot. Premier Kenney’s leadership has been questioned on a near-constant basis, even within his own party. The original leadership race was to be held in person in Red Deer last weekend. 

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