This Is the Sixth Issue Occult Paper and Again I Am Sorry
Graham Thomson: Brian Jean narrowly averted a mutiny, according to Wildrose party president
In what was the worst kept secret in Alberta politics, Wildrose MLA Derek Fildebrandt has let it be known he will toss his hat into the ring for leadership of the new United Conservative Party – provided, of course, the United Conservative Party actually becomes a thing.
In this, Fildebrandt becomes the fourth almost-declared candidate for leadership of a yet-to-be formed party.
The others are Wildrose Leader Brian Jean, Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney and Calgary lawyer Doug Schweitzer — with more hat-tossers likely to come.
The leadership race can't officially start until members of both the Wildrose and PCs vote in favour of a merger deal July 22.
Another worst kept secret is that there are members of both parties who despise each other and will vote for a merger with one hand while holding their nose with the other.
And here's another badly kept secret — there are members within each party who don't particularly like other members of their own party.
For the PC party, there are "progressive" members who are still smarting from "conservative" members helping Kenney take over the leadership of their party last March.
But that grumbling is relatively tame compared to a mini revolt within the Wildrose that refuses to die.
Last week, Wildrose president Jeff Callaway complained publicly that Jean was gaming the system to give himself an edge in the upcoming leadership race.
Callaway said Jean was insisting that only he would appoint the Wildrose members of four joint panels to, among other things, set up the rules for the race.
"We are more than just the Brian Jean party," Callaway said in a public slap against the leader.
Jean bristled at the complaint but, to demonstrate he had the support of the party, he had the Wildrose executive committee review his list of appointees last Wednesday. Party officials said the executive members — including Callaway — agreed with every one.
Issue closed.
Except that it's not.
In an interview Monday, Callaway insisted the executive did not simply rubber stamp Jean's list.
"There was actually a debate about a number of the names and a number of the names were changed," said Callaway. He said Jean had to back down in the face of internal opposition and allow the party's executive committee to elect the members of the four panels.
However, Jean's officials reject that interpretation of events and insist the party's executive unanimously supported every one of the names Jean put forward.
This is very odd. How could we be getting such a vast difference of opinion over the same event?
It's a case of he-said/they-said — except that in this dispute, only Callaway has agreed to speak on the record.
This is a fascinating peek behind the Wildrose curtain.
Here we have the party's president accusing the party's leader of trying to run roughshod over the party's grassroots principles.
Callaway says Wildrose members sincerely believe in the party as a grassroots movement. And a sizeable number of them were so dismayed by what they saw as Jean's dictatorial intentions they were thinking of voting against the unification deal in protest.
That would have been a potential disaster for Jean.
He would have been blamed for a failed deal — and that would have led to a leadership review at the party's annual general meeting this fall. Angry party members would have had the opportunity to vote him out as leader.
That won't happen now, says Callaway. He expects Wildrose members will support the merger thanks in part to Jean backing down in the face of a potential mutiny.
In fact, Callaway is now praising Jean for doing the right thing.
But members of Jean's inner circle absolutely deny he was in the wrong — or that he ever faced a possible revolt.
They point to polls indicating Jean is the most popular politician in the province and say even if the unification deal were to fail, he would easily win an internal leadership review this fall.
They're hoping it doesn't come to that, of course.
They're hoping Wildrose members ratify the unification deal and Jean goes on to win the leadership of the new party.
But he'll have to defeat Kenney, Fildebrandt, Schweitzer and what promises to be a growing list of contenders.
gthomson@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/graham_journal
Source: https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/graham-thomson-brian-jean-narrowly-averted-a-mutiny-according-to-wildrose-party-president
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