Protests against UCP Policies Spreading, Province Wide Protest Scheduled
Weekly Protests at Premier Smith's Constituency Office Continuing
These protests are organized by a local group called AWARE MHAB - Alberta Wins: Act, Respond, Educate regarding government policies that impact our citizens. This group started nearly a year ago to bring attention to issues concerning Albertans such as healthcare, education, municipal control, 2SILGBTQ+, APP, mining, etc.
AWARE says
We are a group of concerned citizens that will provide information and education to support the voting public in responding to political policies that will cause harm, and those that are undemocratic.
With knowledge that encompasses the bigger picture and critical thinking, citizens can act. Let’s engage in those conversations.
AWARE has been protesting outside Premier Smith’s Medicine Hat constituency office for 8 consecutive weeks. Last Saturday’s protest had 30 people show up.
On April 4 there was a meeting with AB Resistance, a group dedicated to helping residents recall their MLAs. Their website says
We're resisting the systematic destruction of our precious Albertan values - decency, and democracy. We're resisting what the UCP is trying to turn our province into. We're resisting fascism. We're resisting the erosion of healthcare, education, and human rights in this province we call home.
They include a list of MLAs and the number of signatures it will take in each riding to achieve a recall, down to the necessary signatures per day. Only 11 seats separate the UCP and the NDP - if the NDP can flip 6 of the seats, Alberta would have a change in government.
Other groups such as Enough is Enough UCP have organized events such as the Pink Slip Rally to give Premier Danielle Smith her walking papers.
May 10 Province Wide Protest
AB Resistance and allies are organizing a province wide protest planned for May 10 including a protest at the legislature, calling it
“…an opportunity for Albertans to say ‘NO!’ to the UCP’s Maple MAGA agenda and ‘Yes’ to an agenda that really puts Albertans first!” — McGowan”
Premier Smith Has struggled with her own popularity
Premier Smith struggled with her own popularity within her own party taking 6 ballots to win the leadership in 2022 with 53.77% of the vote. This is in sharp contrast to former Premier Jason Kenney winning the leadership of the Progressive Conservatives of Alberta in 2017 on the first ballot with over 75%. This was before the PCs merged with the now defunct Wildrose Party (which Smith was the leader of before she crossed the floor to join the PCs), creating the United Conservative Party (UCP), dropping the Progressive label in the process.
Jason Kenney resigned as leader of the UCP after he only received 51.4% of the vote at the 2022 leadership review.
Premier Smith’s UCP won a reduced majority government in 2023 but lost 18 seats in the process.
The 2024 UCP Leadership Review in 2024 boasted a vote of over 91% in favour of Smith. However, there were less than 5000 votes cast in that review. Jason Kenney’s 2022 leadership review garnered over 34,000 total votes, more than 17,000 in favour of Kenney.
Voting in 2024 was limited to in person voting only, no mail in ballots permitted. Again, this was in sharp contrast to Kenney’s leadership review which allowed mail in ballots because so many people had registered for the AGM.
We Did the Math
According to UCP financial documents, there were 30,600 members as of Dec 31 2023, a marked difference from the nearly 140,000 members as of Dec 31 2022. According to media reports, the UCP had about 60,000 members in June 2022.
