United Conservative Party members across the province are set to receive mail-in ballots this week to vote on who should become the new leader of the UCP, a position that includes the title of "premier."
The arrival of the ballots follows the final official leadership debate, held in Edmonton on Aug. 30, which saw the seven candidates outline their ideas and visions for Alberta’s future.
The two-hour debate was moderated by Jeff Davidson, CEO of the Prostate Cancer Centre, who also moderated the first debate in Medicine Hat, and featured a format similar to the one used in the first official debate.
The candidates — in the order they gave their opening statements — included Todd Loewen, Brian Jean, Rebecca Schulz, Rajan Sawhney, Travis Toews, Danielle Smith, and Leela Aheer.
Nearly all the candidates said listening was the best way to keep the UCP united, in response to the first question on unity, except for Smith.
Smith called out Toews and asked him whether he was committed to running in the election and then stated followship is not leadership.
“I've taken some bold positions ... That's what leadership looks like. You take a bold position,” Smith said.
Toews said he is committed to the movement, but he was reserving his right on his decision to run.
During the unity debate, Schulz asked Toews how he would break through bureaucracy when we have decisions where bureaucracy ran the show.
“Here's the reality. Unless board members, directors, and department heads within the bureaucracy are completely and totally aligned with [the] government's mandate, we will fail to deliver on that mandate,” Toews said, adding mistakes were made that can never be made again.
Toews took a hit at Schulz’s child-care agreement with the federal government and asked what she would do differently next year.
“That negotiation is still happening until the end of November, but I felt like I had something to offer in this leadership race,” she said just before her time ran out.
In response to a question about what solutions candidates would bring to make communities safer, Sawhney said some of her colleagues have jumped straight to the solution without defining the problem, and it is “important to bring people back to the table.”
Aheer said changing the name of the RCMP is not going to change the systemic and structural issues in policing at this time and more engagement needs to happen when it comes to issues such as cultural sensitivity, and domestic and sexual assault.
“I agree with the idea of a provincial police force over the long run. But anything that will see fewer police officers on the street is a non-starter for me,” said Jean. “Why don't we talk about giving [municipalities] more choices? My campaign is all about autonomy.”
When asked to debate Jean on what specifically he would do to defend Alberta's agricultural sector from yet another harmful policy from Ottawa, Loewen said Alberta must stand up for Albertans by saying no to the federal government.
Sawhney said she had already spoken about a commitment to restart the curriculum review in response to a debate call from Aheer on the subject of education.
Both Aheer and Sawhney agreed that funding must be reinjected into the education system.
“It's interesting when we talk about the curriculum, the curriculum’s been going along for quite a while … And now we see a lot of the cabinet ministers back down on curriculum where they never said anything about it before,” said Loewen.
Smith said education may be the only area in which Ottawa has not interfered.
“That's how every single one of our social programs should be run,” said Smith.
Jean said he didn’t understand how the relationship with teachers got so bad.
“We need to solve the relationship and that means it's all about communication,” he said.
Schulz said she is a supporter of parents’ choice, and the conversation should be about solving the problem “which is class size and complexity … .”
Toews was asked about his perspective on the future of arts and culture.
He laughed.
“I find it ironic that an individual who is an accountant, a [rancher], and a finance minister gets the arts and culture question.”
Eligible members of the UCP have until Oct. 3 to hand in their mail-in ballot or they can vote on in person on Oct. 6.
The new leader of the UCP and the province will be announced on Oct. 6.
