Alberta premier's political foe fears fraudulence in mail-in leadership vote
CTV
A major rival to Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says he fears a mail-in leadership vote will be rampant with cheating and fraud — a claim that Kenney's campaign team says is baseless.
A major rival to Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says he fears a mail-in leadership vote will be rampant with cheating and fraud — a claim that Kenney's campaign team says is baseless.
Brian Jean, who last week retained a seat for Kenney's United Conservatives in a byelection, says he is having a sense of déjà vu.
The two men co-founded the UCP, but Jean lost the leadership to Kenney in 2017 in a race marred by allegations of collusion and voting irregularities.
Jean said Friday he'd again heard of possible membership mining to harvest favourable ballots for Kenney.
"It doesn't matter how he tries to cheat or how he tries to manipulate the system, and how his team tries to do things to stay in power," said Jean. "If (Kenney) stays in power, the UCP is gone."
Earlier this week, the party cancelled an in-person meeting in Red Deer, Alta., where thousands of members were to cast their vote on Kenney's future and replaced it with the mail-in ballot.
The decision has drawn harsh criticism from some members of Kenney's caucus, two of whom broke ranks Thursday to call for his resignation.
