Michelle Rempel Cleared To Run for UCP Leader Despite Membership Issues

Calgary Nose Hill MP Michelle Rempel Garner has been cleared by the United Conservative Party to run for leadership (if she chooses to) despite her not having had a UCP membership for the required 6 months before the race started. 

Although some may disagree with the rule, it is meant to prevent opportunists from entering the race who had not been committed to the party in any substantial way before the race began, but for some reason, Rempel is being allowed to skirt around the rules.

It goes to show that if someone is from the red-tory establishment of conservative politics in Canada, the rules are less restrictive on what you can and cannot do. 

There is little doubt if another Albertan not as famous as Rempel, or as well-liked by the party establishment, attempted to enter the race without having held a UCP membership for the required period of time they would have been quickly rejected. 

Back in 2015 Former Calgary West MP Rob Anders attempted to enter the Wildrose Party leadership race but was blocked because his party membership briefly lapsed and had not been renewed within 6 months of the race starting, despite Anders being a big promoter of the party as a federal MP. 

It should be noted that Anders is a strong fiscal and social conservative, which may explain why he was not given the Rempel-treatment in his case.

One could try and argue that the Wildrose Party is a different entity with different rules, but the UCP’s current rules are based on the Wildrose and PC Party’s old rules so nothing should be significantly different.

It would have made far more sense to have allowed Anders into that leadership race than Michelle Rempel in this race, seeing as how Anders does not actively dislike the Wildrose/UCP base’s values the way Rempel does, based on her increasingly left-wing social politics. 

It is a wonder why Michelle Rempel is trying to get into the UCP leadership race as she is currently at a popularity low, with a large proportion of conservatives not trusting her, especially after acting as Patrick Brown’s co-chair for his federal Conservative leadership campaign. 

She may have high name recognition but the negatives that come along with her name make her an unlikely candidate to win.