As UCP AGM kicks off with high turnout, questions of unity remain crucial theme

A strikingly large crowd streamed into Calgary's BMO Centre on Friday afternoon for the first day of the United Conservative Party's annual general meeting, expected to be a crucial weekend to gauge party unity in light of the involvement of the social conservative group Take Back Alberta.

Friday was a chance for attendees to get oriented, and to vote on less dramatic governance resolutions — such as whether leadership reviews should take place two years instead of three after an election, and whether paper membership cards could be issued to party members. Both of those did not pass.

But most of the fireworks will come on Saturday, with controversial policy resolutions to be voted on and board elections to be held.

Political watchers are paying close attention to see how this weekend's meeting, the second under Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, will be received by the crowd of at least 3,728, a figure the party says is the largest in Alberta's history. The UCP's founding convention in 2018 drew around 2,500 members.

As the doors opened to the event centre, members filed into the meeting hall along stanchions divided by black curtains. Many in this line said they were attending a political AGM for the first time, and many said it was the efforts of the social conservative group Take Back Alberta that had drawn them there. 

Some still expressed grudges over how pandemic-era policies were handled by government, while others said they were here to weigh in on policies tied to the economy.

"I guess we tend to be Take Back Alberta people, but we'll see. I hope the people who work in there really do unify," said first-time attendee Verlin Rau.

"I want to see what they're doing on things like policy and governance, and things like that," said Tom Howard, another attendee in line.

A short walk away, in Stampede Park's Big Four Roadhouse, tables clad with black cloth were littered with pamphlets and handouts from party board hopefuls.

"There's a lot of talk about party unity. How do we build unity? By building trust," read one printed on yellow paper.

These normally sleepy elections have drawn increased attention this year due to Take Back Alberta's goal of taking a majority of the board for the stated reason of guaranteeing grassroots representation in government.

David Parker, the group's leader, was visible on the meeting floor on Friday. The night prior to the event, he wrote on X, previously Twitter, that this weekend would begin "a new age in Alberta."

"After this AGM, the grassroots of the UCP will be in charge," he wrote. "Those who do not listen to the grassroots or attempt to thwart their involvement in the decision making process, will be removed from power."

On stage in the Big Four Roadhouse, sessions with provincial ministers were underway even as registrants in the BMO Hall waited in line.