Premier Danielle Smith, who serves as Brooks-Medicine Hat MLA, faces a leadership review this weekend. Beth Baisch/Dreamstime.com

By Ian Gustafson, Brian Konrad

PROVINCIAL POLITICS

Premier Smith faces leadership review vote at United Conservative conference

Nov 1, 2024 | 10:42 AM

Brooks-Medicine Hat MLA Danielle Smith faces a review of her leadership of the United Conservative party at a conference in Red Deer this weekend.

The party’s rules don’t say what level of support in a leadership review is considered a passing grade but Premier Smith has said that she’d like to see a higher level of support than the 54 per cent she received when party members picked her to replace then-premier Jason Kenney in 2022.

Kenney resigned after gaining 51 per cent support at the last scheduled party leadership review.

The convention, that begins on Friday and runs through Saturday at Westerner Park, is claimed by the party to be “the largest political convention in Canadian history,” with at least 5,500 members registered to attend.

Among the highlights on Friday includes a pair of discussions with MLA’s in the afternoon followed by a “bearpit session” with premier Danielle Smith and cabinet at 4 p.m.

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On Saturday, Smith will address members and the public at 10 a.m. with a question and answer period to follow.

However, the big news will come later in the day as UCP members will vote on Smith’s future as the leader of the party.

The convention gets underway a day after Smith’s government proposed three bills that focus on transgender people.

One bill introduced requires kids under 16 to have parental consent to change their pronouns or names at school. It also requires parents to opt-in for their children to be taught about sexual orientation and sexual and gender identity at school.

The second bill would prohibit doctors from treating kids under 16 looking for trangender treatments such as puberty blockers.

The final bill would ban transgender athletes from competing in female amateur sports and would require school and sport organizations to report eligibility complaints.