Alberta Finance Minister, Environment Minister not running for re-election

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Two powerful Alberta cabinet ministers have announced in separate letters that they will not seek re-election in the coming provincial vote in favour of a return to private life.

Finance Minister Travis Toews, early on Friday, ended weeks of speculation by finally revealing his decision not to run again in the riding of Grande Prairie-Wapiti. Hours later, Environment Minister Sonya Savage, who previously led the energy file, said she too would not be running in Calgary-Northwest.

Both ministers were closely aligned with former premier Jason Kenney. With just two months until the provincial election, these departures could hurt the United Conservative Party with voters who are skeptical of Premier Danielle Smith, especially in battleground Calgary.

Alberta’s conservative movement has been divided between establishment members – including both ministers and Mr. Kenney – and those who rebuked COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and want Alberta to toughen its stand on Ottawa. Ms. Smith, who is part of that firebrand conservatism, praised both ministers for their work.

“Minister Travis Toews has been one of the strongest finance ministers in Alberta’s history and leaves a legacy of strong fiscal management that I will continue to uphold as Premier,” she said in a statement.

In a separate note, she spoke of Ms. Savage: “Minister Sonya Savage’s dedication and commitment to furthering Alberta’s energy interests and developing a made-in-Alberta approach to responsible environmental stewardship of our natural resources will benefit Albertans for decades.”

Mr. Toews, who was endorsed by Ms. Savage, was a front-runner in the party’s leadership race last October. He was a key critic of Ms. Smith’s campaign cornerstone, the Sovereignty Act. Mr. Toews, in an interview with The Globe and Mail, said he remains deeply committed to the conservative movement, UCP and the Premier.

“During a time like that, it’s a time to debate different perspectives and policies and leadership styles and we did that. But we’ve really come together as a party,” said Mr. Toews, who added that time with his family and on his ranch is taking precedence in his life.

It is unclear who will now get the UCP nomination in the affected ridings, but Ms. Smith said she is working with the party and local constituency associations to appoint new candidates ahead of the May 29 election. Both ministers are expected to remain in their cabinet posts until the vote.

Several rural ridings in Alberta have held UCP nomination contests where a movement calling itself Take Back Alberta has played an increasingly significant role. The right-wing group focuses on taking power from the “ruling elite” and has taken credit for dislodging Mr. Kenney as premier. It has strong ties to protests that blocked the U.S.-Canada border last year.

Mr. Toews, a rancher and accountant, first ran for office in 2019 under the UCP banner. He went on to serve as Finance Minister for the next four years, vacating his role only briefly to run for leadership.

He led the Finance Ministry through the tumultuous pandemic period when oil prices and activity crashed, compounding what had been several years of economic unease in the resource-dependent province.

In departing, he leaves a budget that has his stamp on it, with a significant portion of gushing resource revenues allocated to debt repayment and to bolster health care, public safety and addiction treatment.

As minister, he also oversaw controversial moves, such as de-indexing personal income tax brackets and support programs, such as the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH), wage cuts for health care workers during the pandemic and removing the rate cap on auto insurance.

Mr. Toews was one of several high-ranking UCP officials, including Mr. Kenney, who appeared to flout pandemic restrictions by having drinks and dinner on the patio of a government office known as the “Sky Palace” in June, 2021.

“I can look back on a whole number of, perhaps incidents, where you wish you had made a different decision around an event you attended, around something you’ve said. There’s always those regrets but, overall, I don’t have significant regrets,” he said.

When the leadership race began last year, Mr. Toews was the presumed leading contestant but Ms. Smith picked up momentum even as he and three other leadership candidates held a news conference to denounce her Sovereignty Act (which is now law). He argued that it could make the party “unelectable in 2023.”

Mr. Toews leaves unaddressed his long-time promise to examine diversifying the province’s famously fickle revenue streams, including by considering a provincial sales tax.

But he also avoids controversies the UCP is likely to face should it win re-election, including a Smith government program, formerly known as RStar, to give oil companies a financial incentive for cleaning up old wells they’re already legally responsible for – and a potential referendum for an Alberta pension plan.

Ms. Savage, a onetime Enbridge Inc. executive who served as energy minister for Mr. Kenney’s entire time in office, was moved to the Ministry of Environment and Protected Areas under Ms. Smith last October. She, too, was elected for the first time in 2019.

During her appointment to energy, Ms. Smith, then a lobbyist, wrote to Ms. Savage promoting RStar and was told it did not align with “the province’s royalty regime or our approach to liability management and upholding the polluter-pays principle.” The program is now being debated.

In a letter posted to social media, Ms. Savage said she is stepping down to spend more time with her family and thanked both Mr. Kenney and Ms. Smith for their trust in her. She also pledged her support for the Premier in the general election.