Alberta’s United Conservative Party has rejected a potential election candidate who compared vaccine passports to the policies of Nazi Germany and spread misinformation about COVID-19 online, setting up a potential showdown between the party’s provincial board of directors and the disqualified politician’s local supporters.
Cynthia Moore, the president of the UCP, confirmed on Tuesday that the party had disqualified the politician, Nadine Wellwood, as a potential candidate for the southern Alberta riding of Livingstone-Macleod. Ms. Wellwood has appealed the decision, and Ms. Moore said the board will soon meet to review the case.
Ms. Moore would not say what had prompted the disqualification, though Ms. Wellwood released a statement on Monday that said the party had told her she was rejected because of posts she interacted with on social media.
Ms. Wellwood’s appeal will test the newly reconstituted UCP board’s stomach for controversial candidates ahead of Alberta’s 2023 general election. Ms. Wellwood, a former People’s Party of Canada candidate, was the only potential UCP candidate left standing in Livingstone-Macleod after Roger Reid, the riding’s MLA, withdrew from the nomination contest.
Ms. Wellwood said in her statement that she has the “unanimous” support of the riding-level vetting committee and will continue to campaign. She blamed the party’s decision on “gatekeepers” installed by former UCP leader and Alberta premier Jason Kenney, who was replaced in both roles by Danielle Smith last month.
“The party elite have overreached their authority and this action itself threatens the integrity of the UCP by denying the grassroots members and their chosen local committee members the choice in who represents them” in the general election, Ms. Wellwood said in her statement.
The UCP’s rules for selecting candidates allow for appeals to the party’s board of directors. The board’s subsequent decision is considered “final and binding” and can’t be appealed further, the rules say.
Ms. Wellwood’s social media is littered with misinformation. On Oct. 16, for example, she promoted a letter from an Alberta doctor who is no longer practising, which claimed 80 young Canadian physicians had died suddenly since the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. The Canadian Medical Association, on Twitter, called such theories “disinformation.”
She has also questioned the validity of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, spread Russian propaganda about the war in Ukraine and pushed ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19, despite medical authorities debunking that idea.
Ms. Wellwood declined an interview on Tuesday, but in an e-mail she said she was confident the appeal would go her way.
She drew an analogy between the party’s decision to reject her candidacy despite local support and what she characterized as federal meddling in Alberta’s affairs.
“Alberta expects the federal government to remain in its own lane and respect provincial jurisdiction, and from a principled perspective, I believe that local nominations should be respected,” she wrote.
In an earlier statement, before the party’s decision, she defended her opinions.
“As the media often only presents a scripted narrative that reflects only one side of the argument today, I firmly believe that it is necessary to encourage discussion and debate that reflects other viewpoints,” she said.
Asked whether she believes her positions are accurate and appropriate for an elected official, she said: “I believe in principles and values and I believe that to live in a free society we must be willing and able to express our opinions and respect the right of others to respectfully disagree.”
Mr. Reid, the outgoing MLA, previously told The Globe and Mail he would not support Ms. Wellwood if she succeeded him as the UCP’s nominee, because he does not believe her online activity reflects the concerns of residents in the riding.
UCP members last month elected nine new directors to the party’s board, which consists of 18 members with voting rights, including Ms. Smith. Take Back Alberta, a populist organization that opposes vaccine requirements and public-health restrictions, endorsed all of the new directors. It also supports Ms. Wellwood.
Rebecca Polak, a spokesperson for Ms. Smith, said the Premier will rely on the party’s rule book when it comes to Ms. Wellwood. “The party has a process for dealing with internal party business and we will defer to them,” she said.
Ms. Smith’s leadership campaign focused on grievances related to the pandemic. She was criticized for describing the unvaccinated as the most discriminated-against group she had seen in her lifetime. She has also promoted debunked treatments for COVID-19, such as ivermectin.
Carrie Tait