After a night of delays, the vote count came hard and fast, resulting in Danielle Smith being named the new leader of the UCP and the next premier of Alberta.
“I’m back,” Smith told the audience after taking the stage.
Smith said the night marked the beginning of a new chapter for Alberta.
“It’s time for Alberta to take its place as a leading partner in building a strong and unified Canada,” he said.
“Alberta will no longer ask Ottawa for permission to be prosperous and free.
“We will not have our voices silenced or censored.
“We will not be told what to put in our bodies so that we can work or travel.
“We Albertans, not Ottawa, will chart our own destiny on our terms and work with our fellow Canadians to build the freest and most prosperous country on earth.”
Smith won in the sixth and final vote of the night, defeating his nearest challenger Travis Toews, a former minister under outgoing UCP leader and premier Jason Kenney.
He had 53.77% of the vote to Toews’ 46.23%.
Brian Jean, Rebecca Schulz, Todd Loewen, Rajan Sawhney and Leela Aheer were eliminated in previous rounds.
Smith thanked his fellow candidates, “for their commitment to our party, but also to democracy,” and said he looked forward to working with many of them.
He also thanked Kenney, saying he has fought for Albertans for decades in various capacities.
“First as an advocate for taxpayers, then as one of the most influential Conservative cabinet ministers in Canadian history, then leading the charge to unify the Conservative movement, leading and defeating Rachel Notley’s NDP, then governing as premier of one of the most tumultuous times in Alberta’s history,” he said.
Apparently, it won’t be a long wait before Smith takes over the Prime Minister’s Office.
He said Thursday night that he would travel to Edmonton next Tuesday to be sworn in.
He said he “can’t wait” to get started.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Albertans, it’s that we don’t expect our leaders to be perfect, but we do expect them to stay humble, admit when they’re wrong and learn from their mistakes,” he said. .
“I love this about our province and I am grateful to have earned this second chance from you.
“I’ll never forget it, and I promise tonight I won’t let you down.”
Loewen, after being dropped from the race, said he felt he gave some Albertans a voice in this campaign.
“There were a lot of Albertans who felt they weren’t heard over the last three years,” he told CTV News on Thursday.
“I had a lot of support across the province, of course not as much as I expected and not as much as I needed, but we ran a good, hard campaign and we ran a positive campaign.”
He says he’s still proud of his campaign and it was good to see so many Albertans buying into the party.
“I will happily congratulate (Danielle).”
Loewen was not alone in accepting that the vote did not go his way.
“I am a team player. I’ve said it all along. So we’re going to spend every day for the next seven to eight months making sure we see a Conservative government elected here in Alberta again,” Schulz said after his elimination from the race.
Jean, shortly before being dismissed, said that whatever comes, is the result of the speech of the members, and that is what matters.
“The most important thing is that the members have had their say and this is what they want to see happen,” Jean said.
“We’ll see where it takes us, but we have to make sure that whatever happens, we stick together.”
The UCP event and leadership results were originally expected to start at 5:30 pm MT, but were delayed.
More than 250 volunteers were called in to help count some 85,000 ballots, the vast majority of which were cast by mail.