To buy a UCP membership or not? Albertans chat about ‘strategic voting’ ideas as leadership race inches closer

As the United Conservative Party leadership race inches closer, a lot of non-conservatives in Alberta are chatting online about buying UCP memberships.

Their overall goal is to try and influence the contest and help decide who will run the province between now and the next election.

I'm going to buy a UCP membership…my hope for temporary premier is none of them, but sometimes you gotta sleep with the "devil" until the real election. It's an anybody but Danielle Smith until another orange crush

— Terra (@justmoi99) July 29, 2022

However, as the discussions continue a lot of people are warning it isn’t a good idea.

“Here we’ve got an actual fight not just for the next Premier but also the character of the party,” Mount Royal University Political Scientist Lori Williams said.

“Many people on social media are warning [that] first of all, the money that you contribute to buying a membership goes to a party you may or may not want to support in the long run, and secondly, you’re giving your private information to them which could be used in ways you don’t want down the road.”

I'm not sure if the best thing is to buy a UCP membership, vote for Smith, and then defeat her in the next election. Electing her will blow up the UCP, and it needs to be blown up.

— Andy von Busse ???????? ????????⚛️ (@Andy_von_Busse) July 29, 2022

If you dislike her, the simple strategy is to encourage all your friends to buy a UCP membership, vote for her (so she wins). She'll then need to focus on the general election (no time to damage Alberta worse), and because she's awful, Notley beats her easily. Right? So simple

— Don't forget the C (@WildeWestHero) July 28, 2022

She draws comparisons between this and the 2011 Progressive Conservative leadership contest.

“In 2011, many will recall that a number of people took out memberships in the Progressive Conservative party in order to be able to choose — or have an input at least — on who the next Premier of Alberta would be, and the same sort of dynamic may be going on currently,” Williams added.

“There are a lot of variables in place today that I don’t think were in place in 2011. There wasn’t the same kind of divide in the party in 2011. In other words, it was mostly progressive conservatives in the Progressive Conservative party, and the further right conservatives, the social conservatives, libertarians, and so forth were [in the] Wildrose party. Here we have an actual fight not just for the next Premier but also the character of the party.”

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The Alberta New Democrats have slammed the idea several times.

NDP MLA Janis Irwin took to social media to say she’s received a lot of messages from people asking about voting strategically and trying to influence the UCP leadership race.

“By joining the UCP, you give them more than your money. You give them your data. You give them power,” she explained in a Tweet.

“I promise you, it’s so much better to fight for something than against it.”

You have a choice. You can choose a better government. #abndp #ableg pic.twitter.com/gKC3jQLZZK

— Rachel Notley (@RachelNotley) August 4, 2022

NDP leader Rachel Notley also chimed in, saying not to hand over your money, information, or time to the UCP.

“I would certainly urge people not to do that. Let me say, I understand, it’s been a tough three years, and people have been frustrated and also very worried about the future,” Notley said.

“We are a province where for much of the last 40-years, people felt that their only way to engage politically is to try and navigate between who is the lesser of two evils within one party. However, that’s not the situation we’re in anymore. In Alberta, we have a different party. It’s the Alberta NDP.”

The deadline to purchase a UCP membership to vote in the leadership race is next Friday.

The vote will take place on Oct. 6 mostly through a mail-in ballot system — there will also be five in-person polling stations across Alberta.