The internal workings of the United Conservative Party under Premier Danielle Smith are nowadays quite murky. But now and again we hear of wars, and rumours of wars, even if the end is obviously still to come.
So it was … interesting … when would-be UCP éminence grise David Parker took to Twitter yesterday to rant about UCP Provincial Board President Cynthia Moore, casting a little light on the division within the party.
Mr. Parker is founder and apparent leader of the UCP’s anti-vaxx, anti-gay, anti-Canada Take Back Alberta faction. Formerly preferring a background role, he has lately taken to making ill-tempered, even demagogic public speeches about people and things he dislikes.
Ms. Moore, he complained yesterday, “has become a tyrant.”
While Mr. Parker didn’t explain in detail what his problem with Ms. Moore is, the Globe and Mail had provided some worthwhile background on their dispute shortly before he published his Twitter screed.
Ms. Moore, it turns out, has refused to knuckle under to Mr. Parker’s demand that one of his TBA cadres already on the party’s governing board be appointed to run the UCP’s annual general meeting in Calgary on Nov. 3 and 4.
Disagreements between Mr. Parker and Ms. Moore have occurred before, for example when she disqualified a loony-right riding nomination candidate that TBA supported in the lead-up to last month’s general election, which saw the UCP returned to power.
In 2021, Ms. Moore refused to move up the date of a leadership review for then premier and UCP leader Jason Kenney, which was being demanded by a group of mostly rural constituency associations, as yet unlabelled TBA, but clearly under the influence of Mr. Parker and his compadres.
Well, Mr. Kenney is long gone and the TBA’s leadership candidate, Ms. Smith, is premier, but another go-round of the revolution within the revolution in the UCP was probably inevitable.
“As reported in the media – from a leak she or one of her minions provided – she is attempting to run the democratically elected board of the party by degree,” Mr. Parker wrote, presumably meaning “by decree.” He was obviously referring to the Globe’s report the day before.
“This makes her leadership illegitimate and anti-democratic,” he asserted. “She must be removed.”
One imagines almost any democratically elected leader dealing with an opposition fringe like TBA would disagree with Mr. Parker’s thoughts on how a representative democracy ought to operate, although he was right to say performative openness to extreme ideas was always part of the predecessor Wildrose Party’s formula, at least until it became inconvenient.
“Any attempts to silence the voices of the democratically elected representatives is a threat to democracy,” he asserted, to which Ms. Moore would doubtless respond that no one is being silenced.
Be that as it may, Mr. Parker claimed Ms. Moore has “even gone so far as to say, ‘I am the party’” and that she “believes that as President she has almost limitless powers to silence the democratically elected board.”
Presumably in Mr. Parker’s small universe, only he is allowed to say, “l’UCP, c’est moi!”
Half the UCP party board, of course, is now controlled by TBA cadres, and Mr. Parker has made no secret of his intention to see TBA controlling the rest as soon as possible.
Since the remaining nine seats will be up for grabs at the fall AGM, Ms. Moore’s own job, presumably, is on the line should she decide to make a stand against TBA.
Trowelling it on, Mr. Parker went on: “This power hungry tyrant has become a libility (sic) to our party. She is attempting to make the United Conservative Party an elitist club that she controls. This must be stopped.”
In addition to who gets to run the AGM, at issue in the ruckus is the related question of how much it should cost delegates to attend the meeting at Calgary’s Grey Eagle Resort.
Mr. Parker and TBA favour a low ticket price, making it easier to storm the citadel with their insurgents, not all of whom have deep pockets.
The remaining Kenney-era party brass, doubtless concerned about the damage TBA could do once firmly entrenched in total control of the party, prefer a higher sticker price, the better to keep the riffraff at bay. Their official excuse, however, is that they’ve got to raise enough dough put on a decent convention.
The sticker price battle, as the Globe explained, “is a proxy for the larger clash over the direction of the party.”
If Mr. Parker’s overheated rhetoric is anything to go by, it’s going to get nasty.
Oh boy it looks like things are going to get spicy. How can they call themselves the United Conservative Party if they aren’t even United. This whole situation has become a political circus.
To be fair, they’re not really conservative either. I guess it would be tough to sell the Christofascist, Anti-elite, Anti-fact, Faux-Libertartian Party of Alberta.
Well, here we go. Danielle Smith, populist extraordinaire and queen-wannabe, meet David Parker, demagogue-in-training and would-be revolutionary. May your relationship be confrontational and aggravating for both of you.
Hi Dave … I spent way too much time here with “is at on”
” Moore’s own job, presumably, is at on the line”
Power hungry tyrants angry other power hungry tyrants exist. Are we ruled by weasels in the gunny sack of Alberta? I’m going with yes.
Lungta: Should read … “is on the line.” It’s been fixed. Many thanks. DJC
Ha, I like “weasels in the gunny sack;” I called Smith a weasel yesterday for her tepid support of Moore. I think Smith will abandon anyone who is no longer useful to her, including Moore, Parker, the TBA, and the whole UCP.
It’s going to be a scorcher of a summer. Does anyone think “Spider” Parker can survive the heat in his black turtlenecks? If he can’t take the heat, will he make the AGM?
On another awkward note, what is with Smith’s awkward handshakes and awkward hugs? Yet another politician that’s not much of a people person?
Abs: My observation would be that Ms. Smith is very warm and very natural with people she likes. DJC
Many said the same of Boris Yeltsin. Mmmm. I get your point! If Dani lasts for two years? I’ll be surprised.
David Parker really does need the services of a good shrink, self delusion is not a pretty thing.
Will there be tickets for sale to the AGM?
Looks like Parker took a look at things and decided he too could be Premier if he got rid of Smith, just like she became Premier by getting rid of Kenny (with the assistance of others).
If Parker is able to remove Moore from her job, when will Smith be deposed.
Looks like Praker considers himself the best candidate but heavens knows why.
This ought to be entertaining.
It’s only a matter of time before the kingmaker decides that he would like to be king.
Nasty? I looked it up. The Pinocchio Premier is leading the Nasty Party! Yay!
https://youtu.be/ovCf9VRLnDY
Having attended a TBA event and seen the David Parker’s wannbe Commander Waterford performance first-hand, I have already noted that he is a small man, who is filled with complaints, anger, grievance, and hatred against anything and everyone who doesn’t fit into his The Handmaid’s Tale mindset. (While that TV series was groundbreaking, the worst thing about it is that it showed the Alt-Right and Christian Nationalists that the reality they desire is not only possible, they gave them a templet for its execution.)
So, Parker is going for the big Kahuna and wants the whole UCP — all of it. The only reason he has this very public feud with Cynthia Moore is that she has balked at bending to his will. Maybe Parker, while able to organize the UCP base for a win in the last election, has proven himself to be too much of a troublemaker. Moore has already denounced Parker as a tyrant, so the gloves are now off. Make no mistake about it: this is civil war.
Parker has the temperament of a religious fanatic and he sees Moore as replaceable for being a woman, but also for resisting Parker’s will and worst instincts. Having endured hearing Parker launch into a airing of his personal grievances against Jason Kenney (for the high crime of not obeying Parker) I have no doubt that Moore is wondering what kind of insanity she has bought in to. Parker has every intention of mobilizing his forces to oust Moore (either by procedure or threats) and replace her with some more to his liking. Now that Parker has a Byfield (Vincent) in his corner, it would appear that the conflict will be a scorched earth one.
Judging by the insanity that has already been demonstrated by aggressive TBA-inspired demonstrations at Drag Queen Reading Hours, a recent Leduc council meeting, and skid marks over Pride crosswalks, there can be no doubt that TBA adherents are rearing their ugly intentions and forcing them on others.
Where does this leave Danielle Smith? Her only concerns are getting R-Star through and selling the dining car restaurant she may or may not own.
Just wait for the Alberta anchluss in Saskatchewan! Some advantage! But Dani will be gone. So there is that! https://youtu.be/LyPFQKpRnd0?t=1
Shortly after Brian Jean was elected Wildrose Party leader 15 or so years ago, friends of mine started mentioning him, inviting me to wildrose party events and onto some “invite only” private social media forums.
Neither of these two friends had been overtly political.
A few years went by and one of the friends told the other friend, who told me, something strange.
The first friend claimed to have traveled to China, claimed to have met with Chinese government officials and was now convinced that the Chinese political system was necessary for Alberta.
I dismissed this as nonsense.
Finally, after several more years of subtle invitations into wildrose party belief, one of them said this to me in a frustrated voice:
“You should be with us. You’re a blond, blue-eyed straight white christian of northern European descent, with a university education. You should’ve had six or seven white children.”
That was it for me.
It was an interesting experience rejecting membership into a group that so clearly wanted me to join. Superficially, I checked all their boxes. I suppose I was a show dog.
I don’t know if Brian Jean is a white christian nationalist, never met him, but these supporters in Calgary clearly are.
They are former friends now. But persistent in their beliefs.
It’s far easier to con the country people with this extremism, as Take Back Alberta knows.
Most Albertans knew full well that the toddler Smith UCP was even more riven than the infant K-Boy version before they cast their votes on May 29—which is probably why the Opposition NDP won 14 more seats (up from 24). Yet just over half of the electorate voted for the UCP, anyway, despite its innate ideological schizophrenia and its schismatic prognosis.
Apparently the (bare) majority doesn’t mind a governing party which will a) waste time trying to avoid tearing itself apart while fomenting infighting between its two main factions and, b) do whatever it takes to hold onto power without necessarily earning it through good public policy. It’s as if these voters want government to be so small and inert that it really doesn’t matter whatever the UCP does or how ulterior its preoccupations are to the public good: that’s supposed to take care of itself—theologically, anyway.
The UCP has waxed arrogantly about what the limitation of limited government ought to be. It is misguided by the concepts of low taxes (taken to blatant extreme of less-than-zero, or ‘negative taxation,’ as letting Big Petroleum off the hook for cleaning up its own mess, for example, effectively is), and the notion of reduced services (as paying for healthcare out-of-pocket, for example, effectively achieves). We know the TBA won’t tolerate government authority— even during a public health crisis! For this UCP-dominating faction, active or progressive government only distorts the supposed ‘natural’ status quo. When governance is delegated to the virtual corporate petro-state which equates its best interests with the province’s, the feral libertarian and the Freedumbite can rest assured that government has been shackled to its proper place: merely a stage upon which the UCP can perform its Punch and Justine show while its special Edmonton advisory commission applauds its pay and promotion over the NDP representatives constituents actually elected—which just goes to show (once again) what the UCP thinks of democratic principle. Scrawled on its unregulated bard’s battered acoustic guitar, the slogan, “This Party Kills Federal Governments,” hardly needs an encore.
I doubt all UCP voters really believe it can do what a party is supposed to do— solicit ideas, form policy proposals by cooperative debate, deliberation, and compromise, and vet them so they don’t conflict with the body of Common Law or the Canadian Constitution: the UCP’s factional dilemma precludes it. So these voters must either think the party will mend itself —which seems most unlikely given it’s even more divided now than it was during its astoundingly schismatic first term—or will destroy itself—that is, retrogress into the two parties which existed separately before the K-Boy’s fudgey faction-fusion. Imagine!—electing a party one expects to split and thereby forfeit power.
Now that would be absurd, maybe even more so than Donald F tRump himself—unless there be some credence to the idea that the only way—the best or fastest way—to reform/resurrect conservatism by aborting the irredeemable far-right Maverick-Buffalo-Wexit-TBA faction is to purposely let it try and fail at government, to give it enough rope to hang itself authoritatively. The odds seem pretty good. This could be the sentiment of a ProgCon trapped in a UCP body but not quite so uncomfortable as to come out and vote NDP: chi can expect, maybe even contribute to the moderate conservative’s growing desire to deal with the partisan right’s factional dilemma by somehow scraping the far-right turd off its boots without condemning the possibility to form a new, moderate Tory party. The notion swings on the fact that any party can get itself into more condemnable trouble while in power than it can in opposition. Again with regard the UCP, the odds seem pretty good.
I’d wager most real conservatives know full well that the dichotomy afflicting virtually every nominal Conservative Party in the Western World is unsustainable, and that even winning power won’t stave off eventual demise but, instead, merely delay the inevitable.
The UCP is dysfunctional as a party therefore cannot very well function as a government for all Albertans. All governments everywhere are going to have to cooperate legislatively in order to meet the mounting challenges facing us. If the UCP can’t even be an ordinary government, it certainly can’t, a fortiori, be the kind of extraordinary one Albertans (and everyone else) are going to need. The fact will probably be enough to repel the remaining support the UCP would need to keep power. We can’t discount that some of its voters understood all this before casting for the UCP but rather postponed their exit to the NDP to first make sure—to make damn-sure the UCP is fatally wounded —and that would be best done by re-electing Danielle Smith premier.
Scotty: methinks you are too cunning for me. Electing the UCP is all about continuing to loot Alberta. If that means demonizing various flavours of religions and people when convenient, so be it. The goal of looting the province’s resources, justifies any method.
“We can’t discount that some of its voters understood all this before casting for the UCP but rather postponed their exit to the NDP to first make sure—to make damn-sure the UCP is fatally wounded —and that would be best done by re-electing Danielle Smith premier.”
While I wish this were true, I don’t think most voters are that cunning (maybe some, but too few to make a difference). Indeed, if a horribly dysfunctional UCP party that couldn’t forestall a public civil war could still get elected in 2023, I really don’t know if there is any hope come next election. Then again, maybe it all comes down to economics – the UCP was fortunate enough to have hung on long enough for the price of oil to recover…if that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have bet on them being re-elected.
TBA is amateur. Smith’s inner circle will dispose of them shortly. Kenny made the mistake of trying to appease everyone.
The public sector unions, on the other hand, are exceptionally well organized and funded by coerced contributions into perpetuity. The NDP could never dispose of them.
Don’t worry, Doug, union busting “right to work” laws are in the works (except for police unions, for some reason, eh?)
Unions belong to the elected membership, the NDP has nothing to do with them and your read of politics is amateurish at best. Stick to sports maybe.
Yes Danielle “14 words” Smith, the seasoned political pro got elected entirely by her own gumption, she owes nothing to TBA for sending Jk packing and ascending her to the premiership, a radio host by trade, an an absolute opportunist by reputation. I’m sure she’ll consolidate power once she figures out which way the wind is blowing on her many gaffes and scandals, any day now she’ll reveal her true genius.
We’d better brace ourselves. It’s going to get really ugly in Alberta, under the UCP.
Parker, a wanna-be tyrant himself and member of the lunatic fringe of the UCP, had another public melt-down. Who ever said these people were stable?
“This power hungry tyrant has become a libility (sic) to our party. She is attempting to make the United Conservative Party an elitist club that she controls. This must be stopped.”
[libility as both neologism and Freudian slip that is suggestive of a David Parker character trait: c.f., labile: “of or characterized by emotions that are easily aroused or freely expressed, and that tend to alter quickly and spontaneously; emotionally unstable”]
As opposed, one supposes, to the sound and fury of an ‘elitist club’ masquerading as a populist endeavor that David Parker controls: Where an ELITE “is a group of persons who by virtue of position or education exercise much power or influence: a member of such an elite.” And where:
“Parker is a professional political organizer with deep ties to the conservative establishment in Canada. Parker’s work history includes political staffer positions in Stephen Harper’s Prime Minister’s Office, various Conservative MP’s offices and later with Jason Kenney’s UCP leadership team. A graduate of Trinity Western University, Parker was also involved with the evangelical school’s Laurentian Leadership Centre, which connects ambitious young social conservatives with jobs in government. He later landed a job in the Prime Minister’s Office as Stephen Harper’s regional adviser for the Prairies. Following a stint with the federal conservatives, Parker helped Kenney “unite the right” in Alberta as Membership Chair for the Wildrose Unity Campaign. . . . ”
Dissonance in this case also means that a certain individual is cynically and deliberately maximizing the trope that suggests that individuals acting as useful idiots that know a little about any given subject are more dangerous that those useful idiots who know nothing at all.
The religious zealotry and ‘the signs from God’ take everything to a whole new level of inmates taking over the asylum crazy : “To me that was absolutely astonishing,” said Byfield. “Very clearly there was a strong desire from Albertans, primarily rural Albertans, to get this man gone. I thought that was a sign from God. I knew that what was happening must be God-driven, so I wanted to find out more about David.” The cold psychological and emotional exploitation of the targeted audience is as impressive as it is calculated.
Is this Parker guy even an Albertan? I wonder if he is part of the Laurentian shadow elite from Ontario, against which today’s conservative do existential battle, but from which they all to often are birthed. It speaks volumes that guys like Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney come to Alberta with a completely misguided understanding of what, traditionally, constitutes Alberta conservatism. They hide this by hanging out in central Canada and only occasionally popping into the homeland. The odd time they actually try to build a nest in Alberta, they fail miserably (Kenney) because they are too out-of-step with the real political culture of the province. In short, they imagine Alberta to be a conservative Shangri-La when, in fact, it is not.
I would have to double check the limited reporting but yes I believe he is indeed from Ontario. (DJ ?)
Cynthia Moore should enjoy the victory. It is probably her last.
TBA, as in PWA, AGT, Registries, ALCB stores, Kananaskis golf course, Department of Highways, hundreds of campsites…?
Oh, the glory days of the last few months of Kumbayah in the UCP! Any regrets, people? Wondering if Danielle the Demented, as party leader, has any role in this little dust-up??
It sounds like Mr. Parker’s home schooling didn’t touch on Roberts Rules of Order, or what ever similar rules the party adopted when if formed. The chairman does, by those rules, have the authority to declare a motion out of order.
If, after the November AGM, the UCP is controlled by the TBA, it is, in effect, a different party, and this should trigger another general election to determine if Albertans want to be ruled by such an extreme right wing party. Any thing else is non-democratic, in effect a bloodless coup.
Here is David Parker’s followup to his previous comments this evening:
Reasons that Cynthia Moore must go:
1: She called members of the UCP a “security risk” and treated grassroot Albertans like criminals. This resulted in a half baked decision to cancel the Special General Meeting in Red Deer on April 9th, 2022.
2: Cynthia has been consistently at war with the democratically elected board of the United Conservative Party. Silencing them, ignoring their motions, and using procedural trickery to avoid democracy;
3: Ms. Moore allowed for the demonization and disqualifcation of Tim Hoven to protect Kenney’s chief crony, Jason Nixon. When the local CA asked for the nomination to be re-opened, she lead the charge to protect Nixon;
4: There is absolutely no rational argument for ticket prices to be over $200 per ticket. Her inability to put on an event for a reasonable price shows that she does not have the administrative abilities to manage donor funds appropriately;
5: Cynthia has yelled at, harassed, bullied, and belittled regular party volunteers in her witch hunt to find anyone associated with Take Back Alberta. Despite the fact that without the efforts of those Albertans, Kenney would have lost to Rachel Notley.
Cynthia Moore must go. She can do the right thing and resign now; agree not to run for President again; or she will be humiliated at the Annual General Meeting in November.
His latest Twitter post can be found here.
Well sensei? Ihave the perfect cancon song for you. Why we’re still in this mess? There’s no song for that! https://youtu.be/DIhF2jE3DVk?t=6
It will be interesting to see what comes from this. Commander Parker has decided to cast Moore as a Kenney ally, a Trojan Horse, if you will. He’s decided to ramp up the allegations against Moore that she is an establishment hack, who must be ousted. Parker’s assault on Jason Kenney did have more bite as it was close to an election, when the UCP was looking their mortality in the face. With the election passed, will Danielle Smith be willing to tell Parker to pound sand?
It’s highly questionable if Smith’s interests extend further than getting R-Star through. Does Smith actually have the belief that the UCP should serve all Albertans and not just a narrow and insane interest? At the moment, it appears that Smith has turtled-up and decided that the internal partisan bickering in the UCP is too hot to touch. But what if she decides that Parker is the one who brought her to the dance and she better be faithful to him? She did attend his wedding, so that alone establishes that Smith is in Parker’s inner circle of intrigue.
Once the reality of governance starts to sting, and it becomes clear that Smith ordered the province’s financial books to be cooked, she may look more and more to Parker to save her hide.
No sleep until R-Star; or not sleep at all.
Well in Parker’s defense, Smith does have a history of disappointing her supporters. However, in this case it may be premature speculation. I doubt she will cross the floor to join the opposition, who of course in the current situation wouldn’t want her.
Despite Parker’s questioning her legitimacy, he has even less. At least Smith was elected in a general election. Yes, it was a close race and no doubt even a lot of Conservatives had serious reservations, but she was elected. Who elected Parker?
Despite this all, he may be able to stack the UCP meeting and take control of the party and perhaps after that exercise control over Smith or try get rid of her. Those old style conservatives better raise the price of admission to their meeting to an uncomfortably high level, otherwise things could get very interesting and difficult for them soon.
I notice Parker’s Twitter avatar is of Napoleon in exile–but then in every insane asylum there’s always at least one guy who thinks he’s Napoleon.
Jim: That’s so 1950s. Nowadays, every asylum has a Donald J. Trump. If it seems like there are fewer DJT’s than threre used to be Bonapartes, that’s because most of the asylums have been closed and their members left to wander the streets. DJC
Yep, and one of them became the 45th President of the United States.
Even so, Dave, if Marco Van Huigenbos goes on to form his own right-wing party—which, given how the forces of historical materialism operate in Alberta politics, is a near certainty—maybe he can call it the Waterloo Party. I’m surprised he hasn’t begun using one of Goya’s portraits of the Duke of Wellington as his avatar.
Conservative politicians should have to pay a fee every time they use words like “tyrant” “liberty” or “elitist”. This guy is just playing conservative word salad and what is up with the Steve Jobs turtleneck ?
I would love to read any additional reporting on Parker’s backers, and his connections to the shady spooked up UK think tank that he is a (board?) member of. Really seems like he’s tryin a hostile takeover.
Did you mean …
https://www.ditchley.com/mr-david-parker
Among some other treats that pad Commander Parkers CV …
https://www.libertascapital.ca/
https://www.high-ground.ca/ Looks like another cannabis grift.
Yeah I’m talking about Ditchley uhh grassroots politicians are not board members of groups like Ditchley, the dude smells IMO
Oh, no! Two scorpions in a jar fighting to the death. Who do I cheer for?
Or, do I hold out hope that both die? UCP or TBA, or both? I’ll get the popcorn. Either way, my guess is Albertans will get screwed no matter what.
Two scorpions in a jar fighting to the death, or snakes on a plane? Either way, Just Me is going to have to pass the popcorn.
Just like that, TBA is breaking apart. It’s in debt and the leadership team is parting ways.
https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/braid-cracks-appear-in-take-back-alberta-as-cfo-calls-parkers-attacks-disgusting
I’m not sure, but your paraphrasing of Louis XIV’s famous, « l’état, c’est moi » should probably read either « le PCU, c’est moi », or « le PUC, c’est moi », depending on whether “United Conservative Party” translates to « Parti conservateur uni » or « Parti uni conservateur », although I think it would be the former. However, « mon français est trop faible pour que je soit certain » (my French is too weak for me to be sure).
Nonetheless, your column is exactly « à point ».
Merci, Jerry. DJC
I’d like to point out a minor factual error. Cynthia can’t disqualify candidates herself – that’s the work of the PCSC, which is a sub-committee of the board. She might be a member of the PCSC in question but doesn’t get any overriding authority. I was a member of that committee for a good chunk of 2022 and I can say from experience it’s a team effort.
David Parker blaming Cynthia Moore for the leak is laughably incorrect. The leak happened via a TBA message board – that’s where I got it, and I can assure you that I’m not a TBA member.
The motion that Cynthia didn’t allow forward was an incorrectly formed motion. It was inherently out of order. As President it was Cynthia’s job to reject it but that’s a bureaucratic detail. Rather than repeat myself I’ll point you to this: https://joemightberight.substack.com/p/tba-hows-the-takeover-of-the-ucp
I’ve known Cynthia for years. I never heard her say “I am the party” but if she did I’m sure it was taken out of context. She was elected as President by the members and she has done the job with skill and grace; David Parker’s only achievement is to tear down institutions he disagrees with by leveraging lingering anger over COVID policies. His only accomplishment will be to disenfranchise the 49% of UCP members who voted against leadership review and 45% who voted for Travis Toews. I wonder what that will do to outcomes in Edmonton and Calgary?
Joe: Thanks for this clarification. It’s very useful. I DON’T know Cynthia, but I never believed for a moment that she said what Mr. Parker attributed to her. I assume he was being rhetorical, but who knows? I do believe there’s more to Mr. Parker than meets the eye – and who funds TBA, and for what reason, is near the top of my list of related questions. DJC