Two candidates in the recent Highwood United Conservative Party nomination election have filed complaints regarding what they felt were irregularities in the process. Carrie Fischer filed a seven-page report in late October to the party expressing her concerns while incumbent Wayne Anderson has filed his issues with Elections Alberta. The Oct. 16 Highwood UCP nomination was won by RJ Sigurdson of Okotoks, who is a former president of the constituency association. “I think there were serious irregularities with the process conducted in Highwood,” Fischer said. “There were just degrees of bias present with the group that was organizing the vote and the entire nomination process.” Fischer said she was approached by several people about various concerns, which is what led to her filing the complaint to the party. She said one of her concerns was that not all the contestants were given the same access to the membership list as one candidate. She was also disappointed a polling station was not in the Black Diamond-Turner Valley area, where she had heavily campaigned. Fischer said the Highwood Constituency Association had pushed for two polls but it was the decision of the Local Constituency Nomination Committee (LCNC) to have just the one poll in Okotoks. “I just heard from several sources that there were certain behaviours from individual members and collectively the LCNC, behaviours, that led me to question, and others to question, the integrity of the process and the neutrality of the process.” Fischer received notice in late November her concerns were studied by the party, but determined there was no wrong-doing. UCP president Erika Barootes said the party has investigated a complaint about the proceedings. “In October 2018, the United Conservative Party received a formal complaint regarding the personal conduct of one of the Highwood constituency association’s volunteers on the local candidate nomination committee,” Barootes said in a prepared statement. “The Party immediately took steps to review the complaint including discussions with both the complainant and the volunteer in question and after reviewing the situation, it was determined that there was no breach of the code of conduct that governs constituency association volunteers.” Fischer has since asked for further explanations and about the appeal process. Anderson filed his concerns with Elections Alberta on Dec. 5. “I had read some of the rulings and the process and after a conversation with key individuals there, they suggested I file a formal complaint which I did last Wednesday,” Anderson said. “I cannot share the details right now.” He would not speculate as to the result, but he is confident it will be handled thoroughly. “I am positive they are going to go through it with a fine-tooth comb and they won’t have a political slant on it. They are going to be independent and we will see what the results will be,” Anderson said. “But I did find some irregularities in the nomination process based on Alberta Elections process.” Dan Onerheim, who was the head of the three-person LCNC said he has a confidentiality agreement with the party and could not comment to specifics. “There were some allegations made and some complaints filed with the party,” Onerheim said. “The party did an extensive and long investigation process, because they wanted to be thorough. “The result of that was the allegations were found to be unfounded and the complaint was dismissed because there were no irregularities.” He added the LCNC is overseen by UCP officials. Sigurdson said while he has heard there was a complaint about the nomination process, he is not privy to the details. “The nomination process is controlled by the party and I am sure if there is a complaint, they have a very rigourous investigation and my understanding is they found no issues with the nomination,” he said. During the campaign a formal complaint was made with the party against Fischer concerning her access of working in Foothills MP John Barlow’s office for her campaign. The complaint, which was not filed by one of the contestants, was dismissed. “Those things happen during campaigns but what I will say is I never at any point campaigned from that office,” Fischer said. “I have work to do serving those constituents of Foothills. When I am in the office, that is what I am doing.” Meanwhile Fischer would like for Highwood UCP constituent members to go back to the polls. “I think Highwood should have an opportunity to vote in a fair and neutral nomination process,” Fischer said. “I think Highwood should be able to decide who they want as their candidate without the interference of behaviours that question the integrity of the process. “I think at the end of the day, there is enough skepticism about the integrity of elected officials and politicians that we owe it to voters that they are participating in a process that has a high-level of integrity.” Dean Leask, who also ran in the race, did not wish to comment.
