Go Ad Free

The United Conservative Party concluded its 2025 annual general meeting in Edmonton on Sunday. Members gathered to vote on policy decisions and UCP party leadership roles.

Aside from the regular conversations on policy measures, this year's convention had a shadow cast over it by the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between Alberta and Ottawa last week.

Critics of the new agreement — including Rebel News publisher Ezra Levant — point out that while a new pipeline from Alberta to the B.C. coast may not materialize until 2040, the deal requires Alberta to increase its industrial carbon taxes by April of 2026.

The MOU caused a divide, leaving UCP members temporarily in two camps: those celebrating potential energy industry growth allowed by the deal, and those seeing it as a non-legally binding document that allows the federal government to retract certain measures at will. A pipeline has been promised, but no shovels have started digging.

We spoke to members attending the UCP's convention to get their reaction to this new deal with Ottawa. Attendees shared significant reluctance to the agreement, and separatists found themselves emboldened, as deals with Ottawa do have a history of not panning out the way many in Alberta would hope.

Despite pushback by some UCP members, Premier Smith remains steadfast in her decision, while many hopefuls and celebrators of the deal remain focused on the fruits this MOU tree could soon bare.