The United Conservative Party laid off seven caucus staffers Friday to deal with a potential $337,000 deficit, the Journal has learned.

The job cuts came after UCP brass grappled with plugging a caucus funding hole last week.

Distroscale

Caucus officials and interim party leader Nathan Cooper didn’t return calls about the layoffs Friday, nor were staff commenting.

Those who lost their jobs were mostly staffers who came to the UCP caucus from the Wildrose side of the bench.

That includes three people who remained loyal to the party and helped build it up again after the disastrous 2015 floor-crossings that decimated the Wildrose.

A handful of Wildrose-side UCP MLAs recently pegged the financial problems on their former leader Brian Jean.

So too did former PC leader Jason Kenney and past Wildrose president Jeff Callaway, both of whom are running against Jean for the leadership of the United Conservative Party.

Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

On Friday, Kenney called the layoffs “regrettable.”

“It concerns me, because one of the core values of this new party is fiscal responsibility, which is why I’m pointing out the overspending was not a decision made by the UCP caucus or its MLAs or interim leader,” Kenney told the Journal.

“These were decisions made by Mr. Jean, for which he must be held accountable.”

Other UCP MLAs from the Wildrose side stuck by Jean, saying he kept everyone appraised of the financial picture.

Jean told the Journal on Friday that caucus had been fully briefed on the financial implications of unity. He said layoffs were unavoidable when the PC and Wildrose caucuses merged and doubled-up on positions.

Still, he said it was hard to hear who ended up on the chopping block and he would reach out to all of them to offer his support and thanks.

“They’re hardworking and good individuals,” he said.

“These are my friends and people I worked with for a long time. I have a lot of faith in them, but I don’t make those decisions anymore.”

Along with the job cuts, caucus leadership was considering asking MLAs to dip into their allowances to help cover the financial gap. There’s no word yet on how many might do that.

It’s within the rules for MLAs to give cash back to caucus, but they’re limited to 25 per cent of their budget (around $40,000).

The combined UCP caucus is entitled to around $1.9 million for the remainder of the fiscal year, which comes from taxpayers through the Legislative Assembly Office.