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Kenney went on to win the PC leadership, then merged the party with the Wildrose party to form the UCP.

Jansen, meanwhile, crossed the floor to the NDP and is now minister of infrastructure under Premier Rachel Notley.

SheLeads is led by Laureen Harper and former federal Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose.

In her speech, Harper, a longtime political strategist and organizer, told the women the biggest step is winning the candidate nomination, since candidates have to build their campaigns from scratch.

“Your nomination meeting and your nomination is the hardest thing you’ll ever do. If you win, it gets easier. It’s still hard but you do have a team,” said Harper.

Ambrose told the crowd the hardest step comes earlier, making the mental leap of self-confidence to run and believe in yourself rather than put up artificial barriers.

Ambrose said too often when she urges women to run they come up with a list of reasons to wait — more education, more experience — telling her “I’m not ready yet.”

Ambrose said when she makes the same political pitch to a male he responds “Sign me up.”

“We need to get rid of that disconnect,” said Ambrose.

Shannon Stubbs, an Alberta Conservative MP, was among those in the crowd.

In an interview, she said candidates need to park any shyness or self-modesty and tap personal contacts at the start — men and women, family, friends and business contacts — to cement the foundation of a political network that will be energized to come out and vote for them on nomination day.