Article content

It’s a three-man race in the bid for United Conservative Party leadership after candidate Jeff Callaway quit the race to back Jason Kenney.

“There are three weeks left in this race; I’m just going to work hard to try to put Jason Kenney over the top,” Callaway said Wednesday.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or United Conservative Party leadership candidate Jeff Callaway drops out of race, endorses Jason Kenney Back to video

Kenney, former leader of Alberta’s Progressive Conservatives, will square off against former Wildrose leader Brian Jean and Calgary lawyer Doug Schweitzer. The UCP will announce a leader Oct. 28 after votes are cast in a one-member, one-vote preferential ballot system.

In an interview with the Calgary Herald, Callaway said he had made no deal with Kenney either before launching his campaign or in making his decision to withdraw.

Callaway had touted a series of “big ideas,” including having the Alberta government purchase the Port of Churchill in Manitoba as an outlet for a new oilsands pipeline. But he drew the most notice for his attacks on Jean over his leadership style and issues such as a potential deficit in the UCP caucus.

Jean’s campaign called Callaway’s decision an “ineffective Kenney campaign stunt” in a statement Wednesday.

“Brian thanks Jeff for his past service to the Wildrose, but our campaign is not at all surprised with how this has played out,” the statement said. (Callaway was a former Wildrose party president.)