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Stephen Lougheed says he’s upset by Jason Kenney’s “disingenuous” praise of his father, the late premier Peter Lougheed. At worst, he finds it “hypocritical.”

Lee Richardson, former Conservative MP and close Lougheed aide, goes further.

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“It turns my stomach,” he says of Kenney’s frequent attempts to link himself to Lougheed, who was the Progressive Conservative founding premier, serving from 1971 to 1985.

A week before the United Conservative Party leadership vote, the lid is popping off Alberta’s eternal battle between Lougheed-style progressives and the Reform-Conservative school, of which Kenney is a charter member.

Many heirs of Lougheed’s politics think a Kenney victory will be a final divorce decree for progressives and the UCP. They tend to favour candidate Doug Schweitzer, who presents himself as fiscally conservative and socially progressive.

If Kenney wins, many of these people may migrate to the Alberta Party. Some are already holding organizing meetings.