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“What that will do is force all MLAs to vote, up front, in the first week of the legislature, on a standard that we expect them to respect in the future,” Kenney said.

Kenney has no problem with an MLA leaving a party in which they’ve lost confidence, and sitting as an independent.

“That’s legitimate,” he said. “But if they decide to change entirely the political program they ran on, then I think they need to renew their mandate with the voters.”

When asked why it didn’t constitute floor-crossing when more than 20 Wildrose and Progressive Conservatives MLAs joined the then-new UCP in 2017, Kenney said it was because conservative MLAs joined a conservative party formed with the consent of party membership.

Recall legislation

If elected in the spring, a UCP government would also introduce legislation so voters can recall their MLA.

The law would be based on similar legislation in British Columbia which allows people to remove their MLA and force a byelection if 40 per cent of eligible voters in a constituency sign a recall petition.

“I think the recall provision just keeps something in the back of the minds of MLAs,” Kenney said. “If they totally violate the trust of voters, there is an instrument of accountability, and I think that’s a positive mix in our democratic system.”

Tightening PACs

The NDP regularly harks back to its first government bill and “getting big money out of politics” when it banned corporate and union political donations, but it seems the UCP is pilfering that phrase this election.