PC party to probe harassment allegations after Sandra Jansen and Donna Kennedy-Glans drop out of race

The head of Alberta's PC party says she will take swift action to investigate allegations of intimidation and harassment after the onlytwo women running for the leadership dropped out Tuesday.

Sandra Jansen and Donna Kennedy-Glans socially progressive voices within the party both gave notice on Tuesday that they were withdrawing.

Kennedy-Glans the former PC MLA for Calgary-Varsity stated she felt there was no room for centrist views within the party. Jansen,the PC MLA for Calgary-Northwest, created even more of a stir when she said she was harassed online and at the PC Party convention last weekend in Red Deer.

"This past weekend in Red Deer has left me quite shaken," Jansen said Tuesday in a statement. "As you know, I have been a member of thePCAA[Progressive Conservative Associationof Alberta] since 1985. I have volunteered for several leadership campaigns, constituency races, party president contests and more than a few general elections.

"In all of that time, I have never before experienced harassment like that which occurred up to and including this past weekend in Red Deer."

• No women left in race to lead Alberta PCs; Sandra Jansen cites harassment and intimidation
• Unconventional Panel: Shades of Trump-style politics right here in Alberta?

On Wednesday morning, PC party president Katherine O'Neill told the Calgary Eyeopener that she would be taking the allegations to the leadership election committee later in the day.

"I'm just very disappointed,"O'Neill said.

"Wehave two passionate, articulate women who have been long-time members of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta and I was looking forward to having them in the race."

The committee, which she chairs, is made up of volunteers from across theprovince.

"We will be getting to the bottom of this,"O'Neill said.

"They bothhad very different visions about how to improve not just the party, but the province. It's just a very disappointing day."

'There was much hope that we would have seen a female president'

8 years ago

Duration 0:41

Speaking Wednesday, Premier Rachel Notley said the combination of Clinton's loss and the abrupt departure of the only two females from the PC leadership race was a step back for women.

Premier Rachel Notley said the allegations were "deeply troubling".

"Yesterday was not a great day for women in politics in Alberta," she said during a media scrum on Wednesday.

She saidit's up to the PC Party to set things right.

'We welcome all people to the party'

The departures leave four candidates in the race to lead theparty:former Calgary MP JasonKenney, PC MLA RichardStarke, former PC MLA Stephen Khanand Calgary lawyer Byron Nelson.

• Five against one: PC leadership debate a battle against Jason Kenney's vision

"We've committed to Albertans that we're going to run an open, fair and transparent race, and we want to make sure that when allegations like this come forward, that they are taken very seriously and that they are dealt with in a quick manner," O'Neillsaid.

"I don't want women tothink this is a hostile place to come ... that our political party does not welcome you, this is just not the case. We welcome all people to the party, no matter the gender."

In her release, Jansen said she has been harassed online and her social media feeds have been "filled with filth."The final straw in Red Deer was when "insults were scrawled on my nomination forms."

"Volunteers from another campaign chased me up and down the hall, attacking me for protecting women's reproductive rights,and my team was jeered for supporting children's rights to a safe school environment."

Jansen also cited Kenney'stactic of busing in youth delegates to the convention in Red Deer, alleging that longtime youth members were "pushed aside from executive positions so one candidate could garner a few extra delegates."

Kennedy-Glanssays she does not believe the PC Party is a hostile environment for women, but offered support to Jansen.

"I didn't see it, but when I chatted with Sandra, I was aware that she wasn't feeling really comfortable,and I felt very saddened by that," she said.

She said dropping out of the race at the same time was purely coincidental.

"It was actually a very coincidental thing that we both announced our withdrawal within 15 minutes of each other. And Icare deeply that any person male, female, young, old faces that kind of harassment.That is just wrong."

'This is really shocking':political scientist

Mount Royal Universitypolitical scientist David Taras says Jansen's allegationsareunprecedented.

"This is really shocking. My first response is shock, my second response was shock," Taras said.

"This alters the race completely. All the pieces on the chessboard change."

Jansenhas notresponded to interview requests.

Kenney, a former Calgary MP, has polarized debate in the PC leadership race. The other candidates are running on a platform to revitalize the party, which finished third in the 2015 election.

• MORE POLITICAL NEWS|Premier Rachel Notley says U.S. election will have impact on Alberta
• MORE POLITICAL NEWS|Clinton, Obama wish Donald Trump success as president

Kenney is running on a promise to call for a membership vote to collapse the party, then seeks to merge it with the Wildrose Party and create a new big tent conservative coalition he said is critical to defeating Premier Rachel Notley's NDP in the 2019 election.

The Wildrose is viewed as more socially conservative than the PCs, and bothJansenandKennedy-Glanshave said they worry Kenney is taking the PCs down the same path.

Jansenhas often sparred with the Wildrose in the legislature and has previously said if Kenney wins the race, she'll quit the party. In her letter Tuesday, she took a parting shot at Kenney.

"Work for a candidate who opposes the Trump-style politics imported to Alberta from Ottawa," she wrote.

With files from theCalgary Eyeopenerand The Canadian Press