Danielle Smith says she’ll call up UCP officials not signing anti-separatism pledge

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Danielle Smith said it's not an issue of free speech and she wants the United Conservative Party to work as a team to win next year's provincial election.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she’ll be making phone calls to cajole officials in her United Conservative Party who are pushing back on her attempts to quell separatist activism in the ranks.

“This isn’t about free speech or reducing free speech,” Smith told reporters at an unrelated news conference Friday.

“However, if they are in a spokesperson role for our party, then the job is to make sure that they’re reflecting the policies and principles of our party.”

Smith’s comment comes as some UCP officials have refused to sign a new code of conduct stating they’ll publicly respect the results of last month’s referendum. About 75 per cent of voters said they want Alberta to stay in Canada and not hold a second, binding vote on separating.

The CBC reported earlier this week that all 87 UCP constituency association presidents were asked by the party’s executive director to sign the code of conduct by the end of Friday.

But in a response letter, 15 presidents say they won’t be signing the pledge.

They say the board doesn’t have the power to make a demand that amounts to being punished for holding a position on a political issue. They say it’s a matter of free speech.

Smith, asked what she plans to do in response, said she’ll “give them a call.”

“I am gonna talk to them. Because I think people need to understand that this is really about what political parties are for: political parties are designed to win elections,” she said.

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