Returning UCP MLAs say it was a long four years sitting in opposition against the former NDP government, and they’re looking forward to getting to work as the first session of the 30th Alberta legislature starts.
“It’s good to be back,” said Transportation Minister Ric McIver, who was re-elected in Calgary-Hays on April 16. “I tell you, it was a long four years.”
“It matters a great deal to me what decisions are made, and I disagreed with a large number of decisions made in the last four years. We didn’t have the ability to stop those decisions.”
McIver and Mike Ellis, who was elected for the third time in Calgary-West, are among the veterans in the UCP caucus.
Ellis said Tuesday’s swearing-in had particular significance.
“This one here is specifically filled with hope and optimism, and I was really excited.”
The swearing-in ceremony for the United Conservative Party MLAs was the first event in a jam-packed opening day of session. MLAs will choose a new speaker and deputy speaker on Tuesday afternoon.
The government will lay out its agenda in a speech from the throne on Wednesday.
Among the 63 government MLAs were two who faced controversy during the election campaign. Peter Singh, the MLA for Calgary-East, had his business searched by the RCMP in relation to an investigation into allegations of voter fraud during the 2017 UCP leadership vote.
Singh has said through his lawyer that he did nothing wrong.
Mark Smith, the MLA for Drayton Valley-Devon, was re-elected with 71 per cent of the vote on April 16, despite the emergence of a sermon where he likened homosexuality to pedophilia and suggested gay love is not real love.
In his speech following the ceremony, Premier Jason Kenney praised the youth and diversity of his caucus, though only 15 of the 63 MLAs are women.
The 24 members of the NDP official opposition took their oaths of office in a separate ceremony last week.