Nadine Wellwood disqualified from UCP nomination

Nadine Wellwood, who announced in late October she was seeking the UCP nomination in Livingstone-Macleod, has reportedly been disqualified.

She announced on Monday, Nov 7, that she'd received a letter informing her that the Party Candidate Selection Committee had rejected her application after a referral from the Executive Director of the UCP. 

I will be appealing the decision of the Executive Director, Provincial Candidate Election Committee to disqualify my nomination for Livingstone-Macleod. I will stand with the grassroots who want to decide for themselves who their Candidate should be.https://t.co/BKHWmwL2aJ

— Nadine Wellwood (@NadineWellwood) November 8, 2022

According to her statement, she says she was told the decision related to interactions on social media:

"The reasoning given for my disqualification, most are conjecture or a matter of personal opinion based off of social media posts I had interacted with, as little as a “like” or a retweet, in the past. Similar disqualifications were conducted under the previous UCP Leader, in ridings like Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre or Cardston-Siksika, to ensure a preferred candidate would be selected. "

Wellwood points to "gatekeepers installed by Jason Kenney," and believes her disqualification was an intentional move from the sitting UCP board to remove her prior to the newly elected board being instated later in the month.

She's stated that she intends to appeal the decision and continue to campaign in the riding.

Sitting MLA Roger Reid announced last week that he would not be seeking reelection next year.