The Two Battles of Alberta

(Ottawa) There are two hot topics these days in Alberta: hockey and politics.

In hockey, the series between the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers – the first meeting between these two great rivals in three decades – has captured the attention of the sports world in Canada. Game 1 was won by the Flames 9-6 on Wednesday, a scoreline rarely seen in the playoffs. This offensive festival ended in hubbub. The tone has been set for the second game, which will take place again in Calgary this Friday.

In politics, Jason Kenney lost his bet to remain premier of Alberta just hours before the referee gave the official face-off at the home of the Flames. The cabal led for several months by a large and noisy fringe of the United Conservative Party got the better of the man who, not so long ago, was considered the most prominent provincial leader.

Mr. Kenney tendered his resignation after winning just 51.4% support in a vote of confidence on leadership. According to party rules, this score would have been enough to keep him in office. But if he had tried to hang on, the party would have been condemned to sink into the division 12 months before the next provincial elections.

The spotlight across the country will continue to be on these “Two Battles of Alberta” over the next few days. But only the battle for the leadership of the United Conservative Party will have significant effects on the Canadian political spectrum.

Clearly, Mr. Kenney has drawn the ire of diehards in his party over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the imposition of health restrictions, among other things. “Mr. Kenney was kicked out of his party because it is not extreme enough,” Tourism Minister and Associate Finance Minister Randy Boissonnault, one of two Liberal MPs elected in Alberta in the last election, said Thursday. federal.

He also made mistakes along the way that made headlines, including being photographed on a building patio in Edmonton with cabinet colleagues enjoying a beer while the rest of the public couldn’t drink at the local pub. His decision to invest $1.3 billion in the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline before President Joe Biden rescinded the presidential permit needed for the project hurt his reputation as a good steward of public funds.

This did not prevent Mr. Kenney from traveling to Washington on Tuesday, hours before knowing his fate, to urge the Biden administration to revive this controversial project during testimony before members of the Energy Committee and Natural Resources of the Senate.

In the April 2019 provincial election, the United Conservative Party led by Jason Kenney won power with 1,040,563 votes. Kenney, who was one of the most influential ministers in Stephen Harper’s Conservative government in Ottawa before entering provincial politics, was essentially fired on Wednesday by 16,660 of the roughly 32,000 party members who took part. vote of confidence and refused to support his leadership.

Clearly, times are tough for conservative leaders. In January, it should be remembered, the leader of the federal Conservative Party, Erin O’Toole, was removed from office by a simple vote of the members of the Conservative caucus less than four months after suffering an electoral defeat at the hands of the Liberals. by Justin Trudeau.

In December 2018, the magazine Maclean’s had published on its cover a photomontage bringing together the main Conservative leaders – the premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, the premier of Manitoba, Brian Pallister, the leader of the federal Conservative Party, Andrew Scheer, the leader of the United Conservative Party, Jason Kenney, and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe. “Resistance”, titled the magazine to illustrate the common front of these tenors of the conservative movement against the Trudeau government’s carbon tax.

On Wednesday evening, the former Minister of the Environment of the Trudeau government Catherine McKenna had fun by publishing on social networks the same one of the magazine with an X out of three of the leaders who were no longer in charge: Brian Pallister, Andrew Scheer and Jason Kenney. She could also have pointed out that Doug Ford was no longer at loggerheads with Justin Trudeau, quite the contrary.

“Thank you Jason Kenney for all your contributions. During the hardships of the past two years and your decades of public service, you have defended the interests of Alberta and Albertans, and I wish you the best of luck for the years to come,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reacted on his twitter account.

At least two candidates have already confirmed their intention to succeed Jason Kenney. Two candidates who expected to have his head sooner or later: Brian Jean and Danielle Smith, two former leaders of Wildrose, a party that merged with the Progressive Conservatives to form the United Conservative Party in 2017.

Mr Jean had lost to Mr Kenney in the inaugural United Conservative Party leadership race. He never stopped criticizing him and decided to return to politics in favor of a by-election to dislodge him.

M^me Smith, who worked as a radio host after a previous stint in provincial politics, had previously indicated she wanted to return to politics to lead the party as the postal vote on Mr Kenney’s leadership was in full swing . Others, like Finance Minister Travis Toews, are under consideration. But the next few months promise to be tumultuous in Alberta. A leadership race leaves its mark and the United Conservative Party is far from being… a political formation where unity reigns. In Alberta, many are now preparing for the return to power of Rachel Notley’s NDP.