Former federal cabinet minister Jason Kenney’s plan to seek the Progressive Conservative leadership and unite the right has prompted mixed reactions across the province and in the St. Albert area.
Many who hold conservative views welcome Kenney’s announcement, delivered Wednesday in Calgary, but there are indications he may not receive such a warm reception from the PC party he hopes to lead into a merger.
St. Albert resident and former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk, who said he is mulling his own bid for the PC leadership, was particularly critical of Kenney’s record and his stated plan.
First and foremost, he said he doesn’t understand why someone with Kenney’s clearly articulated social conservative values would want to run for a progressive party that doesn’t seem to fit with his views.
“It’s not a well-kept secret that even conservatives refer to Mr. Kenney as an ultra-conservative,” Lukaszuk said.
He pointed to the many other social conservative parties in Alberta, past and present, where those to the right of the PCs have found their homes, as being a better fit for a man who over the course of his career has been at odds with PC premiers.
“He’s on the record fighting with every single Alberta premier, including Ralph Klein when (Kenney) was with the (Canadian) Taxpayers’ Federation,” he said.
Then there’s the matter of the vote taken at a recent PC meeting where the vast majority of those voting opted to seek to renew the party rather than seek a merger with the Wildrose.
Lukaszuk also questioned whether Kenney could unite a party and maintain all of its members.
“If you add PC to Wildrose, one plus one does not equal two because I will no longer be part of this new party,” he said, adding others on the far right might also leave to form something new.
He also questioned Kenney’s motivations, suggesting he was seeking power for the sake of power rather than articulating a clear vision for Albertans to buy into.
Kenney’s socially conservative views, and the perception he’s seeking power for its own sake, are also big concerns for St. Albert NDP MLA Marie Renaud.
“I’m going to wait and see what he has to say, but certainly I haven’t seen eye to eye with his beliefs or comments when he was an MP, so it will be interesting to see how that goes provincially,” she said.
Questions about his social values came to the forefront on social media following his Wednesday announcement, when she posted on Twitter asking him point blank: “Just one question for Mr. Kenney, Pro-choice or not?”
Renaud then revealed she had had an abortion and was thankful to have had the choice. This prompted a flood of replies, both supportive and unsupportive, about which she declined to comment.
Politically, she said she was not particularly concerned about the prospect of a federal cabinet minister seeking the province’s top job, and would simply continue to do the job St. Albertans elected her to do.
Vocal support
While there has been some vocal criticism of Kenney’s plan, there has been plenty of outright support as well, from both PC and Wildrose supporters.
Richard Plain, a long-time supporter of the PC party in St. Albert, said ultimately a united right-wing party in Alberta would be a positive, as it was at many different points in Alberta’s past. He added Kenney had a good shot at making that happen.
“There’s someone that’s coming from a right-of-centre approach that proposes to provide the leadership needed to take the PC party out of the wilderness and create the big tent party,” he said.
It will also be important for Kenney to do it properly, he noted, and not make the kind of “backroom deals” Prentice made in his infamous attempt to unite the right that ultimately lead to his electoral loss.
Plain noted that ultimately what Albertans want, particularly after a year of NDP government, is someone to articulate a plan to get spending back in line with revenues, without going to either extreme of slashing expenses or drastically raising taxes.
Support for this kind of measured approach was echoed by Liam Connelly, who has been involved with both the PC and Wildrose parties, as well as the political action committee the Alberta Prosperity Fund, which has been pushing for a united right-wing party in the province.
He said while polls have suggested the majority of the members of both parties would like to see a united right, the friction has more been with the personalities at the top.
“The stumbling block has been the leadership of the two parties,” he said. “Who gives a rat’s patoot about what the current leaders want? The needs of everyday Albertans are greater than their needs.”
Connelly noted the mass-appeal of both Wildrose and Progressive Conservative brands may be somewhat tainted, and said a new party driven by the membership is likely what will emerge if this effort is to be successful.
He said he sees Kenney as a good person to lead this effort, given his experience with the unification of the former Reform Party and federal Progressive Conservative party into the Conservative Party of Canada.
“What has (Wildrose leader) Brian Jean already said? ‘I might want to talk about this if I find the right dance partner,’” he said. “Well guess what Brian, the right dance partner just showed up and your dance card better be empty.”
Local officials with the Wildrose party have also pledged significant support for Kenney’s effort, and in particular Spruce Grove-St. Albert constituency association president Jaye Walter who has also been involved with the Alberta Prosperity Fund.
He was unambiguous in his support for a united alternative to what he described as the “accidental government” of the NDP, and was equally unambiguous in his support for Kenney.
“Jason Kenney has a proven reputation and ability to unite groups of conservatives across the country,” he said. “In Alberta, it should not be that difficult.”
Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken was somewhat more measured in his support for the idea, saying he welcomes any discussion of providing Albertans a united alternative to the NDP.
“What Jason is doing is allowing people right across Alberta to have that discussion, and look at what that means moving forward,” he said. “I think it’s a good thing for Alberta that we’re having open discussions about that.”
He emphasized however, than any decisions about how this process takes place must keep the desires of the grassroots membership of both parties at the forefront.
“The will of the people has to be recognized; that’s paramount here,” van Dijken said.
