Has Jason Kenney lost the moral authority to lead Alberta?

[JM_]

Fascinating information about the UCP leadership race has emerged, showing collusion between Jason Kenney and another UCP leadership candidate to rig the leadership campaign against Jean and get Kenney elected. 

 

Given all at the outrage over SNC Lavalin, it seems appropriate to put the same lens on Alberta. To me, Kenney rigging the leadership race is about as blatantly a political gain move as it gets. 

 

I'm curious if there are any CDC'rs who were uncertain about whether or not to vote for Kenney or Jean for UCP leader, and how you feel about what Kenney did. Is it time to un-unite the right? 

 

Here's some more background on Kenny-gate:

 

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/belongs-on-house-of-cards-ndp-slams-kenney-in-wake-of-document-reveal

Documents showing Jason Kenney’s UCP leadership campaign corresponded over a so-called kamikaze campaign to undermine competitor Brian Jean during the party leadership race is like something out of “House of Cards,” says Deputy Premier Sarah Hoffman.

 

https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/keith-gerein-ucp-leadership-revelations-a-scandal-of-ethics-integrity-and-hypocrisy

 

 

[xereau]

Jason Kenney is a US neo-con puppet. The end.  Somewhere in the background Karl Rove is lurking.

[JM_]

4 minutes ago, xereau said:

Jason Kenney is a US neo-con puppet. The end.  Somewhere in the background Karl Rove is lurking.

maybe they met at that exclusive back woods retreat that the cons like to go on. 

 

I know I'd be very po'd if Trudeau had done a back room collusion deal like this to beat Garneau. So far the UCP is saying this is all fine and within the rules, but I don't see how you can't feel played if you are a UCP member who was unsure which way to vote. 

[canuckster19]

Sounds like an idiot... background please?

[thedestroyerofworlds]

Nope, at least for the large number of knuckle dragging Conservative type voters who have done nothing but complain about the NDP since they were elected.

[xereau]

Just now, Jimmy McGill said:

maybe they met at that exclusive back woods retreat that the cons like to go on. 

 

I know I'd be very po'd if Trudeau had done a back room collusion deal like this to beat Garneau. So far the UCP is saying this is all fine and within the rules, but I don't see how you can't feel played if you are a UCP member who was unsure which way to vote. 

Would you believe that Stephen Harper (Harper and Kenney are tied at the hip) was a personal guest of Rove to the RNC in '88?

 

Whole damned world is a stage....

[MikeBossy]

13 minutes ago, Jimmy McGill said:

Fascinating information about the UCP leadership race has emerged, showing collusion between Jason Kenney and another UCP leadership candidate to rig the leadership campaign against Jean and get Kenney elected. 

 

Given all at the outrage over SNC Lavalin, it seems appropriate to put the same lens on Alberta. To me, Kenney rigging the leadership race is about as blatantly a political gain move as it gets. 

 

I'm curious if there are any CDC'rs who were uncertain about whether or not to vote for Kenney or Jean for UCP leader, and how you feel about what Kenney did. Is it time to un-unite the right? 

 

Here's some more background on Kenny-gate:

 

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/belongs-on-house-of-cards-ndp-slams-kenney-in-wake-of-document-reveal

Documents showing Jason Kenney’s UCP leadership campaign corresponded over a so-called kamikaze campaign to undermine competitor Brian Jean during the party leadership race is like something out of “House of Cards,” says Deputy Premier Sarah Hoffman.

 

https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/keith-gerein-ucp-leadership-revelations-a-scandal-of-ethics-integrity-and-hypocrisy

 

 

They have no choice but to unite the right in order to win the next election - I miss my BC political system where at least governing party change happens more than once every 40 years - honestly at this point I am leaning towards the Alberta party. 

[Toews]

Nor is there anything normal about one campaign hosting a “thank you” party for a supposed rival who has dropped out of the race, which is also alleged in the timeline.

 

Zero subtlety. Didn't they watch House of Cards? You have such conversations in the back of a limo in minimal lighting. 

[JM_]

Here's the story to date:

 

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/what-we-know-about-the-kenney-callaway-saga

 

UCP Leader Jason Kenney has been fielding questions about an RCMP investigation and allegations of a kamikaze campaign during the 2017 party leadership race. Ahead of what will undoubtedly be a heated election, the ongoing controversy has taken centre stage in Alberta politics.

Here’s what we know so far.

What’s happening in a nutshell?

In 2017, Kenney squared off against contenders Jeff Callaway, former Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean and Doug Schweitzer to successfully win the title of UCP leader.

Former party insiders have accused Kenney’s team of collaborating with Callaway’s campaign to sink Jean’s chances at winning the leadership race. The accusation is that Callaway targeted Jean during debates and media appearances, allowing Kenney to avoid making the attacks himself.

Callaway withdrew from the race just before the vote and endorsed Kenney. They have both denied making a deal.

Over the weekend, leaked emails between staff on the campaigns inflamed the issue.

There are also allegations of irregular donations to Callaway’s campaign. Alberta’s Election Commissioner Lorne Gibson handed an investigation about this to the RCMP saying its seriousness transcended his purview.

The accusations by former party insiders, which surfaced late last year, include that individuals put money into Callaway’s campaign through other people who falsely claimed to be the actual donors. That’s illegal under Alberta election laws.

Who’s involved?

Jeff Callaway

Callaway repeatedly took aim at Jean, Kenney’s main rival, throughout the UCP leadership campaign during debates and interviews.

At a press conference on Aug. 29, 2017 about what he labelled his “Big Ideas” for the UCP, Callaway didn’t have much to say about Kenney’s then lack of policy, but belittled Jean’s policies as “taking 101 positions” during the race.

“I’m not entirely sure what he thinks the party should do in developing policy — or whether he even feels like he needs a party,” Callaway said at the time, adding Jean was being “disrespectful” to the UCP membership.

When asked how much he disliked Jean, Callaway paused before saying, “We have different styles of leadership, I’ll put it that way.”

One month later, Callaway was the only candidate to be booed by the audience at the Edmonton UCP leadership debate, after he repeatedly attacked the former Wildrose leader.

Afterwards Callaway denied he was taking personal attacks too far, saying, “I’m just talking about track records and the issues.”

Jason Kenney

Kenney has said that his team met with Callaway in the summer of 2017 to seek an endorsement, but learned Callaway was considering his own bid. Staff between the campaigns kept in touch after that, he said.

He denied that Callaway was placed as a candidate to ruin Jean’s campaign.

He also said his campaign was in full compliance with election and financial rules.

When asked about the RCMP investigation into irregular financial donations, Kenney noted it’s related to another campaign. He nor his staff have been contacted by police, he said.

Kenney also told reporters that he asked his staff in late fall whether they had heard or seen anything related to the Callaway campaign donation issues, and the answer was no.

Kenney’s senior staff

Leaked emails showed regular communication between Matt Wolf — Kenney’s current deputy chief of staff, the man behind the official Twitter account for Kenney’s office and a senior member of his leadership campaign staff — and Callaway’s campaign manager, Cameron Davies.

Another senior member of Kenney’s team, Blaise Boehmer, was also mentioned in the recent leaked emails. The day that Callaway announced he was dropping out of the UCP leadership race, Boehmer sent Davies a draft press release with suggested quotes for Callaway.

Cameron Davies

Davies, Callaway’s campaign manager, was slapped with a $15,000 fine for “obstruction of an investigation” in February. He was working as an independent contractor with the UCP since November. His contract was terminated when the election commissioner’s office provided the notice of the penalties.

Brian Jean

Jean weighed in on the issue on social media, saying that he had warned the UCP and former prime minister Stephen Harper about the kamikaze campaign issue, but to no avail.

“No one called me back. Nothing was done. People involved in this mess were kept on payroll and remained candidates,” he wrote on Facebook.

Campaign donors

On March 6, the UCP dumped Calgary-Beddington candidate Randy Kerr for failing to inform the party about a $4,000 contribution he’d made to the Callaway campaign.

The UCP said there was nothing improper about the donation itself and it wasn’t related to Kenney’s campaign.

Kerr also previously worked on Kenney’s PC leadership campaign.

UCP member Karen Brown was fined by the commissioner’s office for donating money that came from other people to Callaway’s campaign.

What will happen now?

Premier Rachel Notley has promised an election before May 31. There’s little information on what the RCMP investigation will focus on, or when it might be completed.

Alberta’s Election Commissioner Lorne Gibson has been regularly updating a list of administrative penalties levied against people online. Presumably, as the election nears, he will continue to examine potential violations.

The UCP is also dealing with other allegations of voter fraud by former UCP MLA Prab Gill, who left the party after his own controversy related to allegations of ballot stuffing. The UCP sent him a cease and desist letter after he contacted the RCMP outlining his allegations.

The UCP also recently posted a controversial video online of Gill walking out of an office after he met with the premier’s staff.

Kenney has said Gill’s allegations are “outrageous.” None of Gill’s allegations have been proven.

Politicians return to the legislature Monday for a throne speech.

[canuckster19]

Do they have any kind of chance at gaining power?

[JM_]

7 minutes ago, MikeBossy said:

They have no choice but to unite the right in order to win the next election - I miss my BC political system where at least governing party change happens more than once every 40 years - honestly at this point I am leaning towards the Alberta party. 

yeah no doubt. 

 

tbh this is something I would have expected out of the current BC Liberal party under Wilkinson. I doubt this alone is enough for the 60% or so conservative voters to vote NDP, but I don't live in AB so I really don't know how this will play out with people there, so i'm very curious what the Albertans on the board think. 

[Violator]

After that whole tfw fiasco a few years ago when he was still with the federal government id never vote for him.Instead he should be tarred and featherd 

[MikeBossy]

2 minutes ago, Jimmy McGill said:

yeah no doubt. 

 

tbh this is something I would have expected out of the current BC Liberal party under Wilkinson. I doubt this alone is enough for the 60% or so conservative voters to vote NDP, but I don't live in AB so I really don't know how this will play out with people there, so i'm very curious what the Albertans on the board think. 

Well I am a transplanted BC born and bred guy who has been an Albertan since 2010 (I consider myself in exile from my beloved home province until I convince my Albertan born girlfriend to move back to BC)

 

I always felt the NDP victory here in the last election was a protest vote and no matter what Notley does she will be destroyed in this next election. Albertans love their conservatives and I think Kenney fits that to a T. I personally think he could come into most Albertans homes - take a dump on their floor and blame it on Notley and they would believe him. I am not nor have I ever been a Conservative - I honestly don't understand the appeal of right wing politics but I truly feel for Brian jean as he seems like a very sincere guy and would probably be the best option for Premier here in Alberta.

 

What confounds me here is the fact they go through these cycles of downturn over and over yet all most Albertans do is b&tch and moan about the rest of the country not caring when I look at it and think "Of course they don't care - you've had all this revenue ever since oil was first discovered yet with the exception of Lougheed your leaders have basically pissed it away. The leaders here seem to be like most Albertans I have met here - they have this believe system that the revenue will always be there and they spend like there is no tomorrow. Again I am an outsider looking in but having lived 40 of my last 49 years in BC I watched us take hit after hit in the lumber sector and at least we clued in to diversify the economy through different means and not be so reliant on one revenue stream. AND as much as Prairie folks hate it sales tax generates revenue for governments. 

 

So I could be wrong but that's why other provinces don't care as much as about Alberta as Albertans want them to - could be wrong. Point is they need a new vision and I don't see Kenney being that guy - Cons solution has always been cut services and privatize - thing is they are out of things to sell.

 

There's my 2 cents Mr McGill

[brownky]

I hate politicians. Scumbags seeking power and personal profit at the expense of other citizens, and at any cost to them.

 

And watching a commons 'debate' is ridiculous; these grown children shouting at each other, over each other, talking like schoolchildren tattling on someone else while they deflect, deny, and disavow. NUH UHHH YOU GUYS ARE THE WORST. *rabble*.

 

They get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to do that.

 

[Warhippy]

22 minutes ago, canuckster19 said:

Do they have any kind of chance at gaining power?

It's Alberta, he looks like Randy bo Bandy from the TPB and he's conservative with a history of bigoted statements, hypocrisy;ocrisy, cheating and avoiding responsibility.  He'll win a majority

[brownky]

5 minutes ago, MikeBossy said:

Well I am a transplanted BC born and bred guy who has been an Albertan since 2010 (I consider myself in exile from my beloved home province until I convince my Albertan born girlfriend to move back to BC)

 

I always felt the NDP victory here in the last election was a protest vote and no matter what Notley does she will be destroyed in this next election. Albertans love their conservatives and I think Kenney fits that to a T. I personally think he could come into most Albertans homes - take a dump on their floor and blame it on Notley and they would believe him. I am not nor have I ever been a Conservative - I honestly don't understand the appeal of right wing politics but I truly feel for Brian jean as he seems like a very sincere guy and would probably be the best option for Premier here in Alberta.

 

What confounds me here is the fact they go through these cycles of downturn over and over yet all most Albertans do is b&tch and moan about the rest of the country not caring when I look at it and think "Of course they don't care - you've had all this revenue ever since oil was first discovered yet with the exception of Lougheed your leaders have basically pissed it away. The leaders here seem to be like most Albertans I have met here - they have this believe system that the revenue will always be there and they spend like there is no tomorrow. Again I am an outsider looking in but having lived 40 of my last 49 years in BC I watched us take hit after hit in the lumber sector and at least we clued in to diversify the economy through different means and not be so reliant on one revenue stream. AND as much as Prairie folks hate it sales tax generates revenue for governments. 

 

So I could be wrong but that's why other provinces don't care as much as about Alberta as Albertans want them to - could be wrong. Point is they need a new vision and I don't see Kenney being that guy - Cons solution has always been cut services and privatize - thing is they are out of things to sell.

 

There's my 2 cents Mr McGill

The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund is now over 1 Trillion. But they have more foresight than 'the next election cycle' with that.

 

We have no politicians who can get to a point where 'today doesn't matter, tomorrow matters more, but next week matters most'. The country could be set forever with the reserves on tap, but it's been pissed away every single time. I look for it to happen again on the next cycle too; ironically, given the timeframe, I feel like the next one really will be the last real 'cycle' of it. There'll still be demand, no question, but I feel like we're coming to a critical mass point where the developing nations that would have more relied on oil to power their transition are instead going to look to the ever-cheapening (especially long term) alternatives. So it won't be so much as an oil boom, as an oil 'hum'... and the competition for that will be pretty fierce.

[Warhippy]

10 minutes ago, MikeBossy said:

Well I am a transplanted BC born and bred guy who has been an Albertan since 2010 (I consider myself in exile from my beloved home province until I convince my Albertan born girlfriend to move back to BC)

 

I always felt the NDP victory here in the last election was a protest vote and no matter what Notley does she will be destroyed in this next election. Albertans love their conservatives and I think Kenney fits that to a T. I personally think he could come into most Albertans homes - take a dump on their floor and blame it on Notley and they would believe him. I am not nor have I ever been a Conservative - I honestly don't understand the appeal of right wing politics but I truly feel for Brian jean as he seems like a very sincere guy and would probably be the best option for Premier here in Alberta.

 

What confounds me here is the fact they go through these cycles of downturn over and over yet all most Albertans do is b&tch and moan about the rest of the country not caring when I look at it and think "Of course they don't care - you've had all this revenue ever since oil was first discovered yet with the exception of Lougheed your leaders have basically pissed it away. The leaders here seem to be like most Albertans I have met here - they have this believe system that the revenue will always be there and they spend like there is no tomorrow. Again I am an outsider looking in but having lived 40 of my last 49 years in BC I watched us take hit after hit in the lumber sector and at least we clued in to diversify the economy through different means and not be so reliant on one revenue stream. AND as much as Prairie folks hate it sales tax generates revenue for governments. 

 

So I could be wrong but that's why other provinces don't care as much as about Alberta as Albertans want them to - could be wrong. Point is they need a new vision and I don't see Kenney being that guy - Cons solution has always been cut services and privatize - thing is they are out of things to sell.

 

There's my 2 cents Mr McGill

You're bang on man.  Honestly it's kind of sad.

 

This is the first time since Lougheeds era that Alberta has come through a recession without oil.  Yes the NDP is spending a fortune but that's in large part due to the lack of spending for almost 16 years before them.

 

Kenney is literally the worst possible choice.  He's been caught cheating in the leadership, caught lying about his expenses, caught saying some pretty horrible things AND to top it all off is the furthest possible thing from an Albertan and has never held a real job in his life.

 

Notley's not perfect but she's fought tooth and nail for Alberta, Kenney has fought tooth and nail against Notley.  There's a very VERY fundamental difference there

[Warhippy]

5 minutes ago, brownky said:

The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund is now over 1 Trillion. But they have more foresight than 'the next election cycle' with that.

 

We have no politicians who can get to a point where 'today doesn't matter, tomorrow matters more, but next week matters most'. The country could be set forever with the reserves on tap, but it's been pissed away every single time. I look for it to happen again on the next cycle too; ironically, given the timeframe, I feel like the next one really will be the last real 'cycle' of it. There'll still be demand, no question, but I feel like we're coming to a critical mass point where the developing nations that would have more relied on oil to power their transition are instead going to look to the ever-cheapening (especially long term) alternatives. So it won't be so much as an oil boom, as an oil 'hum'... and the competition for that will be pretty fierce.

We did.  Back in the 81 PET wanted to shove the NEP down people's throats.  There were some constitutional issues with it but Mulroney and Lougheed essentially told him to stuff it.  His plan wanted to have a nationally owned series of pipelines, refineries and workforce that would have seen pipelines by his plan running east to west and south with a minimum of 2 refineries per province 

 

Instead Mulroney then spent 8 years working on NAFTA and selling the assets PET had created for pennies.  The idea of selling to those eastern bastards was so repugnant to the west that they decided selling to America, completely opening up for development outside of the country and selling to them for even less than we'd have sold to the rest of Canada for and buying ti back at an inflated cost was a better idea.

 

In hindsight the NEP was effectively the Canadian answer to the Norwegian model but partisan BS killed it.

[thejazz97]

Brian Jean is apparently advising Freedom Conservative leader Derek Fildebrandt... A lot of people in Alberta aren't fans of Kenney, and if Jean re-enters, it's almost Wildrose 2.0.

[nuckin_futz]

1 hour ago, Jimmy McGill said:

 

Given all at the outrage over SNC Lavalin, it seems appropriate to put the same lens on Alberta. To me, Kenney rigging the leadership race is about as blatantly a political gain move as it gets.

 

Is there really a lot of outrage over SNC? Do scandals even matter anymore? Case in point, look to our neighbors to the south. They have 2-3 real scandals appearing each week and it simply does not matter. President Trump's approval ratings while low, are rock solid and do not drop. They just travel within a narrow band. Evidence that no one cares.

 

I'll make a little prediction for our upcoming election. JT and his Liberals will win more seats than they did last time. They'll do it for 3 simple reasons.

 

1) Practically no one gives a rat's arse about SNC. And it will be a memory by October.

2) Jagmeet Singh and the NDP are going to lose further support. This will be the last election where Singh will be leader. Some of those people who voted NDP last time will either stay home (not likely) or vote Liberal. They're not voting Conservative.

3) Andrew Scheer is a 39 year old nobody. If you stopped 100 people on the street and held up a picture of him I'd be shocked if more than 20% could identify him. No name recognition, no face recognition, no one knows what his policies are apart from "the other guy is bad". The Conservatives have made the same mistake the Liberals did for years running Stephane Dion and Michael Ignatieff. Both were unelectable and neither got elected.

 

On Wall Street they toss around the acronym "TINA" a lot. It stands for "There Is No Alternative" (to equities). Same thing applies to Canadian politics at the moment. Like him or not, there is no viable alternative to JT at the moment. The Conservatives seem like they want to stumble around for years with their versions of Dion and Ignatieff.

 

As for Kenney, he's a walking/talking colostomy bag. The sooner he's retired from politics the better it is for humanity.