Jason Kenney: MLAs encouraged to stump for Scheer on own time and dime

Could Tories sweep Alberta in federal election? Alberta Premier Jason Kenney isn’t running in the federal election, but he says he won’t stay on the sidelines during the campaign.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is encouraging United Conservative legislature members to help oust Justin Trudeau's Liberals in the Oct. 21 federal election.

He commends those who have already gone to help out in swing ridings outside the province on their own time and dime.

Kenney says he'll be taking some trips outside Alberta to drum up investment and he may help out some federal Conservative candidates while he's at it.

He says he works 18 hours a day, seven days a week so he can stay focused on his job as premier while occasionally pitching in on the federal campaign.

Kenney says a change in Ottawa is in Albertans' best interest because the Liberals have brought in policies that have damaged the province's vital oil and gas industry.

For example, he has said a new federal law overhauling environmental reviews will ensure no more pipelines are built.

“The re-election of a Trudeau Liberal government would be devastating for this province,” Kenney told reporters on the sidelines of an addiction recovery conference in Calgary on Wednesday.

“Mr. Trudeau's policies have helped to deepen and prolong a period of economic decline and stagnation in this province that has killed tens of thousands of jobs and reduced incomes for hundreds of thousands of Albertans.”

Before his foray into Alberta politics, Kenney was a high-profile cabinet minister in former prime minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government.