Don Martin: Premier Jason Kenney deserved a better death
There’s a lesson for Canada's political leaders in the short life and quick death of Jason Kenney as premier of Alberta.
It’s one-strike-you’re-out politics now after Kenney got the weakest vote of confidence possible with a 51 per cent thumbs-up to his leadership from the United Conservative Party base.
It’s an almost-unfathomable act of internecine leadership homicide, with all the usual suspects cheering on Kenney being given last rites as they plotted their run as his replacement.
This is not just any party, but the one Kenney FOUNDED and carried to a strong majority over the governing NDP just three years ago.
Now, it seems, you can’t even survive a leadership review following a massive election victory.
And Kenney was booted out for what, exactly? Some say there’s a personality flaw in this walking, talking ego which had to be humbled. Others suggest he just wasn’t true-blue conservative enough. Or perhaps he tilted too far hard-right.
But mostly it’s because he, like every other premier, couldn’t find a balance between public restrictions and freedoms during a raging pandemic nobody had experienced before.
He was doubly challenged because Alberta was the pandemic’s most divided province. Rural areas chaffed against restrictions while incubating the Freedom Convoy. Big city voters were supporting the science and demanding aggressive action to flatten the waves.
Kenney, being a mere mortal, could not bridge a black-and-white polarization without any grey areas.
Complicating Kenney’s early reign was an oil price which briefly skidded into the abyss, virtually unsellable to U.S. refineries at any price.
So now, at the precise moment pandemic paranoia fades into mostly-normal behavior and the Alberta oil patch starts firing on premium energy prices, UCP members have ditched their leader because the polls show he’ll be a future failure in an election that’s still a year away.
And who is their preferred savior? Brian JEAN?? The man was a featherweight MP, sitting far back and silent on the Stephen Harper backbench while Kenney was scouring Ontario’s ethnic communities, sacrificing his waistline to find votes which had traditionally gone to Pierre Trudeau Liberals.
Or will they embrace Danielle Smith, the former Wild Rose party leader who tried and botched the original attempted merger with the Progressive Conservatives and ended up being ditched by both parties?
Either of those loser-history hopefuls rate as NDP leader Rachel Notley’s dream rival and perhaps offer her an even better shot at reclaiming government.
Look, Kenney is not without considerable sin as a leader. He didn’t understand the team concept or view his caucus as anything more than a one-man echo chamber. He repeatedly rubbed Albertans the wrong way with tone-deaf policies and plans.
But if the driving force behind his dismissal was being too-hard or too-soft and never-just-right on pandemic fighting policies, well, that’s just crazy.
Kenney clearly needed his ears boxed so he could hear the voters better and some super-coarse sandpaper to smooth down his abrasive style. But he also needed time to learn from his mistakes.
Rather than give him the chance to win or lose the next election, which he deserved, he was dumped because the polls, which can rarely predict an election result a year out with any accuracy, see orange trouble ahead.
It’s instructive for leadership aspirants of all stripes, but particularly Conservatives, to view the killed-Kenney experience, in tandem with the quickly-knifed Andrew Scheer and Erin O’Toole leaderships, as their new reality and potential fate.
And if not being kumbaya-enough is a fatal leadership flaw, well, wait until Conservatives get an up-close-and-personal encounter with Pierre Poilievre, who doesn’t exactly ooze team player charisma.
(Watching Poilievre stumbling around the starting gate, boasting about talking in “Anglo-Saxon words”, backing free-falling crypto currencies as an inflation hedge and vowing to take a flamethrower to Bank of Canada management, suggests he’s one election away from getting the Kenney treatment himself.)
Canada’s Conservatives appear to have turned national and provincial leadership reviews into poll-driven popularity contests where their next election’s winnability is the only criteria for renewing a leadership lease.
And we wonder why the calibre of contenders for our political leadership is so pathetically low.
I’m told, by the way, that Jason Kenney was blindsided by the 51 per cent number. He was privately predicting he would score in the mid-60 percentile range just a few days ago.
Perhaps that shows he was indeed sadly out of touch with the mutinous mood of his party.
But as the UCP founder who led them out of the opposition wilderness to a crushing 63-seat majority and through unprecedented economic and health care challenges, Premier Jason Kenney deserved a better political death.
That’s the bottom line….
IN DEPTH
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
'Democracy requires constant vigilance' Trudeau testifies at inquiry into foreign election interference in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified Wednesday before the national public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada's electoral processes, following a day of testimony from top cabinet ministers about allegations of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Recap all the prime minister had to say.
As Poilievre sides with Smith on trans restrictions, former Conservative candidate says he's 'playing with fire'
Siding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her proposed restrictions on transgender youth, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed Wednesday that he is against trans and non-binary minors using puberty blockers.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Man sets self on fire outside New York court where Trump trial underway
A man set himself on fire on Friday outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump's historic hush-money trial was taking place as jury selection wrapped up, but officials said he did not appear to have been targeting Trump.
BREAKING Sask. father found guilty of withholding daughter to prevent her from getting COVID-19 vaccine
Michael Gordon Jackson, a Saskatchewan man accused of abducting his daughter to prevent her from getting a COVID-19 vaccine, has been found guilty for contravention of a custody order.
She set out to find a husband in a year. Then she matched with a guy on a dating app on the other side of the world
Scottish comedian Samantha Hannah was working on a comedy show about finding a husband when Toby Hunter came into her life. What happened next surprised them both.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
The Body Shop Canada explores sale as demand outpaces inventory: court filing
The Body Shop Canada is exploring a sale as it struggles to get its hands on enough inventory to keep up with "robust" sales after announcing it would file for creditor protection and close 33 stores.
Vicious attack on a dog ends with charges for northern Ont. suspect
Police in Sault Ste. Marie charged a 22-year-old man with animal cruelty following an attack on a dog Thursday morning.
On federal budget, Macklem says 'fiscal track has not changed significantly'
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says Canada's fiscal position has 'not changed significantly' following the release of the federal government's budget.
Local Spotlight
UBC football star turning heads in lead up to NFL draft
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Cat found at Pearson airport 3 days after going missing
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly on a mission: N.S. student collecting books about women in sport for school library
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Where did the gold go? Crime expert weighs in on unfolding Pearson airport heist investigation
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
Marmot in the city: New resident of North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale a 'rock star rodent'
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
Relocated seal returns to Greater Victoria after 'astonishing' 204-kilometre trek
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Ottawa barber shop steps away from Parliament Hill marks 100 years in business
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
'It was a special game': Edmonton pinball player celebrates high score and shout out from game designer
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
'How much time do we have?': 'Contamination' in Prairie groundwater identified
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.