Oh how the mighty have fallen, Alberta the land of milk and honey and wild roses.

They spent decades as the economic untouchables. They had it all sort of. Instead of following the plan of Peter Lougheed, a sound and steadfast leader they chose a series of entitled leaders and right wing populists. The worst, Jason Kenney has brought Alberta to the brink. Instead of principled leadership he united the right with assorted fringe movements like Wildrose and others. His direction now is like an aimless compass swinging wildly in all directions. The deal with the devil he made reminds me of the saying “Lie down with dogs you wake up with fleas.” yes the old saying to beware of the company you keep. So why is Kenney’s government coming unglued?

When you stoop to trying to erase any trace of a former government for ideological reasons it’s fraught with trouble. An example is Trump erasing Obama it proved disastrous. The former government set out to diversify the economy. Kenney cavorted about catering to big oil, he gambled and lost. Even before that he chose expediency over logic. He took the party from fiscal conservatism farther to the right, and to do that he allowed undisciplined chaos to enter the tent.

Wildrose, would be western separatists, social conservatives all tugging at the parties fabric from different directions and in so doing casting a negative image. In the last few days Kenney expelled two of his harshest critics from caucus for demanding he resign. Jason Kenney has failed at leadership in terms of making the wrong economic decisions, the wrong social agenda, pandering to the negative voices when it came to the pandemic and his inability to control the parties apparatus.

The truth is his critics are right, the Alberta conservatives are at twenty-five percent when it comes to his leadership. If an election were held the NDP would win a majority. The next election is on tap for 2023 but if the party continues to fall it could be sooner. The other problem is, if Kenney stepped down who would lead and would the party be overtaken by more radical leaders?

My best guess is yes and the outcome would be even worse for the United Conservative Party which in reality is now fragmented.

 

 

 

Fred Steele