The results of the leadership review of the United Conservative Party of Alberta came out. While receiving 51%+ Premier Jason Kenney decided that he would step down and allow for a new leader to take the party forward.
First let us consider that everybody makes mistakes, but some mistakes are more consequential than others. Second, we must understand that to be a leader one needs to have followers. In my opinion Kenney failed under both these criteria. Kenny came back from Ottawa to rescue a dying party and unite the conservatives under a new banner, however there were many sore losers who were still members of the party and never accepted his leadership. Then came Covid which was never his fault, but in my view is where he went wrong ; he accepted the advice of bureaucrats as the basis for too many of his policies. As a Christian, he allowed the arrests of pastors, and worshipers, and never had the opening and closing of the economy and citizens lives under control. He further never really protected Alberta from a dictatorial Federal government and for political purposes never used the ‘separation’ strategy, so adeptly used by Quebec over the years, as a tool to get what Alberta deserves. On the plus side, he revived the economy, but allowed bracket creep in our taxation system, he was lucky because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that resulted in higher oil prices and allowed for a balanced budget. In my view he served Alberta as best he could and for that we should thank him. But now is the time to really look at ourselves in the mirror and demand that the UCP gets its act together and choose a real leader and prevent the coming back of a Notley government. So how de we do that is the real question.
I have never espoused the Harvard moto that Leaders are not born, they are made. This is a marketing tool to sell university applications and promote their degrees. Given some of the graduates who entered politics we can see that they are wrong ( Nenshi, Buttigieg among others) come to mind. As mentioned before to be a great leader one needs followers. Therefore, any candidate for the UCP leadership must first decided who will follow him/her and how to recruit them. Followers and supporters must decide what they want in a leader and what are the future plans for Alberta. Do we want a government that will get back to small ‘c’ conservative roots or one that still want to add the ‘progressive’ moniker to its future strategy? Forget the social policies that divide us, the Federal laws are settled on these issues. Focus on economic growth, a role for parents in the lives and education of their children, a strong strategy to get what Alberta deserves from the Federal Government. We must have a leader who will compromise on process but never compromise on principles. Those principles that they must defend are those that are espoused and demanded by Albertans. Not those that will allow the leader to play a personal role at a higher political level. We must have a leader who will not sacrifice the tax payers’ money on frivolous law suits that gets us nowhere, given that the current Supreme Court will side with the Liberal government who appointed the judges. We need a leader who will take a page from Quebec leaders who have been very successful at extracting whatever they wanted from the Federal government. To do so we must be able and willing to re-examine our status in the federation and not cower to the whims and desires of federalists Liberal and Laurentians vastly supported by the mainstream media.
Having given my personal opinion. It is left to Albertans, and this case conservative ones to choose a new leader. I implore the faithful to make sure who they choose because there are some candidates, in my opinion, who will be entering the race for personal reasons and not for Albertans future in mind. We must put our differences aside and ensure that who we choose can take us to form the next government. We have a great opportunity to choose and elect a leader who could we be a partner with a new conservative federal government, and also a Republican Congress, even a new Republican President within the next three years. There is a strong tide of conservatism coming. The world is changing fast, there will be many challenges at home and abroad that will affect us. The next leader of the UCP must be one able to protect Albertans by listening to them and more importantly as Premier must be able to ensure that He or She does appoint the right followers in the caucus and on any committees formed to help advise the government. There must be competence as the basis for choosing these people not cronyism. I may sound negative at times but I am optimistic that Albertans will make the ‘Right’ choice this time.
Marcel Latouche
Former President and CEO
The Institute for Public Sector Accountability.
